In
the morning of February 10, we visited Carcass Island in the northwest
region of West Falkland. The island is owned by Rob and Lorraine
McGill and they had invited us into their home for a traditional
farmer's tea. After we landed, we walked about a half mile across
the island to Leopard Beach, a beautiful Caribbean-like white sand
beach that's backed by impressive dunes.The
area was teeming with wildlife. We were able to get close to the
Magellanic Penguins who were nesting in burrows in the ground or
in the tussock grass mounds along the beach. This is a rat-free
island so they were able to breed in safety. The Magellanic Penguins
are also called Jackass Penguins because of the braying sound they
make.
We were introduced to the Striated Caracara, a scavanger type hawk/buzzard
that lives only in the Falklands and a small area of southern South
America. It is also called a Johnny Rook and we found it nesting
in the sand dunes with it's juvenile.
There
were numerous species of other birds around the shoreline including
a pair of Falkland Flightless Steamerducks, Yellow-billed Pintails,
and Magellanic Oystercatchers.
We
then hiked about 4 miles over to the settlement for tea. Along the
way we spotted some Upland Geese and a family of Kelp Geese.
But
the highlight of our visit was the Farmer's Tea. The owners put
on an amazing (and endless) spread of baked goods. Of course we
had to sample almost everything - and lunch back on the ship was
very sparsly attended!
For more photos of Carcass Island, go to Carcass
Island Photo Gallery. To read about the next location visited,
go to West Point Island.
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