For one week in January 2006, I was on the sub-antarctic island of South Georgia in the south Atlantic as part of a Cheesemans Ecology Safaris Antarctic cruise. The island is a mecca for penguin and wildlife enthusiasts and, over the course of 10 landings, we saw half a million penguins of 4 different species as well as albatrosses, whales, fur seals, and elephant seals.

Since I was a staff member and lecturer on the ship, I was constantly studying the behavior of the penguins so that I could incorporate new information and photographs into my bird lectures.

Several of our landings were quite long and, after leading walks, I was able to sit down on the beach and plug the Brunton Solarroll into my laptop and enter all my notes and update my presentations. Sometimes, I was joined by a few Fur Seals and Penguins (see photo)!

King Penguins are one of the highlights of a trip to South Georgia. Our landings included visits to several colonies of King Penguins numbering in the 100,000s. They are fascinating birds closely related to the Emperor Penguins in "March of the Penguins". I studied their distinctive plumage and intricate behavior with my close focusing Epochs and all of the passengers marveled as the penguins passed their precious single egg to their returning mate (two photos attached). What an incredible place!

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