Rockhopper Penguins

Here we are in the Falkland Islands!  This morning we took the Zodiacs over to New Island, a sparsely populated place (at least where humans are concerned), teeming with albatross colonies, rockhopper penguins, striated caracaras, and some macaroni penguins.  They all seem to share the same rocky slopes together, and most of them are in their "catastrophic molting" phase right now.

I love the crazy "eyebrows" and the pink, pudgy feet on these little black and white gentlemen!

What a difference in landscapes after our sojourn in the frozen realm of Antarctica!  It's almost startling to see greenery on the hillsides!  As we hiked to the far side of the island to see the rockhopper colony, it felt as if we were walking on a mattress -- the turf was very springy underfoot.  Portions of the scenery looked like they could easily stand in for the backdrop of a Western movie.

There was an impressive shipwreck on the beach -- a leftover from WWII, apparently.  Lying on the sand next to the wreck's rusting anchor chain was the most enormous (dead) jellyfish I've ever seen -- a huge, glutinous purple blob about four feet across.  Yikes!

Extra:  This cute Magellanic Penguin poked his head up out of his burrow and peered curiously at me this afternoon when we visited West Point Island in the Falklands.