[Leica] South Georgia 1

[imra at iol.ie (Douglas Barry)]

Looks amazing, Jayanand, and the toughness of those mountains. It puts Irish 
explorer Shackleton's efforts to get to the whaling station at Stromness 
over some of them into dramatic perspective. Of course, he wouldn't have 
managed it without Tom Crean - another Irishman 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Crean_(explorer)

Here's a photograph I took of Crean's pub - The South Pole Inn - in 
Anascaul, Co. Kerry http://www.flickr.com/photos/50543475 at N00/855277474/

Douglas

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jayanand Govindaraj" <jayanand at gmail.com>
To: "Leica Users Group" <lug at leica-users.org>; "PSM" 
<psm-1857 at googlegroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, February 02, 2014 2:51 AM
Subject: [Leica] South Georgia 1


> South Georgia is one of the most amazing places I have ever visited
> for sheer profusion of wildlife - the only comparable place I can
> think of is the Serengeti ecosystem. Our first landing was on
> Salisbury Plain, unfortunately on a dreary, foggy day - one can only
> imagine how wonderful this place must be in sunlight! During the 5
> minutes of sunshine we had the entire day, I got this from my balcony
> on the ship:
>
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Panoramas/antarcticpanos_001/Antarctica_20140111_2409.jpg.html
>
> When you get on shore, you see this - this is around 75% of the colony:
>
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Panoramas/antarcticpanos_001/Salisbury-Plain-Pano.jpg.html
>
> There are an estimated 100,000 breeding pairs of King Penguins in this
> colony. Of course, with so much life around, you get various behaviour
> - the difficulty is always in isolating it in the din and stench of
> the milling hordes! You have exultant ones, announcing their presence
> in no uncertain terms:
>
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/antarctica/Antarctica_20140111_2458.jpg.html
>
> Pairs going about late season romance - King Penguins have one of the
> most complicated breeding cycles amongst birds - it takes around 14
> months, so at any time of the year, breeding goes on - it is not
> restricted to any particular season:
>
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/antarctica/Antarctica_20140111_2834.jpg.html
>
> There are moulting birds everywhere. King Penguins moult at once -
> they lose and grow all their feathers at the same time, so cannot go
> into water or feed for the six weeks it takes:
>
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/antarctica/Antarctica_20140111_2451.jpg.html
>
> There are fledglings at every stage of the process:
>
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/antarctica/Antarctica_20140111_2709.jpg.html
>
> You have moulting Elephant Seals peeking with their limpid eyes from
> clumps of Tussock Grass:
>
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/antarctica/Antarctica_20140111_2920.jpg.html
>
> Fur Seal bulls, on the beach, guard their harems with a wary eye:
>
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/antarctica/Antarctica_20140111_2442.jpg.html
>
> Other Fur Seal youngsters sharpen up their skills with mock fights:
>
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/antarctica/Antarctica_20140111_2786.jpg.html
>
> Finally, there are those who need to disconnect once in a while:
>
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/antarctica/Antarctica_20140111_2526.jpg.html
>
> Please see LARGE
>
> Comments and criticism, as ever, welcome
>
> Cheers
> Jayanand
>
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