To Everything There is a Season...

It is amazing to see how different a season can make here. During my last visit in August 2013, it was winter.  The weather was cold (around freezing most days), the wind was strong and incessant, the clouds were thick and blanketed the sky, and it snowed at least once a day. However, the snow here is not normal snow (or at least I have yet to see “normal snow”). Instead of snowflakes, they have snow pellets (aka hail). When snow pellets mix with the strong winds your face is the first thing that takes a beating, your hands will be next if you ever think of taking your gloves off.

On this visit though, the weather has been mostly pleasant (however, any increase in temperature from the “polar vortex” and “polar plunge” that I left in Michigan would be considered pleasant). Some days, it is truly almost spring-like. The wind is still strong (as it is today), it has snowed once (when I was precariously perched on a rocky cliffside looking at an albatross and Rockhopper penguin colony), and it has rained almost everyday at least once, but what is different, is that you see the sun a lot more. Another nice thing about being outside in the Falklands is that the air is so clear and with the horizon being usually unobstructed. This allows for you to see an impending storm coming your way, which gives you a chance to find cover or realize the imminent “doom.” Most of the time you can also estimate how long a storm might be (you literally see the light at the end of the “tunnel”). Tomorrow the weather report said we will be sunny and at 20 degreesC! Let's hope!

Despite the weather changes between the two seasons, we also see behavioral and movement changes with the Johnny Rooks. With food resources being low in the winter (i.e., no nesting penguins) the Johnnies come more inland and the settlement becomes inundated with Johnny Rooks (mainly juveniles) who will feed on the scraps the farm provides. One important food scrap is the food for the pigs. Each day, around 15:45, Suzan feeds each pig a goose, a ritual the Johnnies quickly picked up on and in response, perch along the pig corral waiting for a chance to steal a piece of goose. This makes you wonder if this farm wasn’t here, if there were not pigs to feed each day, would this still be a “nursery” island where juveniles could (for the most part) grow up safely? Short answer, probably not. From this you can speculate (without a far-stretch of imagination) that the existence and growth of the Johnny Rook population could all come down to the existence of these pigs.

This was my favorite bird on "little pig" last August (he is now huge).
I say "was" because I am pretty sure she was shot on another island. RIP C1 White "Carcass"