If the other day we felt like we were in the middle of a snow globe filled with albatross, then our next albatross stop – West Point Island, felt like we were in the middle of the tarmac of any of the worlds busiest airports. At West Point Island, the albatross are on a cliff / bowl and we were able to watch them from the top of the bowl. The winds were blowing just perfectly – from the west so that they were soaring all around us. But also as the winds changed every so slightly, so did their flight patterns. One moment I would have albatross after albatross following exactly the same pattern right over my head. I ducked more than once. I still can’t understand how I didn’t clip some wings as they soared right over and right past me. whoosh whoosh whoosh.
But then the winds would change every so slightly, and so would their patterns – a bit higher, a bit more over the colony.
While they are graceful in the air, landing is not when an albatross is at its most graceful – crash landing would be a better description. They would pass a few times and then make a landing. sometimes finding a perfect spot – a hole between nests, other times crash landing into a couple in the middle of a courting sequence. oopsª
And what made the day even better was that it had been raining and grey all morning and we waited it out. We went ashore later in the afternoon – we were then greeted with blue sky and amazing evening light and a very gracious host – THANKS ALAN!!!!!
