Enderby Island hike - South shore - WildLight Photography

Enderby Island hike – South shore

tony
April 3, 2016
New Zealand / Subantarctic / travel

Sea Lions resting at the edge of the Southern Rata forest — New Zealand Sea Lions (*Phocartos hookeri*) resting on the carpet of mosses and bidibid at the edge of the Southern Rata forest

Emerging from the Southern Rata forest east of Teal Lake we continued our Enderby Island hike along the south shore. The going was initially easy underfoot with a plush carpet of mosses and bidibid but after a Teal-free Teal Lake we encountered the final trackless, shoulder high, tussock hummocks which, combined with fatigue caused me a couple of tumbles, fortunately into the soft arms of tussock clumps. Unwitnessed, my dignity remained intact despite the sensation of being an overturned beetle with my backpack weighing me down and arms and legs flailing to right myself!

This leg of the hike was dominated by baby birds with Tomtits and Pipits taking advantage of the sheltered conditions to feed their fledglings. Yellow-eyed Penguins were trading back and forth between sea and forest to feed their chicks and a sprinkling of Skua and Giant Petrel chicks represented the midsize birds.

Pipit feeding chick — Auckland Island Pipit (*Anthus novaseelandiae aucklandicus*) feeding chick

Tomtit feeding chick — Auckland Island Tomtit (*Petroica macrocephala marrineri*) feeding chick

Yellow-eyed Penguin passing Stilbocarpa on a carpet of bidibid — Yellow-eyed Penguin (*Megadyptes antipodes*) passing Macquarie Island Cabbage (*Stilbocarpa polaris*). Bidibid seedheads in the foreground

Brown Skua bating in a pool of rainwater — Brown Skua (*Catharacta antarctica*) bathing in a pool of rainwater

Looking east across Teal Lake. Tussock beginning to punctuate the landscape

We encountered one especially inquisitive Sea Lion that came charging up at Edin when her back was turned. I was a little way off and called out a warning to her so that she could turn to face it. It looked a little alarming to me but I am sure it would have pulled up short of her. It was very keen to play and took quite some time before we could back away and it finally stopped following us, leaving Edin with a backpack marinating in fishy Sea Lion saliva as a souvenir.

Edin with a inquisitive Sea Lion — Edin with the inquisitive Sea Lion

Edin photographing a Yellow-eyed Penguin amongst Isotome. The final tussock field appearing in the distance — Edin photographing a Yellow-eyed Penguin amongst Anisotome. The final tussock field and basalt cliffs appearing.

A highlight for me was watching the courtship flight of a pair of Light-mantled Albatross. The tussock field runs up to the edge of the basalt cliff at this part of the island and as we were making our way along we found a gap in the vegetation just as a pair began flying and calling together. It was as though we had grandstand seats to one of the most amazing spectacles with the birds performing at eye level in front of us. Buzzing with excitement we hardly noticed the final push through the tussock.

Light-mantled Albatross courtship flight — Light-mantled Albatross (*Phoebetria palpebrata*) courtship flight

We caught our breath and rehydrated at the eastern end of Sandy Bay, watching penguins emerging from the surf with the Sea Lion colony in the background while picking bidibid seeds from our gear – exhausted but exhilarated. Although we didn’t know it at the time the magic of Enderby was not quite over for the day.