Birds and mammals of the Beagle Channel

January 29, 1994

We went by several of the very small, rocky islands in the Beagle Channel, where we saw colonies of the South American Imperial Cormorant, the South American Fur Seal, and the South American Sea Lion. I took plenty of pictures of these.

South American fur seals in the Beagle Channel

It was amazing actually seeing these animals in their natural habitat, where they really live, and not in a zoo or on T.V. Truly wonderful to be going to them, instead of bringing them to us.

I was also amazed at how the Seals and Sea Lions just lay there on the rocks. They don't do much except cuddle up to each other, wash their faces with their flippers and scratch themselves, shake their heads at each other, and sleep. I didn't see any of them in the water or moving around much. (Some of them were changing location, but only to get better sun or a more comfortable spot on the rocks.)

Southern sea lions in the Beagle Channel

Each colony of Sea Lions and Seals was also infested with (shared an island with might be a better way to put it) huge rookeries of cormorants. We saw mostly Imperial Cormorants, which are black and white. From a distance, they looked like penguin rookeries.

Sea Lions and Imperial Cormorants

We were here during the breeding season, so we were fortunate enough to see a single family of Sea Lions (mother, father, and new pup) on the far side of the seal colony's island.

A sea lion family sleeping together

Throughout these islands, and mostly in the wake of the islands, we saw lots of kelp growing up from the bottom of the channel. Our guide said that kelp beds are a sure sign of shallow water.

We also saw several black-browed Albatross, some of them up close. They have very long, thin wings, and seldom flap their wings. They mostly glide along like a flying wing.


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