Flock to Marion 2022

Birds  /  Interesting Places  /  Pelagic Birding  /  Seabirds
Their love story defies the limitations of time and space as they traverse the endless oceans.
30/04/2024
Wandering Albatross (Diomedea exulans) Marion Island , (Flock to Marion 2022

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Birding  /  Featured  /  Interesting Places  /  Nature  /  Published Content  /  Stormchasers
Penguin on the water: Flock to Marion 2022 (Penguins)
03/03/2024
KIng Penguin and Southern Rockhopper Penguin

As the sun began to peek over the horizon, casting its golden glow upon the vast expanse of the Southern Ocean, anticipation crackled in the air like electricity. Dr. Dominique Paul Rollinson stood at the bow of the MSC Orchestra, his voice booming over the loudspeaker, announcing the presence of a penguin in the water.

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Birding  /  Featured  /  Interesting Places  /  Marion Island  /  Pelagic Birding  /  Seabirds
10 Reasons Why Albatrosses Reign as the Most Extraordinary Avian Wonders on Earth
03/11/2023
Tristan Albatross witnessed on the Flock to Marion 2023

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Birding  /  Drone  /  Featured  /  Interesting Places  /  Marion Island  /  Pelagic Birding
Flock to Marion 2022 revisited (BLSA Final Species list): A Photographic Documentation of all the species witnessed on this memorable voyage into the Southern Ocean.
23/09/2023
Flock to Marion 2023

Embark on an exhilarating journey through the world’s most tempestuous and challenging seas. Our destination? The awe-inspiring Southern Ocean, particularly Prince Edward and Marion Island—an uncharted territory for cruise liners. The legendary Peter Harrison vividly dubbed these waters the “roaring forties,” the “furious fifties,” and the “screaming sixties.” His description perfectly captures the relentless power and untamed beauty that awaits.

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Birding  /  Birds  /  Marion Island  /  Pelagic Birding  /  Photography
Whale birds of the Southern Ocean (Prions)
23/06/2023

Prions (pachyptila) Afrikaans: Walvisvoel | Prion is derived from the Greek for ‘saw‘, referring to the serrated margin of the upper mandible created by a series of palatal lamellae. These filter small prey, functioning similarly to baleen in whales, giving the Prions the nickname of Whale-birds.

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Birding  /  Featured  /  Interesting Places  /  Marion Island  /  Newspaper  /  Pelagic Birding  /  Photography
Tristan Albatross on the Flock to Marion 2022
07/05/2023
Tristan Albatross

CRITICALLY ENDANGERED. L, 200 pairs breed annually, almost all on Gough Island; only 1 or 2 pairs breed on an Inaccessible slat in the Tristan da Cunha group yearly. It remains mainly in the South Atlantic, but some non-br birds disperse into the Indian Ocean, reaching Australia.

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Birding  /  Drone  /  Featured  /  Marion Island
Flocking to Marion in 2022 (Flock to Marion 2022)
18/06/2022

Bon Voyage!

As the MSC Orchestra sailed out of Cape Town Harbour, we needed to pinch ourselves to ensure this wasn’t a dream. After three years of careful planning and many hurdles, Birdlife South Africa’s Flock to Marion was underway. We were heading into the roughest, stormiest ocean in the world. We were going where no cruise liner had dared venture, the Southern Ocean, specifically Prince Edward and Marion Island. 

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