Tussock grass fringes many of the islands in the Falklands. You can see it here in the background behind these two young elephant seals. It can grow to well over six feet tall. Walking through clumps of it can be like walking through a maze — and you never know where a 20 foot long, 9000 pound elephant seal might be hiding. The two seals pictured here are adolescents that were play fighting at low tide on Sea Lion Island.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/2500th of a second

This is a Magellanic penguin — more commonly known as a jackass penguin by the locals in the Falkland Islands. Not because it’s an idiotic bird, but because it brays like a donkey at dawn and dusk. This guy here was doing his best jackass impersonation just after the sun had set at Volunteer Point in East Falkland.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 340mm) ISO 1600, f/4 at 1/320th of a second

This was at sunset on Sea Lion Island in the Falklands. The gentoo penguins were all arriving back at the colony after an afternoon swim. I took a lot of these starburst/pseudo-silhouette shots. This was the only one that the rainbow ring showed up on. At first I didn’t like it, but then decided I did. To accentuate the starburst effect, I stopped my aperture all the way down to f/22 and made sure that the light was hitting the hard edges of the penguins and the sand.
Nikon D810 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 78mm) ISO 800, f/22 at 1/640th of a second

I mentioned in a previous post that if I had to pick a favorite penguin, it would be the rockhopper. Their fiery personalities are hard to beat. And they are very determined when they set their mind to something. This guy wasn’t going to be deterred when it came time to building his nest. Other penguins were pecking and bickering at him while he carried rocks, one by one, into the middle of the colony. He just ignored everything around him and went about his business of building a home for himself, his mate and their unhatched egg.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 400, f/5.6 at 1/2000th of a second

On my last day in the Falkland Islands, I got up before the sun to photograph the penguins with the full moon. The gentoos and the kings both get up early and head down to the shoreline. This gentoo was at the top of the dunes, just before waddling down to the water.
Nikon D810 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 160mm) ISO 400, f/22 at 1/25th of a second, two Nikon SB-900 flash units fired using Pocket Wizard controllers

This one is a good example of the early morning ritual of the king penguins that I talked about previously. A few leaders go down to the shoreline and contemplate getting into the water, while the rest of the group hangs back, waiting to see what happens. It goes on like this for several hours as the penguins slowly make their way down the length of the beach before finally getting up the nerve to go for it. Once the first one goes in, the rest quickly follow.
Nikon D810 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 70mm) ISO 400, f/5 at 1/3200th of a second

This is a Johnny Rook. At least that’s what the Falkland Islanders call them. Their more official name is the striated caracara, and this one was having a heck of a time trying to break open a gentoo egg that had been pilfered from a nearby penguin colony. All the Johnny Rooks, in fact, seemed to have poor technique when it came to cracking eggs. The other main egg burglars in the Falklands, the skuas, had no problem completing the task. They would impale the egg with their pointed beaks in a single stab. The Johnny Rooks, however, have hooked beaks and therefore employ a far less effective strategy by using their talons. It was as if they were playing soccer, as they kicked the egg from one bird to the other, each trying to keep it to themselves and each failing to crack what appeared to be a very hard egg.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 210mm) ISO 400, f/5 at 1/2000th of a second

Of the 22 different species, the black browed albatross is considered medium sized by albatross standards. The largest albatrosses have a wingspan of 11 feet. The black browed variety only gets to about 8 feet. Still, that’s a pretty impressive spread. This particular bird seemed to be at least that as it soared along the cliffs of Saunders Island in the Falkland Islands.
Nikon D810 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 400, f/4 at 1/4000th of a second

“THE VEST” — Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 260) ISO 800, f/5.6 at 1/2000th of a second

“THE BOA” — Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 250mm) ISO 800, f/8 at 1/640th of a second

“THE HAIRY BELLY BUTTON” — Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 800, f/8 at 1/500th of a sec

“THE HIRSUTE” — NIkon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 310mm) ISO 800, f/8 at 1/1000th of a second

“THE PASHMINA” — Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 210mm) ISO 800, f/8 at 1/500th of a second

“CHAPS” — Nikon D810 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 125mm) ISO 1600, f/2.8 at 1/100th of a second

King penguins molt after two years of age — basically this means they lose their baby feathers, underneath which they reveal their adult plumage. As you can see, they don’t all progress at the same rate. It was comical to see the half-molted penguins. They looked as if they were partially dressed in varying degrees of clothing, from a furry vest, to a feather boa, to well, that last guy appears to be in chaps.

This one goes out to everyone at the Sierra Club Photography Committee of New York. Thanks for having me as your guest speaker tonight. It was a lot of fun sharing my photos and stories from the field. This species of goose is a common sight in the Falkland Islands. For this exposure, I got the camera on the ground to effectively blur out the foreground and background tones of green and yellow vegetation.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/2500th of a second