Birding Cruise Antarctica: Falklands, South Georgia, and the Antarctic Peninsula

This magnificent cruise starts in the world’s southernmost city, Ushuaia. This Argentinean city is bounded by the famous Beagle Channel on one side and by the mountains of Tierra del Fuego (“Land of the Fire”) on the other.  We already start looking for “mainland” birds here before we set sail to the Falkland Islands, famed for the massive colonies of King Penguins (plus four other penguin species), Black-browed Albatross, and a fabulous suite of other charismatic birds as well as marine mammals. We then head to South Georgia, where we hope to find some endemic birds along with all the penguins, petrels and other seabirds, including one of the world’s most iconic birds, the massive Wandering Albatross. The next island archipelago we will visit is the South Orkney Islands which will provide sightings of large numbers of seabirds against a dramatic backdrop of spectacular scenery. We’ll eventually head to the Antarctic Peninsula itself, where we hope to see Snow Petrel and to add new penguin species to our list, among many other things. We’ll try (ice-permitting) to sail into the Weddell Sea. On our way back to Ushuaia, we’ll keep scanning the ocean for species we may have missed before – perhaps a Sooty or Light-mantled Albatross! The tour ends in the world’s southernmost city, Ushuaia. This Argentinean city is bounded by the famous Beagle Channel on one side and by the mountains of Tierra del Fuego (“Land of the Fire”) on the other and is a spectacular place to find oneself in!

Adelie and Chinstrap Penguins are abundant on this cruise.

For those who are keen to spend the day birding Ushuaia and its surroundings you can sign up for our 1-day Ushuaia birding tour where we will target the impressive Magellanic Woodpecker among other exciting birds, or perhaps for our more comprehensive 4-day Tierra del Fuego birding tour where additionally we will look for White-bellied Seedsnipe and many other important Tierra del Fuego specials, along with more widespread birds such as Andean Condor.

We will visit large colonies of King Penguins on the Falkland Islands.