The story of the Skua & the GoPro

The subject of my first real post from Antarctica is (drum roll…) BIRDS! I'm as shocked as you are given my previous lack of interest in the avian species.  Of all the wildlife in Antarctica birds were not high on my list of interest prior to the trip.  I'll get into more detail, but I was shocked to find some of the antarctic birds to be among the most beautiful creatures.  My favorite bird to look at was the Snow Petrol and the most interesting bird to watch glide about was the albatross.  This, however, is a story of another bird; a more aggressive and daring creature with a wingspan and beak to match its personality.     Admittedly I did not always pay attention in bird class (yes, bird class on the ship), but I will certainly never forget this character.

 It was a beautiful and quite warm (for Antarctica in March) afternoon at Hannah Point.  We arrived to find beautiful mountains, nesting penguins including a few surprise Macaroni Penguins (quite rare for the time/location), and a few types of seals.  As I approached the trail to begin my hike along a bluff overlooking a beautiful black sand beach, I stumbled upon two large brown birds. Meet the "Brown Skua" or stercorarius antarcticus as its known to serious birders.  They were quite close so I stopped and sat on the snowy ground to take a few pictures and some GoPro footage.

The Brown Skua I encountered on our last excursion as it walks briskly towards me without fear. 

The second Brown Skua after successfully knocking over my GoPro placed in the snow to record the birds as I backed away.  I'm not going to lie - I backed away partly to observe the IAATO rules but mostly out of terror.  These birds easily stand over a foot tall and have sharp beaks and no fear.

The second Brown Skua taking hold of my GoPro camera as it prepared to make a run for it.  I am now the proud owner of a GoPro with a beak puncture in the floaty back door.  (The orange part is called a floaty back door and is basically like a life jacket for the camera.)

As the birds pecked at the camera I thought to myself, there's no way I can lose a second camera on this trip (story to follow) but I was limited in how I could approach the situation.  In short, the animals can touch you but you can't touch the animals.  I tried standing up to see if my increased size and flashy red gear would deter the giant birds.  No luck.  I watched, helpless, as the second bird took hold of my GoPro and began to walk away.  I thought, I could follow them or flail my arms in desperation, but wondered if my actions might encourage the bird-beast to take flight.  So…I talked to the birds and pleaded with them and when the bird finally he lost his grip and dropped it.  I swooped in to recover the camera and thankfully did not sustain any beak-stabbing injuries. Since the GoPro was rolling the whole time, I captured the act on film.  Here is the shortened version we used in slideshow at the end of the trip.  I'll post the full version (53 seconds long) later.