Tierra del Fuego

Tierra del Fuego, the land of fire, is found at the southern tip of Chile and Argentina. I was very excited to see this rugged place for myself. 

🔥  🔥  🔥

I spent years in New Jersey writing about Tierra del Fuego because the southern tip of South America is the winter range of an endangered shorebird. Red knots stop at New Jersey's bayshore every spring to fatten up on the eggs of horseshoe crabs on their epic two-continent migration from the Arctic, where they breed, to the mudflats of Argentina and Chile, where they spend the winter. The state takes pains to protect shorebird habitat in the face of relentless tourism pressure, so I ended up writing about red knots a lot.

A Chimango caracara hunts the forest floor. Tierra del Fuego National Park is the southernmost park in the entire world. This coastal maritime forest is unlike any I had ever visited. But it reminded me a little of the remnant maritime forests you can still find in small patches in places like Stone Harbor and Barnegat, New Jersey.

The wild southern tip of Chile and Argentina share an inlet, the Beagle Channel, named for the ship that Charles Darwin famously used to explore South America. 

Tierra del Fuego is home to several animals found nowhere else, including this blackish cinclodes. I didn't have to go far to find this one. It landed next to me on the boat in the middle of the Beagle Channel.

The mountains meet the sea in Tierra del Fuego.

The inviting tourist town of Ushuaia is a launching point for cruises to Antarctica. There is also a thriving commercial fishing industry here.

I photographed a female Magellanic woodpecker with its fun plumed head, but I blew a chance to capture a brilliantly colored male when I inadvertently scared it away.

South American sea lions bask on an outcrop in the Beagle Channel.

I wish I had known these red crowberries were edible. They cover the rocky outcrops along the coast.

The Chimango caracara is an opportunist. I was chilling out on a grassy knoll overlooking the ocean when this one plopped down next to me hoping I had a sandwich in my pocket or something. Sorry, dude. 

I spent a couple days before and after my Antarctic trip in Tierra del Fuego, but I could spend many days more looking for birds like this aptly named fire-eye.

Any guess what this might be?

It's the colorful barred chest of a ruddy-headed goose.

And this one?

This is a pretty upland goose.

I spent a lot of time with the wild horses that live in the park. This mare did not appreciate the attentions of a young stallion and bolted around the meadow in a furious display of hooves and bucking. It was so much fun to watch this wild horse enjoy this wild place.

Tierra del Fuego offered fantastic and scenic hiking through the maritime forest. 

Summer Cold

 

With the dog days of summer, here are some pics from one of the iciest places on Earth, Antarctica. I took thousands of photos during my monthlong trip but have shared very few. Here are some more!

Thousands of king penguins dot the beaches in South Georgia Island's St. Andrews Bay.

My friend Doug and I were stoked to set foot on the mainland after planning the trip for two years. 

King penguins were among the seven species we saw during the trip. 

The expedition ship Ortelius is dwarfed by an iceberg.

A rock-hopper penguin rock hopping.

Days at sea allowed me to spend lots of time looking for pelagic birds like this southern fulmar.

Wilson's storm petrel.

Cape petrel.

I spent hours watching wandering albatrosses soar on the wind behind the ship.

Snow petrel.

Giant petrels.

Adelie penguins on an ice ledge. How did they get up there?

Skua, villain of "Happy Feet."

A spectacle of king penguins. Wowza.

An Adelie with a growing chick. 

Snowy sheathbill.

The ocean surf is not friendly.

Prion.

Adelie on an ice sheet. Their feet are studded with bumps like a snow tire.

Fun trip back over the Drake Passage. The previous day saw 24-foot seas and we were confined indoors. I never get seasick. That's super useful in Ohio.

I got to photograph penguins in a snow squall in the South Orkney Islands.

The crew of the Ortelius rendered assistance to this sailboat that dragged anchor overnight and was hung up on a shoal and listing off Antarctica in gusting winds. No other help was nearby.

The crew pushed the nose of the sailboat into the wind. When the tide returned, the sailboat was able to free itself and continue its voyage safely. Mission accomplished!

Every day was a new adventure.

America's Premier National Park

Yellowstone National Park is America's first and arguably best national park, home to beautiful animals like this bighorn ewe in falling snow.

A juvenile bald eagle launches off a snag in a flurry of wingbeats.

I took a selfie in the eye of this passing bison while waiting for traffic ahead to clear. Bison crossings are a daily occurrence.

I was hoping to photograph more snow-faced bison, but there wasn't much snow during my spring visit.

Is this an indie album cover from the 1990s?

I did get one snowy bison face with a snowball embedded in his beard. 

A black bear with a white blaze on his chest forages in last hour of daylight.

The northern part of the park has a good population of cinnamon bears, too.

This shaggy bear was intent on grazing on spring grass. It's a paradox that such fearsome animals spend most of their time behaving like cows.

A yearling wolf finishes off a meal, leaving nothing for the ravens.

A beautiful coyote still in its winter coat follows the wolf over the ridge to make sure it has vacated the area, probably in the vicinity of its den.

Kettle ponds covered in thin ice are winter death traps for bison every year in Yellowstone. This was no exception. A bear successfully retrieved the carcass and days later a coyote found a meal on some scraps. 

The coyote got a couple steaks to go.

By week's end, even ravens and eagles had slim pickings.

Elk have no trouble navigating steep terrain.

A common goldeneye walks on water to take flight.

A beautiful grizzly rubs against a favorite tree.

A ground squirrel stands on alert at Mammoth Hot Springs, home to an alarming number of dog-walkers if you are a ground squirrel.

These little guys are fun to watch.

A pretty horned lark caught my attention in the snow outside Gardiner.

A yellow-bellied marmot stands sentry atop a boulder overlooking the Lamar Valley.

A pretty mountain bluebird in falling snow.

A huge herd of muley does and yearling fawns grazed in a field, ever on high alert.

Pronghorns are one of my favorite American animals. They evolved to outrun the American cheetah. And they are so different from any other hoofed animal in the United States. I copped a squat on a rock near a game trail as this pronghorn approached. My camera shutter caught this buck's attention, but after a second he went back to grazing. They're not terribly skittish around people in the park.

A rainbow arcs over Yellowstone.

And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming.

I photographed this habituated fox outside Cooke City two years ago. I was soooo happy to see her again!

Sandhill cranes.

The scenery is so pretty in the snow.

Snowy evergreens take you right back to that wintry, fresh air. 

A yearling wolf dashes through an unkindness of ravens.