Flightless in the Falklands

We got into the Falklands early this morning. I woke up and looked out my window to see white sandy beaches and sand dunes. It could have been a beach anywhere in the world, with one key difference: on the beach were PENGUINS!

We pulled into Stanley Harbor which was surrounded by low, fairly barren hills. Outside of the town there are no trees. No bushes much bigger than knee-high. The colorful houses and shops of the town are scattered along the shoreline and across the near hills that line the bay.
After breakfast I joined a group of others for a nature trek to see the native birds and plants. Our guide, Geoff, told us historical facts about several wrecked ships around the bay and the mines that were still hidden in the sand dunes when the Argentinians tried to stop the U.K. from taking the Islands back from them in the 1980's. His main job was showing us the plants, geology and birds of the area. He seemed to know all the plants and what they were good for. I ate some Scurvy grass, which he offered to us. I had read so many novels of seafarers dying of scurvy and how some had been saved by the grass I felt I should try it. It had a tart, sort of citrusy taste.



The highlight for me was the birds. Right off I saw Turkey Vultures. I had no idea they lived this far south or had reached an island so far out at sea (250 miles from the South American coast. A long way to fly for a bird that could not survive landing on the ocean). Next we saw Kelp Geese and Upland Geese both of which have a mostly white male and brown, gray and black female. We saw Flightless Steamer Ducks with their chicks, who waddled down the shore and swam off as we approached. Flightlessness in birds is a strange adaptation. Outside of a few very big birds like Ostriches and Emus, flightlessness only happens on islands. The reason being that the islands were free of predators (humans have introduced predatory animals to many of the islands of the world since these birds lost the ability to fly) so they didn't need to get away to survive. But the question remains, why lose the ability? Studies seem to show that if the organisms doesn't need to flee predators the next most important thing is food. if they can walk or swim to their food, then they may be saving the energy by not exerting themselves to get airborne.
Another factor in the Falklands is the wind. It is dangerous to fly here. One reason is a bird might be injured by strong gusts, but a worse fate is to be blown out to sea, especially if you are not a sea bird.
So many of the birds here, even if they are not flightless, stay low to the ground to avoid being blown into the void.
Penguin flightlessness is another story for another post.