Giant Petrel patrolling colony

St Andrews Bay is an absolutely incredible place for a number of reasons. Not only does it have hundreds of thousands of penguins, it is surrounded by stunning glaciers and mountains, it borders the sea and it is home to thousands of prehistoric predators.

Where there are penguins on South Georgia, you are never too far from both Giant Petrels and Brown Skuas. These birds fill the dual role of top land predators and scavengers on the island. Both species are incredibly intelligent, tough and persistent, and make a good match for any of the penguin species here.

It’s hard whilst walking around St Andrews, not just to look down at the masses of penguins, but if you glance up, the skies are alive with these majestic birds as they constantly, effortlessly patrol the colonies for gaps to land in.

The giant petrels especially aren’t known for being spectacularly gracious landers but, once on the ground, they start causing havoc.

Looking for a landing space

Preparing to land

If you get to a high point above the colonies, you can see the roads that these guys create as they run through the colonies, looking for carrion or weak penguins to predate.

With numbers of penguins being so astonishingly high, you would assume that pickings would be easy. But even once the predators have a penguin in their bill, they have to keep it there long enough to make the kill, all the time being attacked by other lucky penguin survivors.

Giant Petrel after a successful kill

Once the kill is made, it is a matter of consuming as much as they can as quickly as they can because it’s not long before more hungry eyes pick them out and they have to share their well-earned meal!

Displaying giant petrels

Fighting their way up the pecking order

Giant petrels aren’t the only competition for food, with brown skuas and snowy sheathbills also abundant around the colony

Brown Skua keeping a watchful eye over the colony

Brown Skua coming into land in the colony

For more images from this incredible trip to St Andrews, check out my St Andrews Bay album