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Gentoo penguin
Look for a bright orange-red bill and a white band across the crown. Gentoos breed on exposed ground at places such as Neko Harbour. From the vessel, you may see them passing in and out of the water along established routes between the shore and colony.
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Leopard seal
A leopard seal has a long head and a wide mouth, giving its profile a different shape from a Weddell seal’s rounded face. Scan the edges of floes as the boat moves through ice, or watch the surface near a penguin colony where these seals sometimes hunt.
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Humpback whale
Humpbacks feed around the western Antarctic Peninsula in summer, including in bays such as Wilhelmina. Look for the arching back and broad tail that may rise on a dive. The pattern on the underside of that tail is distinctive enough for researchers to recognize individual whales.
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Pintado petrel
Also called the Cape petrel, this bird reveals a checkerboard of black and white on its back and wings when it banks. Watch the water near the ship on open stretches between landings, where its upperwing pattern is easier to see than when it sits on the waves.
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Chinstrap penguin
The narrow black line under the jaw separates this penguin from the gentoo and Adélie. Half Moon Island in the South Shetlands has breeding chinstraps. Look up from the shore toward rocky ground to see how far these birds can climb to nest.
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Adélie penguin
An adult’s white eye ring stands out against a plain black head. Brown Bluff has breeding Adélies and gentoos, so it’s a useful place to compare the head patterns. Adélies come ashore to breed in the austral summer and spend the winter at sea in the pack-ice zone.
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Weddell seal
A rounded head, short muzzle, and blotchy gray coat help identify a Weddell seal resting near the coast. They’re associated with fast ice, the sea ice attached to land, and haul out around sites such as Neko Harbour.
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Crabeater seal
A long, slender seal on a floe may be a crabeater, especially if its coat is pale. The name can send you in the wrong direction. It eats mainly krill, using the lobes of its interlocking teeth to strain the tiny crustaceans from seawater.
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Southern elephant seal
Look for the sheer bulk of seals hauled out at Penguin Island in the South Shetlands. The hanging nose that gives the species its name develops in adult males. Females and younger seals can lie in the same area without that obvious feature.
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Antarctic fur seal
Look for small ear flaps and long front flippers that lift the body off the ground. Antarctic fur seals come ashore on islands such as Half Moon, and some Peninsula sites see them more often late in the summer.
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Antarctic minke whale
The Antarctic minke is a smaller baleen whale that can surface quickly and show little of itself. A pointed snout and a curved dorsal fin are useful clues. Look between floes in places such as the Lemaire Channel, where British Antarctic Survey observers have recorded it.
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Orca
A high dorsal fin and a pale oval behind the eye are good starting clues. Researchers have documented several forms of orca around the Peninsula, including a grayish form associated with the Gerlache Strait. A view from deck may tell you it’s an orca even if you can’t tell which form.
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Antarctic shag
This black-and-white cormorant shows a ring of blue skin around the eye and yellow-orange bumps near the base of the bill in breeding plumage. Look for it perched on coastal rocks or diving underwater to fish. Half Moon Island records it among its breeders.
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Snowy sheathbill
Small and almost entirely white, the sheathbill looks more like a pigeon on the shore than a gull in flight. Check the rocky margins of penguin colonies, where it scavenges. Half Moon Island is one place that records it breeding.
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Southern giant petrel
Watch for broad wings and a large bill with a greenish tip, a useful clue when you have a clear view. Southern giant petrels can be dark or nearly white. They breed on Penguin Island in the South Shetlands, where they are also visible over the nearby water.
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Wilson's storm petrel
This small, dark seabird shows a bright white rump as it flits low over the sea. Its long legs can look as if they’re pattering across the surface as it feeds. The species nests in crevices and burrows, including on Half Moon Island.
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Snow petrel
An all-white bird with a small black bill, the snow petrel flies low over Antarctic water and often rests on icebergs. Watch for it in stretches with plenty of ice. Its black bill also helps separate it from the pale-billed snowy sheathbill you may see walking around a penguin colony.
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