Hannah Buschert was first exposed to birds and birding during a required ornithology course at Oregon State University and she quickly caught the birding bug.  This spurred her to pursue a career in environmental education and wildlife nature tourism as a park ranger in Texas and as the Great Florida Birding and Wildlife Trail Coordinator with Florida Fish and Wildlife.  A family motel and passion for responsible ecotourism brought her home to the Oregon Coast where she and her husband, Erik, adventure and record a podcast (Hannah and Erik Go Birding), created in an effort to inspire others to get out and bird.  Hannah is also a proud woman birder who advocates for others through her own podcast (Women Birders (Happy Hour)) and participation in activities, such as the Champions of the Flyway and the International Conference for Women Birders. This is Hannah’s first contribution to 10,000 Birds. Hannah and Erik ready to see some birds! I love to go on cruises.  Unlimited food, fully stocked bars, constant entertainment, lodging that moves about the world, and only unpacking and repacking once.  Many birders actively avoid cruises, as they do not typically go to premier birding locations, and you often have to work harder than normal to find birds.  But that is where Flock to Marion was different. It was a unique, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to board a ship solely filled with birders to go to a destination that many will never have the chance to see – let alone bird. Birdlife South Africa has previously done two of these types of trips before, previously called Flock to Sea – Namibia in 2013 and Flock to Nowhere in 2017, in partnership with MSC Cruises.  It is an extremely popular fundraising project with an almost cult-like following.  This is a cruise like no other, full of scientific lectures, over forty guides spread out on deck, bird-themed parties, and a lights-off mandate to protect birds at night. The trip had initially been planned for January 2021, but due to COVID-19, it was delayed to January 2022.  I learned of the trip right as it had been delayed and made a vow that I would be on that ship.  So, I anxiously followed the “Flock to Marion 2022” Facebook group in anticipation for open cabins to come up for sale.  I waited…and waited…and waited.  It took months before the exciting announcement would come that all the 2021 reservations had been ported over to 2022 and any leftover cabins were for sale.  Long story short, the only way I could figure out securing a cabin for myself and my husband, Erik, was to book a trip with Rockjumper, a birding tour company based in South Africa and a supporter of Birdlife South Africa. After securing our passage, I patiently waited for this once-in-a-lifetime experience to a place we have never been and lacked any knowledge of, we were in for a complete surprise. Salvin’s Prion The Prince Edward Islands are two tiny chunks of land that most people will likely have never heard of.  These two islands are about halfway between the tip of South Africa and Antarctica in the Subantarctic Indian Ocean, have had relatively few human visitors, and are primarily inhabited with some of the rarest seabirds in the world and a smaller number of mammals.  South Africa is their steward and have been declared Special Nature Reserves under the South African Environmental Management: Protected Areas Act in 2003, which restricts activities on the islands to research and conservation management.  The marine protected area status was designated in 2013. The islands were discovered in 1663 by a Dutch East Indian Company ship, Maerseveen, but their coordinates were improperly recorded.  The islands weren’t visited again until 1772 when a French explorer, Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne, thought he had found Antarctica.  In 1776, James Cook sailed past the islands due to charts and navigation of du Fresne’s second in command, Julien Crozet.  None of the three voyagers made landfall due to poor weather and dangerous conditions.  Finally in 1799, the first visitors on this volcanic land were a group of French seal hunters who were after the fur seals that can be found hauled out on the beaches for fur and oil, which almost wiped out the local population of the species. In more recent history, two meteorological stations have been built on the island with the older dating back to 1948.  These have been used by meteorologists, technicians, and researchers who spend about 13 months on the island at a time researching a variety of sciences.  Prince Edward Island is about 45 km2 and Marion Island is much bigger at 295 km2 with 80km of coastline.  It is still volcanically active with researchers periodically discovering new flows. So, all this is to point out how particularly inaccessible and wondrous this place is.  It has had very few humans walk its soil and who have had little impact to this otherwise pristine nature.  Which makes it a haven for seabirds….and seabirders.  About half of all breeding Wandering Albatross nest on the Prince Edward Islands. There’s also the Grey-headed Albatross, Sooty Albatross, Blue Petrel, Great-winged Petrel, Black-faced Sheathbill, and so many more that rely on this island.  Also, many of which would be extremely difficult birds to see many other places in the world. Yellow-nosed Albatross This cruise rose funds for the Mouse-free Marion project of Birdlife South Africa which will attempt to eradicate house mice from Marion Island.  Although Prince Edward Island and Marion are close enough, only 21 km apart, Prince Edward is free of invasives, besides four plant species, so offers a great comparison for success. Marion has a fascinating history with invasive species.  The seal hunters accidentally introduced mice to Marion, as was the case for many islands around the world.  When the base was built and managed by the South African government, the mice were found to be a minor nuisance so five cats were brought in to manage the mice population at the base.  … Continue reading Flock to Marion