Mr Jonathan Balmer
Senior Ecologist
Branch 
In January this year, Jonathan Balmer, our senior faunal specialist, was invited to attend the BirdLife South Africa Flock to Marion AGAIN voyage as a seabird expert. The trip entailed filling the MSC Musica with around 2000 birders from around the globe, and sailing from Durban, around the Marion and Prince Edward Islands, and back again. The trip took 8 days, and was put together by BLSA to support the Mouse Free Marion project, aiming to eradicate invasive mice from Marion Island and preserve the island’s biodiversity.
Over the course of the voyage, the team of experts and guides were positioned strategically around the viewing decks, and were tasked with spotting and identifying birds and animals, and making sure that those around them were able to get eyes onto them as well. Some of the bird species seen included Salvin’s, Slender-Billed, and Fairy Prions, Sooty, Light-Mantled, Grey-Headed and Wandering Albatrosses, Barau’s, Kerguelan, and Blue Petrels, and King, Gentoo and Macaroni Penguins – all species that most people on board will never get a chance to see anywhere else. It wasn’t just about the birds, though, as many marine mammal species were also encountered, some of which, like certain Beaked Whale species, have only ever been seen alive a handful of times.
The trip was also a great networking opportunity, given the calibre of some of the experts on board, including the likes of Peter Harrison, Peter Ryan, and Hadoram Shirihai, three of the top seabird researchers and authors in the world. A secondary purpose of the trip was to gather data on pelagic species distribution and occurrence, and some interesting records were indeed gathered, constituting an invaluable contribution to a subject that is comparatively understudied.
Overall, Flock to Marion AGAIN was a great success on all fronts, and Jonathan is already looking forward to the next opportunity!
Expert kit
The Bird Expert
Birders on deck
With Josh Olszewski of Birding Ecotours
