Birding on Bleaker Island

This chapter narrates the author's first island-hopping trip to Bleaker Island, wherein she hoped to see at least two penguin species, the steamer duck, and maybe a black-necked swan. There are no trees on Bleaker — which is true throughout most of the Falklands — and a large rocky hill covers about half of the small island. Because the author hails from the land of trees in central New York State, the sheer openness of the landscape felt raw and exposed. The author then describes the skuas. These are huge, predatory birds that look like ubergulls. They are the bird bullies of the islands — harassing other birds to drop their food, attacking and devouring young birds, and swooping and diving on anything they do not like, including people.