South Georgia Island Wildlife

If there's one reason that wildlife lovers put South Georgia so high on their wish list, it's the penguins. We don't blame them. Four species of penguins breed on South Georgia: kings, macaronis, gentoos and chinstraps. Of these, the most numerous are the macaroni penguins, with their exuberant yellow eyebrow feathers, but it's king penguins that are the real showstoppers.

The king penguin colonies at St Andrews Bay, Salisbury Plain and Gold Harbour quite simply offer some of the most incredible birdwatching on the planet. Penguins accompany you from the moment you land on the beach all the way to the colonies where the birds are numbered in the hundreds of thousands. The noise is deafening, both from the trumpeting of the adults to the whistles of the chicks, who are present year-round.

Most visitors are lucky enough to spot all four penguin species on their trip to South Georgia, but it you want to tick them off in one go, cross your fingers for a landing at Cooper Bay, the only place on the island where all four species breed.

Half of all the world's southern elephant seals make their home around South Georgia, numbering perhaps 400,000 individuals. They spent most of their lives at sea, but in October the males come ashore to fight over great harems of females. The largest males are known as beachmasters, over 5m long and four tonnes in weight: often three times the size of the females. Jousts between competing males make a formidable sight.

Pups are born from November and grow fat until they are known as weaners. Adults return to shore after January for their annual moult, when they shed old skin in muddy wallows. During this time, few animals can match them for their moth-eaten appearance during this time – or their constant chorus of belches and farts.

A small number of Weddell seals breed at the very southern tip of South Georgia around Drygalski Fjord. Leopard seals are also sometimes seen on beaches, but they are summer visitors only and do not breed here.

If you want proof of South Georgia's importance as a wildlife haven, look no further than the numbers of seabirds nesting here: a million pairs of white-chinned petrels, 6 million pairs of diving petrels and an almost unimaginable 25 million pairs of Antarctic prions. Sometimes you just won't know where to point your binoculars. 

Although smaller in numbers, albatrosses are the charismatic seabirds that most visitors are keenest to see. Wandering albatrosses, the world's largest seabird, nest in several locations on the north of the island, and at certain time of the year can be seen on their nests at Prion Island. While on zodiac cruises elsewhere, lookout for the cliffside nests among the tussock of the grey-headed albatross, black-browed albatross and light-mantled albatross. Elsehul is one of the best locations for spotting albatross on the wing. The cliffs are also where you'll spot the nests of blue-eyed shags (imperial cormorants) and kelp gulls. 

Other seabird species are more closely associated with the beaches. Where there are penguin colonies you'll find predatory brown skuas nesting nearby. Antarctic terns also favour the glacial outwash plains popular with king and gentoo penguins. Giant petrels (both the northern and southern variants) invariably scavenge around the beaches looking for carrion: a flock can reduce an elephant seal carcass to skin in just a few hours. Expect to see snowy sheathbills also pecking around; they're very curious and will investigate anything you've put on the ground. 

South Georgia was where the Antarctic whaling industry was born in the early years of the 20th century and its seas were the first to be plundered of whales. In the last 50 years, numbers are slowly starting to recover.

Most astonishing of all are the humpback whales, whose numbers are now regarded as having almost completely returned to pre-whaling levels. They start to arrive from their tropical breeding grounds in November and are frequently sighted between South Georgia and Antarctica. Humpbacks are easily identified by their long white pectoral fins.

Fin whales – the second largest of the great whales – are also in residence at this time, particularly off the island’s southern coast, and their numbers are also believed to be on the rise. Look for the distinctive curved dorsal fin, and their asymmetric jaws (one is pale, the other dark).

Blue whales have been much slower to show signs of recovery and sightings remain rare. Their sheer bulk and small dorsal fin located well back on the body make them very distinctive.

The Southern Right Whale, the first whale to be driven almost to extinction, is making the slowest progress towards population recovery. Right whales are rarely seen, but if spotted are likely to be close to shore.

Don't be surprised if you hear your guide getting excited about hearing the trill of bird song on a landing: they'll have just heard the call of the endemic South Georgia pipit, the world's most southerly songbird. It's something to celebrate as a few years ago they were reduced to just a few outlying islands due to predation of their nests by rats introduced during the whaling period. A five year, multi-million dollar habitat restoration programme led by the South Georgia Heritage Trust finally saw the island declared rat free in 2018. The pipit has been quick to recolonise the mainland, along with the lovely South Georgia pintail duck, another endemic. You might come here for the penguins, but spotting a train of ducklings following their mother is one of the most optimistic sights you can find on the whole island. 

Many invasive plant species were also introduced accidentally by whalers, and efforts are ongoing to control and eradicate non-native species. The risk of accidentally transferring seeds from one location to another on the island is a key reason why biosecurity procedures must be strictly followed throughout the entirety of a visit.