ML615861998

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

With a great deal of expectation, I parked at the base of that sturdy pier, jutting its way into the absolutely vile weather and tossing waters of the high-tide… and so, in the squalls and moaning wind, I began to scan the rockface where the local celebrity surely had to be. And… quite suddenly… there, framed by a scraggly stand of bushes, it was!!! THE R0CKH0PPER!!! And not just any Rockhopper, but one that couldn’t be any further from its usual Atlantic haunts!!! Given the poor chap was looking quite morose, weathering the absolute brunt of the wind and rain, I decided to drive around to a closer spot due to the high tide cutting the pier off from its spot, and ended up having a strangely protracted time of clambering over driftwood logs, avoiding the sudden surges of seawater, and having a tough time with the strangely disorientating network of coves and crevices, I had to pick my way through… that’s why, feeling a sudden sensation of being watched, I was beyond delighted to turn and, even out the initial corner of my eye, catch an unforgettable glimpse of a portly belly, cottony-white and exquisitely fluffy, framed in a tuxedo of sharp, slaty black!!! What a stunning little character the Rockhopper proved to be; it really struck me in the moment that, far from looking silly as I’d initially wondered, it was instead a very dramatic, handsome creature indeed!!! The very short but stout dagger of a bill, brick red in colour, jutted out from under the windswept splendour of those chrysanthemum plumes, which whipped this way and that with each freezing gust; fascinatingly, the plumes curled forward and inward by default, much like the horns of an Aurochs!! The brilliant golden stripe from the plums to the lores was startlingly sharp and bright; I’d never really noticed this feature in photos before, but with the plumes being blown out from its face the markings were beautifully clear!! Its moult was coming along very nicely, with only a thick, almost woolly mane of down remaining on the back of its neck, which only added to its handsomeness; interestingly, it was a fair bit shorter than I imagined, but remarkably sturdy… best of all, in stark contrast to the King Penguin a few years ago, it was a very, very lively little character, albeit one limited by its own funny proportions; it shuffled this way and that in the downy little nest it had from its own shed feathers, sometimes heaving itself completely upright to crane around, scratching its back with its bill, and at another point picking up a stray branch to gently place it outside its makeshift den!!! And then, at one point, it hauled itself so far up to its full height that its entire body seemed to stretch out like a Slinky; it craned its bill straight upwards, and flapped its beautiful flipper-wings about (a very subtle and handsome detail that struck me, again one I’d never really noticed in pictures or films, was the beautifully harmonious white borders of the trailing edges)!!! Another remarkable detail was the fact that the Rockhopper’s alcove, as well as having that very specifically crafted nest of shed feathers, was being blasted so vigorously by the winds that the rear wall was frosted in fluttering feathers, reminding me of snow!!! Perhaps my favourite thing about this hilarious little gentleman, though, was the fact it made no secret of letting me know when it’d had enough of me; after a good five to ten minutes of it not caring in the least, it started craning out to peer beadily at me with those strange ruby eyes… and then, emphatically, with great dignity and gravity, it shuffled itself around until it had turned its back on me, plopping itself down and refusing to budge!!! The only thing missing was a disgruntled “hmph” on its part!!! Having been given a resounding cold-shoulder by, of all things, a Penguin, I took that as my cue and left the little gentleman to the savage conditions which, as I thought to myself in the moment, it must have felt more than at home in as a subantarctic creature…

Technical information

Model

COOLPIX B600

ISO

200

Focal length

35.8 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/5.3

Shutter speed

1/250 sec

Dimensions

4608 pixels x 3456 pixels

Original file size

8.22 MB