Page 45 - 2008 NZ Subantarctic Islands

Island daisies, staying closer to the ground but clustering together

to create banks of beauty! Darker purples interrupted the
panorama in the form of chrysanthemum-like flowers on the

Campbell Island carrot plant. And if that were not enough, the
myriad greens of all the growing things were rampant and tangled

and gorgeous, with broad leaves, straight and narrow ones, round
and flat ones! The scene was absolutely mind-boggling and eye-
popping. This magnificent “Indian blanket” of colors stretched

away in every direction we could see, up hillsides and down in
deeper gullies. No wonder we cared not a whit about scientific

jargon then.

What could have improved upon this primordial unsullied scene
of Nature’s prodigal gifts? Well, we got that something else too—

in the form of Southern Royal Albatross on their tussock-based
nests, dotting the whole scene with purest white patches in
among all the colors! These huge birds were in mid-incubation of

this year’s eggs, so they sat serenely and patiently and absolutely
fearless as we tramped and tripped and fell along the path. Some

were close enough to the path that we could have reached out to
touch their silvery-white feathers—if only that hadn’t been

forbidden. But of course we would not have wanted to take a
chance of disturbing one of these dedicated parents so that it left

the egg to cool and kill the chick developing inside. Albatross have
enough to challenge their survival without human interference on
this reserve—but more about the risks Albatross face later.

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