The following is a column from BarrieToday community advisory board member Peter Bursztyn about his trip south of the equator. This is Part 5 in a series. To read Part 1, click here. To read Part 2, click here. To read Part 3, click here. To read Part 4, click here.
The Falkland Islands are close to South America – one reason the Argentina continues to claim them.
Of course, proximity is no reason for annexation. Ironically, despite proximity to South America, geological research has shown that the Falkland Islands are linked to Africa.
The islands are a small splinter of southeast Africa, which migrated south, then far west 100 millions of years ago due to continental drift.
But neither geology nor proximity are valid reasons to claim territory. If it were, Alaska should be in Canada!
More realistically, Argentina wants to claim the rich fishery around the archipelago, plus the possibility there might be petroleum under the sea bed.
An underlying factor must have been General Galtieri’s attempt to distract Argentina’s population from his inept government as well as his military junta’s “dirty war” against the Argentine people.
The Argentine government also assumed that Britain – 13,000 kilometres away, which is three times the distance between Barrie and Vancouver – would not defend the islands.
They couldn’t have been more wrong. Freeing the Falklands from Argentine occupation (1982) was highly popular in Britain. (I was working there at the time.)
The Falkland Islanders rejected allying themselves to Argentina – referendums were carried out in 1986 and 2013 – by overwhelming majorities. There are a few Chileans living in the islands, but Falkland islanders have no cultural connection to Argentina. Also, it would not be to their advantage to link themselves to a perennially troubled and chaotic government.
The war turned out well for the Falklands. Publicity helped the islands attract immigrants from Britain and elsewhere. A troop of Zimbabweans, skilled in mine clearing, patiently removed thousands of Argentine land mines. When they finished, a number of them accepted the invitation to bring their families and settle in the islands.
Partly due to the wave of immigration, albeit modest, the islands diversified their economy.
For Argentina’s military government, the war was a disaster. Not only did they lose, but Galtieri was forced to resign and within 16 months the junta was replaced by an elected civilian government.
Economically, the Falkland Islands have been self-supporting for four decades, during which time they have become prosperous. Per capita GDP now doubles that of Great Britain, with wealth from fishing, tourism and raising sheep. The islands have superb, internally funded social services including quality schooling, complete health-care coverage – primary medical and hospital care, dental services plus prescription drug costs.
Although the islands only provide primary and secondary schooling internally, their government covers travel to the United Kingdom plus tuition costs for any student accepted to a British university or technical college, plus 500 pounds per month in student support – enough to excite Canadian envy.
The Falklands government has protected wildlife habitat, governs fisheries conservatively, and invested in renewable energy. A quarter of their electricity now comes from six wind turbines greatly reducing diesel fuel consumption. Another three have been ordered.
A tour through a Stanley grocery store revealed that locals can buy pretty much anything available to British people, except fresh vegetables which do not grow well in the chilly, windy climate. Imported fruit and vegetables are costly. However greenhouses can solve this problem. Stanley Growers is a commercial greenhouse operating for more than 30 years. They appear to have a bright future.
The Falkland Islands are all about nature, particularly birds. Even after just a brief visit, it’s clear the islands are a birder's paradise. For most people, these would be the iconic penguins breeding here. The most striking bird is the king penguin with distinctive, colourful orange markings on their necks and on their upper breast. They are large birds weighing around 15 kilograms – a little smaller than emperor penguins. The latter are also seen here occasionally as visitors.
King penguin chicks are adorable grey fluff balls impatiently and loudly peeping annoyance that lunch is late. Their parents “honk” like geese. Many chicks were part-way through moulting – trading grey fluff for the “formal wear” penguins are famous for. When this moult is complete, the birds will go to sea and find their own food.
There are also gentoo, magellanic, rock hopper and macaroni penguins, the latter two are smaller birds about the size of hens. They also have slender feather tufts behind their eyes, white for the rock hoppers and showy orange for the macaronis.
By far the most elegant bird here is the black-browed albatross. A large bird the size of a small turkey, it loves flying on windy days when it uses air currents to maintain altitude, flapping its long, slender wings very sparingly.
On land, this illusion of elegance is diminished as this albatross slaps its webbed feet noisily against the ground! I saw pairs of albatross preening each other and touching beaks – a bird kiss! Albatross mate for life, and are long-lived birds – one is still reproducing at age 70!
At the time of my visit, the chicks had begun moulting. Small patches of flight and contour feathers had replaced their downy coats. Soon they will be ready to fly. Then, in four years, they will return to this site of their birth to mate.
At the rookeries, we visited I spotted a striated caracara, nesting precariously on the edge of a cliff. This member of the falcon family is more commonly seen in the southern Andes. The example I saw was sporting what looked like orange Bermuda pants!
Less colourful, there were flocks of kelp goose working the shoreline and the closely related upland goose on grassy hill slopes, the latter with lots of chicks. The Antarctic shag (a cormorant) also lives here as do various petrels. As the bird list suggests, the Falkland Islands offer the birder endless opportunity.
I claim no expertise in geology, but the most remarkable rock formation I have ever seen must be the “stone runs” or “rock rivers.” These quartzite rocks, weathered into sharp, angular, grey shapes, roughly the size of a soccer ball, are not themselves remarkable. However, they appear as narrow – two to three metres wide – streaks of rock, hundreds of metres long.
The cruise geologist was unable to tell me why they were streaks and not simply piles. I also asked my daughter who teaches geology at the University of Montana, Missoula. Interesting to look at even not knowing how they form.
From here, we go to the tropics. By tomorrow, it should be warm.
Peter Bursztyn is a self-proclaimed “recovering scientist” who has a passion for all things based in science and the environment. The now-retired former university academic has taught and carried out research at universities in Africa, Britain and Canada. As a member of BarrieToday’s community advisory board, he also writes a semi-regular column. If you have a question Peter might be able to answer or something you’re curious about, email us at [email protected].
