January 15b, 2006  Supplement:  A visit to a penguin colony

So many interesting things are happening that I can’t keep up.  Today was Sunday and Ray, Maria, George and I decided to take a break and do some sightseeing.  We are free to use the Zodiac’s whenever we want, so long as we stay within the zone of safe boating. We wanted to go just across from the station to Torgersen Island. There is an Adelie penguin colony over there.  I drove the Zodiac and it took only a few minutes to get to the island.  We pulled up to a designated mooring site and tied the boat up.  We already could see penguins everywhere.  Torgersen is about a mile square and about half the island is closed to visitors to protect the birds.  But the other half is open for visits such as ours.  The island itself is a rugged jumble of rocks that seems to be typical of this area.  You can see what it looks like in the photos. I’ll say more about the rocks in a bit.

A short hike up the hill took us to the “downtown” of the penguin colony.  There were about one or two thousand of them, most in dense little groupings.  The penguins come here in the Austral summer (that is now) to nest and have their chicks.  The chicks are already pretty big, but they are still covered with the downy gray coat that looks very different from the parents.  Of course they are cute as anything. Come to think of it, the parents are cute too, but in a different way.  Penguins are one of those creatures that are just totally fascinating to watch.  They have all sorts of interesting behaviors, and the fact that they walk on two feet makes them hilarious.  You would think they would be awkward on their feet, but they do surprisingly well, hoping and walking on the rocks. 

There is lots of noise near the penguin groups.  Parents are constantly calling for their chicks and the chicks are peeping for their parents. Every once in a while a particular penguin just blurts out a vigorous honking call.  And many times they squabble with each other, and even beat each other with their flipper-like wings if they happen to wander into the wrong territory. 

One of the realities of this harsh environment is that some of the baby penguins don’t survive.  We saw many penguin bones and even fresh carcasses all around the island.  The Skuas and Giant Petrels prey on the baby penguins.  We saw several of these large birds feeding on dead penguins.  This is part of nature.

Although it seemed to us that there were a lot of penguins on Torgersen Island, I am told that the population is way down from where it used to be. Where it is about 2000 on this island now, it used to be 20,000!  Researchers here at the station are trying to understand why they have declined so much.  They believe it may be because the extent of winter sea ice has diminished (due perhaps to global warming).  The sea ice is the main habitat and food source (ice algae) for the Antarctic Krill, which is what the penguins feed on. So, as the ice has decreased, so has the krill, and so have the penguins.

I mentioned earlier that Torgersen Island is rocky.  It has some fascinating rock formations. In the center of the island is a peak of sharp rocks that point straight up (and every which way) and many of these rocks are covered with lichens.  Lichens are a hardy life form that is a mixture of cyanobacteria and fungus.  Here some of the lichens are bright orange, and you can see this on some of the photos.  There are other lichens, which are gray or white, and all together they give the rocks a very rich texture. 

On the other side of the island from where we landed, there were some snow patches, and I sat and watched adult penguins come to this for a romp in the snow. They would eat the snow (a drink to them) and push themselves around on their bellies.  After one group was done with their time on the snow, they marched within 5 feet of where I was sitting.  They kept their eyes on me, but they do not seem particularly afraid of humans.  This is another one of their endearing qualities.

All in all, it was a wonderful experience to see the penguins close up and to get away from the Station for a few hours.   There are so many remarkable things to see around here.