The Locals

While working in Antarctica you come across many people with unique stories of where they come from, what they do whilst on the continent and what they are planning in the future.  Two such people are Colin and Louise, aka the penguin gurus, who recently featured on 60 Minutes highlighting their penguin research and monitoring around Casey station and the nearby Shirley Island.

Coming in from a dip.

 

On Friday I was fortunate to be invited by Colin to join them that evening while they mapped the breeding areas around parts of Shirley Island.  The weather was clear and quite fresh so we packed our mandatory survival kits and photography equipment  and  off  we trekked to Shirley at around 8.30pm. 

Arriving at Shirley Island the party goes into sensory overload.  The sight is spectacular, the noise is like a children’s crèche at 8am in the morning and the smell is well, overpowering.  I don’t seem to be as affected by the aroma as others in the party so I put this down to sharing our house in Dampier with a few ducks and four chooks.  The Adelie penguins appear to have laid their eggs for the year so now it is time for the blokes to stand around and look after the eggs, keeping them warm and protecting them from the skuas and petrels.  The penguins will need to stand vigil over the eggs until Christmas when the first are expected to hatch.

Adelie penguins obviously happy to be sitting on eggs.

 

Shirley Island is a photographers dream with beautiful light and plenty of action to attempt to capture.  The Southern giant petrel flying low over the penguin rookery was a highlight as were the Adelies launching themselves from the sea,  landing on the sea ice in a bolt upright stance  any Romanian gymnast would have been proud of.  A lazy Weddel seal enjoyed the late afternoon sun on the sea ice while the Adelies happily migrated from the ocean back up to the rookery. 

Southern giant petrel

The time disappeared quickly and three hours and three hundred photos later we grouped back together, enjoyed a picnic of hummus, bread and some of Jarrod’s fantastic pecan pie , then strolled back to station quietly reflecting on a fantastic evening.  Special!

South polar skuas.

 

 

Louise the penguin whisperer.

 

An Adelie catching some rays.

A Weddell seal impersonating a rock.

 

An intruder trying not to look cold.