January 26, 2000

Giant petrel chick on Humble Island.

The wind hovered near the borderline boating range all morning--20 knots. Bill Fraser, Donna Patterson and Erik Chapman were anxious to get out to Humble Island to weigh giant petrel chicks and to check on the status of one individual with a satellite transmitter. For Steve and me, it would be our last chance to get out into the field and record. Most of our work has wrapped up, and I have kept a tape recorder and set of microphones ready, in case. We are fortunate and at 9:45am, we join the "Lynns," National Science Foundation Representative, Polly Penhale, photographer, Gary Braasch and Mimi Wallace, our resident Teacher Experiencing Antarctica. Mimi was interesting in shooting a panorama of Humble Island for her students in El Paso, Texas. She had recently undertaken a similar photographic project and had her colleagues and students create a Quicktime Movie of Cormorant Island. (Note that QuickTime v4.0 is required to view the panorama).

Adelie penguin chick on Humble Island.

Steve, Gary and I motored out across Arthur Harbor heading for the lee shelter of the opposite shore, along the Marr Ice Piedmont. The wind picked up and the temperature was dropping when we arrived at Humble Island. As at Torgersen Island, the Adelie penguin chicks here are crèching and their black and white plummage is coming in beneath an increasingly mangy and guano stained downy coat. I am amazed at their rate of growth. A few smaller chicks roam the colony; their chances of survival are slim. Bill, Donna and Erik waste no time in making the rounds of the giant petrel nests. These birds have also grown exponentially! A small hatchling weighed in at 200 grams, while most of the birds seemed to weigh about 1 kilo, with one bruiser tipping the scales at 1.7 kilos! The parents are increasingly both absent, leaving the chicks on their own for longer and longer periods of time. The birds are habituated to humans--particularly Donna--and are easily handled. Nesting males and females alike, allow her to simply reach into the nest, lift the chick out, weigh it and return it. Donna is careful to let the birds see exactly what she is doing and strokes their culmen--a formidable bill. They nudge her hand and tug at her sleeve. Erik works with Donna in weighing the chicks and Bill writes down the data in a notebook. By measuring the rate of growth of chicks from year to year, they will have a better understanding of breeding success and of longer-term population dynamics.

Steve and I settle in next to one particular nest--sheltered from the wind by a small rock outcropping. We can hear from the radio traffic back at Station that the wind is now approaching 30 knots. We record for half and hour, listening to the low, raspy cawing displays of a pair of giant petrels. This is a very nice treat for our last outing to the islands...