December 19, 1999

Nesting blue-eyed shags.

Pete Duley mentioned that he was heading out with several people from Station to make the rounds of his bird colonies; we were welcome to tag along in our boat. One of the places that he was planning to visit included Cormorant Island. Here, on a series of rocky promontories, there are nesting blue-eyed shags with chicks in various stages of development. Shags are a species of cormorant. I had seen a few of these birds, mostly when they hovered above our Zodiac while we fished for sounds out at Station E.

Chinstrap penguin.

They would fly right above the water and then angle up and follow the boat, zig-zagging back and forth about our stern, then racing ahead before veering off in search of food. Shags are beautiful birds, graceful in flight, loafing low in the water like loons. They have a similar color scheme to Adelie penguins: black heads and backs with white underbellies and pink feet. The blue eye is, in fact, a layer of skin surrounding the eye. They sport a tuft, or crest, of black feathers on their heads. Shag nests are steeply walled circular affairs made out of seaweed. Guano forms a sort of adobe crust over the structure. The birds return, year after year, to the same nest. Pete described finding one individual who had been coming back for nearly thirty years!

Recording on Cormorant Island. (Photo by Chip Dunn).

Steve, Chip and I pulled out of Arthur Harbor in our Zodiac. A tumbling sky of low clouds drifted over the Marr Ice Piedmont. Pete and company (aka the "Lynns") took off and, with a much more powerful outboard motor, left us in their wake. We passed Shortcut Island, swept wide around an iceberg and eased into a sheltered landing spot on Cormorant Island. As with our trip yesterday to Torgersen Island, we were going to have the opportunity to record chicks at the nest. I was nervous about getting too close, but soon found that a slow and cautious approach didn't disturb the birds at all. They took only the slightest notice, honked and returned to preening and other nest duties. Chicks begged for food, craning their necks right down the throat of a parent. Occasional ripples of honking passed through the colony with the arrival of birds who had been out foraging. The waves in the inlet slapped against the flanks of the iceberg. It was a perfect day for recording. After an hour, the Lynns moved on for another census cound. We lingered by the boat watching a lone chinstrap penguin by the water.

Back at Station, half finished copies of the Sunday New York Times crossword puzzle lay about the galley. Will and Keith played music. People read and drifted through the kitchen. The smell of Christmas cookies baking wafted through the halls as folks worked up all sorts of favorite confections.

Will Silva (left) and Keith Tuley (right) treat Palmer to a medley of Irish tunes.

Pete Duley hard at work baking Christmas cookies.