January 2, 2000


Adelie penguin family on Torgersen Island.

After all the activity of the last weeks, it was nice to have a day off. We had sent a 1/2 hour radio program, via satellite, to New Zealand on Christmas Eve and this was scheduled to air today. I slept late and savoured the New York Times Sunday crossword puzzle. In the afternoon, Steve and I stopped by Torgersen Island to retrieve the wireless, remote microphone and to check in on the progress of the Adelie chicks. The microphone had been moved from its wind shelter in a cairn by skuas. They had dug it out and dropped it about 6 feet away, pulling much of the foam windscreen and latex rain protector off. I am glad that the cable held, or I would have lost a nice piece of equipment!

The Adelie chicks have grown exponentially, nearly tripling in size since last week. As Steve commented, "It is like they went from infancy to adolescence in a week!" The nests are overflowing with grey fluff and gaping, pleading mouths. The parents have been working overtime to keep them fed. Brooding is a short process--lasting about 3 1/2 weeks. Crèching is soon to begin, where the adults abandon the nests and the young gather unto themselves in communities. Toward the end of the month, about 50-55 days after they hatched, the penguin chicks fledge and depart the colony.


Leucistic Adelie penguin, aka "Blondie."

It all happens very quickly in the short austral summer. Despite the thousands of chicks that seem to be healthy and fit, there are many casualities to cold, hunger and predation by skuas, who circle like vultures looking for the weak and infirm. Skuas are remarkable birds with a discerning eye; they can detect the slightest anomaly in behaviour and pick out a weak bird from a great distance. They often work in pairs: one distracting and creating a diversion, while the other swoops in and picks off an unsuspecting chick. There are two types of skuas in this region--the South Polar and the Brown. They are large birds whose appearance belies both their intelligence and their agility in flight. They fly like falcons. Torgersen is teeming with life, but the attrition and mortality amongst the Adelies is apparent: chick carcasses litter the scree slopes.

We wandered around the island and encountered a leucistic penguin. These birds do not have the ability to produce black pigmentation, but rather have tan or beige plummage. They are not albino. I had seen one other Adelie at Cape Bird in McMurdo Sound 3 years ago that was like this one. The incidence of leucistic coloration is very rare--less than 1 in 100,000. This particular individual is a female and is known to researchers at Palmer as "Blondie." She was very at home in front of the camera and accommodated my curiosity with a nice pose and flipper display.

As part of our outing, Steve and I circled a few of the neighbourhood icebergs including one that had turtled recently. Their shapes and textures are fascinating and I spent part of the evening working on the Antarctica 2000 Gallery.

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