Wanderers
December 22, 2008
While older penguins have been at Cape Crozier for a couple months now, building nests, finding mates, and incubating eggs, a new group showed up this week: the Wanderers. This period is called reoccupation, when young penguins return to the big “city” for the first time and wander to get a lay of the land.
Three-year-old penguins don’t have much to do besides explore. They prowl in gangs among the older birds, flirt with each other, and look for adventures. I suppose we’re a lot alike, the young penguins and I. Many have never seen a human before. Some will walk right up and peck at your bootlaces. Walking through the colony, you’re bound to pick up an entourage of curious penguins waddling along behind.
Other wanderers aren’t so relaxed. They stand on their tiptoes, growl, then yell like a ninja and make a kamikaze charge, windmilling their strong flippers. We call those ones the screamers. Yesterday, a screamer charged me from the front and I defensively popped into a shoulder-width stance. The penguin’s momentum kept it hurdling right through my legs before it brought up short behind me, anger turned to confusion. I walked away smug as the world’s most cunning matador.
An Entourage Of Wanderers
2 Responses to 'Wanderers'
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I have just found you on Vickie Henderson’s blog. Sorry to have missed you on skywatch, just could not get to everyone. I have a vested interest in Antarctica since we still belong to the Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition Ski Club. My husband brought back loads of photos but we lost many of them in the ’83 fires here. It is great to see current photos.
Arija
22 Dec 08 at 11:56 pm
Wonderful blog. Glad to have discovered it via Via Negativa.
What are your lat-long coordinates? Google Earth has never heard of Camp Crozier.
Cheers, J
Jarrett
23 Dec 08 at 12:32 am