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.