Runners

December 26, 2008

This post is dedicated to wily penguins.

As chicks are getting bigger and older, parents are less reserved about leaving them alone, which means, when we have to catch a penguin to retrieve its satellite tag, it is more apt to run away from you. Those ones are the runners, and I battled wits with one today. For the first time, I couldn’t get close enough to pick the bird up, and had to fetch a net (like a huge butterfly net) for the chase. Slowly and deliberately, I worked up as close as I could to the bird, but, just as deliberately, it edged away, keeping just enough distance. When I’d snaked it out into an open area, it was time to strike.

In short order, I was sprinting all-out after the penguin, who was tearing just as fast away across the loose lava rocks. Just as I thought it would make a break downhill, gaining the advantage, I lucked out: the penguin stumbled over a rock, which was all the pause I needed to snare it, remove the tag, and send it on its way. What’s the penguin version of a cowboy? Penguinboy? Hm. Doesn’t sound quite as romantic…

Penguins Diving From Shore