Icicles And Quicksand
January 2, 2009
We trekked over to East Rookery today, an area of nesting penguins separated from the rest of Cape Crozier by a tall snow cornice. Walking around the base of the cornice brought us close to some spectacular icicles.
Of course, the very presence of icicles means it’s been warm enough lately to melt snow into dripping water. In fact, rivers are running through the penguin colony now, fed by melting snowfields and gouging canyons into the muddy, guano-filled earth. I hit a patch of quicksand today in what looked like a rocky area, sinking 12 inches into gooey mud before extricating my boots from the sludge. There is a puddle of water in the middle of my tent. Above-freezing temperatures have their consequences.
Penguin And Snow Cornice
Walking Under Giant Icicles
New Year Roundup
January 1, 2009
Happy New Year!
We stayed up till 3am last night sipping cocktails and watching “Horatio Hornblower” on a laptop (after blocking out all the windows in the hut to make it dark). I’ll never forget the end of ’08 at the end of the earth.
Today was our first scheduled Chick Roundup. We chased down 50 randomly-selected penguin chicks and weighed and measured each one. Most of the chicks are still small, soft, warm, wriggling, peeping, as cute as cute can be — until they let loose a stream of reeking guano down your jacket. We have special clothes designated for handling chicks, and we don’t even let those clothes in the main room of the hut (too smelly). One by one, we picked each chick from its nest, measured it, and carefully put it back.
I was browsing through my photographs this afternoon when I discovered an image of an unfamiliar person. I started to panic, wondering why a random guy was in my photos (what happened last night?), but, a few seconds later, I realized: that person was me! I didn’t even recognize myself behind a thick beard, shades, hat, and sunburn. Maybe I should glance in a mirror more often.
With ’08 on the books, my wishes to all: remember the best, forget the rest, and stay fine in ’09!
Noah With An Adelie Penguin Chick
Kirsten With A Penguin Chick
A Penguin Chick Going In A Bag To Be Weighed