I miss being able to see serious wildlife every time I look out my window. Nothing against the crickets and domestic cats of North Carolina, but an occasional penguin would be super. Anyway, I’m posting a photo to quench my own nostalgia:
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Scary Birds
If you thought the Giant Petrel was a little scary, let me tell you about the Skua. Skuas are one of the top predators here. They’re quite good at what they do, too, and get a reputation for being a bit evil. Some individuals, for example, have been caught pecking out the eyeballs of penguin chicks. Rather than eating them on the spot, the skuas leave these chicks wandering around helpless, ensuring a fresh supply of easy-to-catch meat throughout the entire Antarctic summer. Yup, skuas are pretty easy to hate… until you see BABY SKUAS, which are even cuter than penguin chicks. I mean, c’mon. Look at this lil guy. He’s like a real-life marshmallow Peep!
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Squawkward: embarrassing penguin portraits (Episode 1)
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SIX-FOOT WINGSPAN
Now don’t get me wrong, I’ve met plenty of six-foot wingspans before. Heck, there are folks on UNC’s basketball team with wingspans much wider than that. I don’t think any of them have big, pointy beaks, though, and I’m also pretty sure none of them have ever eaten a penguin or seal. Meet the Giant Petrel: closest thing I’ve ever seen to a pterodactyl.
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This is how I feel about Mondays:
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Flying Penguins
This lil Chinstrap penguin hopped into view while I was crouched behind a rock, trying to get a photo of the cormorant bobbing in our harbor. He scared me about as badly as I scared him!
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Whales!
Just in case you wondered whether I ever see anything besides penguins here:
…yes.
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Holiday Cheer from Antarctica
Happy New Years Eve Eve, everyone! Here are some penguins, me, a couple of bathing suits, friends in Santa hats, and Travis’s bepenguined unipajama. May the final moments of your 2011 be full of antics.
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360-degree panorama of Palmer Station, Antarctica at midnight
This is where I live. Not bad, eh?
…on top of the bar is a crow’s nest of sorts, accessible by ladder, and from it you get a stellar 360-degree view. Yup, that’s still sunshine at midnight. 11:45pm – 2:00am is one big sunsetrise, and everything else is daytime. Here’s an annotated version of the panorama, just to give you a lil tour of the important stuff:
(click on either of these panoramas for a larger image)
Penguin Seduction
GoPro HD Hero camera + fuzzy hat “decoy” + curious penguin =
He got especially involved when I started building a pebble nest for the camera. Male Adelie penguins woo the ladies by bringing pebbles for their nests… this one started picking up the pebbles close to the camera with his beak, and plopping them about two feet farther away. I’m not sure whether he was trying to seduce the camera or trying to hoard the good pebbles for himself.
