It was sun, sun, sun and glorious penguins, penguins, penguins on our morning visit to Brown Bluff on the tip of the Tabarin Peninsula. Aside from the multitudes of penguins, this landing allowed us to touch the Antarctic Continent itself. A recent snow had bathed the slopes of this rock-strewn volcanic headland, which rises more than 700 feet above the cobble below. The Adelie and gentoo chicks were past the peak of creching, losing down fast, and nearing that eight-to-ten-week waypoint when they enter the sea for the first time. Many down-less Adelie chicks-of-the-year already were roaming the beach.
Whereas Brown Bluff has 8-10,000 pairs of breeding Adelies and 5-600 pairs of breeding gentoos, Paulet Island is of another order of magnitude, an estimated 105,000 breeding pairs of Adelies. These penguins, along with Paulet's colony of just under 300 blue-eyed shag pairs, receive close, close scrutiny from the Antarctic Site Inventory project. Data collected by the Inventory enable changes in these populations to be detected, and assist the efforts of Antarctic Treaty countries to ensure that potential disruptions to these populations are minimized, if not avoided altogether.
The sheer biomass we witnessed today simply adds to our incredible sense of awe. So much life, in so magnificent a place, so far removed from our normal existence. So amazing trying to understand how it all works, how all of it fits together, and such a privilege to witness this spectacle. Penguins and Antarctica, forever!
