Dear all,
We spent today (January 3) filming Donna Fraser and her team tagging Adélie penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae) on Humble Island, a small island off of Palmer station. This population of Antarctic penguins is rapidly declining due to retreating sea ice. They are dependent on the sea ice, and the accompanying krill, for their survival. The penguins had many chicks that they were shading from the hot sun. Here are three photos taken from the film footage.
Scientist Donna Fraser with the Adélie penguins on Humble Island (Photo: Dena Seidel)
Adélie penguin research involves measurements such as this one. Humble Island, January 2013. (Photo: Dena Seidel)
Penguin Hill on Humble Island, January 2013. (Photo: Dena Seidel)
We are now at Palmer station until Saturday morning when we begin the month long science cruise. This is all quite amazing and our students will learn a great deal from working this project.
Dena Seidel
For more on information on Adélie penguins (for a general audience including kids) see:
http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/animals/creaturefeature/adelie-penguin/
and
http://pal.lternet.edu/blogs/2010/files/2010/01/Adelie-Penguin-Profile.pdf
For penguin and conservation enthusiasts, see:
http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=3851
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