Cape Crozier!

Wow - this was an incredible trip!  On the 19th, we took a Helo out to Cape Crozier, which is the most easterly point of Ross Island in Antarctica. We went along with Dr. Paul Ponganis, who has nearly 20 years of experience studying the Emperor Penguins in Antarctica. We went out to Cape Crozier with him so that he could get some photos for a population sensus and to count how many eggs and chicks didn't make it over the winter while we shot lots of photos, video, and recorded some audio.

After an hour long helicopter flight, we finally made it to Crozier, and landed on a rocky area quite a ways away from the penguins. We were so far up the hill, we could only see general dark areas on the ice where the penguins were huddled, and couldn't even define any individual penguins at all - we were way up there! It took us an hour to hike down the hill, where we had to be very careful not to disturb the protected rookeries (nests) of the male Adelie Penguins. The Adelie males had just arrived to the Crozier area where they were beginning to set up their nests in anticipation of the females arrival to court them.

Once we got down the mountain to the sea ice, we had to find a path to cross the ice to get closer to the Emperors - and it wasn't easy! We tried three different routes only to be blocked by large ice cracks that were impassible. It was fun to use my recent Sea Ice training to determine whether we could or could not safely cross on foot. Finally we found a route that was acceptable to cross over, but did involve some rather large steps over some areas. Along our way, we ran into a few Weddell Seals, one of which had a brand new pup. Seals are so strange! The Weddell's are friendly compared to their cousins the Leopard Seals. The Weddell's we ran into were sunbathing on the ice and napping. When they would hear us walk by (crunch, crunch, crunch on the ice), they would just look at us so curiously. These Weddells most remind me of a cat-slug combo. It was a treat to see them, though!

Finally, after about 2 hours of hiking and ice traversing, we made it to the Emperor Penguin colony! It was incredible! The Emperors were the penguins featured in March of the Penguins. At first, a group of around 10 Emperors came right up to us, just a few feet away, and were so curious about what we were and what we were doing. They never displayed any hesitation or fear at all, just really interested in us, and after around 10 minutes we moved on to a bigger group. I shot some video, some photos, and we recorded some audio too. They were so interesting to watch! The new chicks were a fluffy grey color and copied whatever their parent was doing - it was so cute! At this time of year, one of the parents would be out in the sea getting food, while the other kept an eye on their chick. We spent and hour or so out with the Penguins, then started our hike back up to the Helo. It took another hour and a half to get back up the mountain, and I'm still sore from the intense climb with all of our gear on my back!

Here are some photos from that trip :

Dr. Paul Ponganis (left) and our Pilot Barry (right) mid-flight.

Diane, Dr. Paul Ponganis, Diane, and our
Field Safety Support Member, Jen.

View from the bottom of the first hill / top of the second hill.
The Emperors are straight ahead!

My ice axe - complete with a little heart! So perfect!

The second hill down to the sea ice.

We made it to the colony!

A few Emperors and a look at the Antarctica landscape.

Audio recording.

So many Emperors.

On the way out, we found an abandoned egg... and lots of guano.

The egg was huge and there was guano everywhere. Also,
we had to use stabilizers on our boots to keep traction.

Weddell Seals out sunbathing. This is a good example of
the sea ice we had to traverse to get out to the colony.

Huge ice cracks in the sea ice from tidal variations,
taken from the Helo.

Ice cracks, I love this pattern so much!