Aitcho Islands, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica
At noon we approached the craggy coast of the Aitcho Islands, our first landfall in the South Shetland Island chain off the Antarctic Peninsula, some of us literally baptized into the Antarctic life by huge spray off the bow along this windy and seemingly inhospitable coast. An advance party of the local inhabitants, gentoo and chinstrap penguins, led us to our first landing on the small island. If penguins could fly, today would have been the day, with 30 knot winds ripping through a cobalt sky. As a researcher with the Antarctic Site Inventory, I've come to Aitcho a half dozen times over the last decade, and I never tire of viewing this rocky outpost's offerings…elephant seals, Weddell seals, sheathbills, pintado petrels, kelp gulls, Antarctic terns, and of course penguins, the stars of this landing and the first up close look for many of us of these knee-high creatures. Today a biting wind like this gives us some idea of the tough conditions these birds face when they come ashore to nest, but the penguins endure it without seeming complaint as they hunker down over their two eggs. We're a couple of weeks away from hatching chicks, and therefore the breeding season is still in the early innings, the majority of the hard work is still ahead for these parents.
Today our Inventory Team again strikes out to catalogue the island's fauna. Thanks to the good graces of Lindblad and The National Geographic Society, we have been ferried to over 90 different sites in the Antarctic on the National Geographic Endeavor, allowing us to get an unparalleled overview of trends in populations of the Antarctic Peninsula's plants and animals. Today's counts reveal what has been an all too common finding these last few years in many places along the Peninsula…that chinstrap penguin numbers are trending downward. Though not as dramatic and as sudden of a decline as what we and others are finding with the Adelie penguin populations on the Peninsula, the decline of the chinstraps suggests that food is getting harder to find nearby to this colony, which over time has led to lower numbers here. While we know the climate is changing dramatically here, the connection to how and why this may be affecting some penguins and not others is less clear, but the picture is emerging that Aitcho is not an isolated case, and that we're seeing profound changes to the biological system that has been in place for millennia. Thanks to the folks on the National Geographic Endeavor, we can get to the places that may help us unravel this puzzle.
Meanwhile, as we pack our counting clickers and prepare to leave for the Antarctic Sound, the resilient penguins return to their reveries, pointed out of the wind, settled in for the long haul.
At noon we approached the craggy coast of the Aitcho Islands, our first landfall in the South Shetland Island chain off the Antarctic Peninsula, some of us literally baptized into the Antarctic life by huge spray off the bow along this windy and seemingly inhospitable coast. An advance party of the local inhabitants, gentoo and chinstrap penguins, led us to our first landing on the small island. If penguins could fly, today would have been the day, with 30 knot winds ripping through a cobalt sky. As a researcher with the Antarctic Site Inventory, I've come to Aitcho a half dozen times over the last decade, and I never tire of viewing this rocky outpost's offerings…elephant seals, Weddell seals, sheathbills, pintado petrels, kelp gulls, Antarctic terns, and of course penguins, the stars of this landing and the first up close look for many of us of these knee-high creatures. Today a biting wind like this gives us some idea of the tough conditions these birds face when they come ashore to nest, but the penguins endure it without seeming complaint as they hunker down over their two eggs. We're a couple of weeks away from hatching chicks, and therefore the breeding season is still in the early innings, the majority of the hard work is still ahead for these parents.
Today our Inventory Team again strikes out to catalogue the island's fauna. Thanks to the good graces of Lindblad and The National Geographic Society, we have been ferried to over 90 different sites in the Antarctic on the National Geographic Endeavor, allowing us to get an unparalleled overview of trends in populations of the Antarctic Peninsula's plants and animals. Today's counts reveal what has been an all too common finding these last few years in many places along the Peninsula…that chinstrap penguin numbers are trending downward. Though not as dramatic and as sudden of a decline as what we and others are finding with the Adelie penguin populations on the Peninsula, the decline of the chinstraps suggests that food is getting harder to find nearby to this colony, which over time has led to lower numbers here. While we know the climate is changing dramatically here, the connection to how and why this may be affecting some penguins and not others is less clear, but the picture is emerging that Aitcho is not an isolated case, and that we're seeing profound changes to the biological system that has been in place for millennia. Thanks to the folks on the National Geographic Endeavor, we can get to the places that may help us unravel this puzzle.
Meanwhile, as we pack our counting clickers and prepare to leave for the Antarctic Sound, the resilient penguins return to their reveries, pointed out of the wind, settled in for the long haul.
