penguins, penguins, penguins

The German biologists I met over at the Russian station let me them tag along with them today. They study penguin offspring each year and count adults/chicks at various colonies. Christina was telling me she's been here each of the last 7 years. They took me over to a neighboring island that is restricted to people except for scientific research. I never in my wildest dreams thought that graduating with an engineering degree would take me to Antarctica to count penguins, but I guess I wasn't dreaming big enough.

The sights were extraordinary! It was a once in a lifetime experience being feet away for these penguins and their 2 month-year-olds. The young penguins were so energetic and curious- I even have a video of a chick chasing its parent around the rocks! We were blessed with a rare day of sunlight and we could see the thousands of penguins on the island, the sparkling blue water surrounding the island, and the glaciers in the distance. Wow. absolutely spectacular!

joleen- i thought about you today :)

mother and her young

these curious chicks ran up to me to see what i was doing