A Merry Whaley Christmas

 The whales came to stay for Christmas. They've been so close to station we've been able to watch them feeding from land!

There is a new hut up on top of GWR for the pier project. We have to watch for whales and seals to make sure the area is clear of animals before the pier crew starts any pile driving or other loud underwater noises. This new unheated tiny house will be our shelter while on watch. 

If you zoom in you can see the krill jumping out of the water, trying to escape the whale.

I liked the clouds.

Synchronized feeding. 

Big chomp.

Hope they just came by to say their good byes to the pier because the crew is showing up in a few days and things are going to get a little noisy around here. 

Invasion of the Sheathbills

There has been a significant increase in the sheathbill population this year. 

Strutting their stuff. 

Normally at this time of year we would have the 3 residant nesting pairs and everyone else would have moved on. They seem to be sticking around longer this season.

There is poop everywhere. 

The NBP was back in the area doing science for a few days. 

German food night. 

Had a small sail boat shelter from a storm in the harbor for a few days. No visits this year. Watch a short video of a big glacier calving that happened shortly after this vessel left the harbor here.

This is a confirmed new resident nesting pair. The right bird is exiting the nest site. Another place to watch!
 

The Usual Suspects

Here are a few nice photos from a nice weather day we had a couple weeks ago. Been nothing but snow, sideways rain and 20-40 knots for days now. Lots of last minute preparations for the Pier Crew in the works. The should arrive in two weeks if all continues to go well. 

Chinstrap, looking small.

Feeling the breeze.

Mount Moberly in the distance. 

Nice looking skua. 

On the prowl. 

Nice looking rocks. 
 

Thanksgiving for us (and the Skuas)

The NBP was in this area on it's summer science cruise. They will be going atleast 200 miles south of here doing a grid of water sampling, bird and whale science and more. 

A few inexperienced Gentoos chose to nest on Gamage point for the first time. But they were very irresponsible and kept leaving the eggs unattended. 

We had another wonderful low population thanksgiving. 

The curried pumpkin soup was favorite part!

Delicious desserts. 

I made the apple pies. 

As foreseen, the Gentoo nest was unsuccessful, looks like the Skua's had their thanksgiving too.

Looks like a good spot for a sunny nap. 

 

The whales are back!

The difference between an Antarctic tern (on land) and an Arctic Tern (flying). The Arctic tern is displaying it's summer, non-breeding plumage. 

Got to go out in a boat after work and look for the whales we've been seeing for the last few days. 

It was a beautiful day to be out on the water!

And we were in luck and saw a couple whales. 

After the whales moved on, we checked out the sunset lighting on a few bergs. 

 

Sunny Day

 

The weather was nice enough to go out boating on Sunday, with precautions because we are still under the ozone hole and UV is very high (UV index for the day was 10.5). I don't have many photos because I did most of the driving. Turns out this year I am one of the top three most experienced boating operators on station. 

A small Weddell seal looking very cozy in the sun. 

A Skua watching over a baby elephant seal and it's mother. 

People out for a walk on the glacier heading down to Point 8. 

The moon with some cumulus clouds hanging out over Anvers Island. 

We had some giant petrels pretending to be ducks right near station. 

A good example of a year old juvenile kelp gull among adults. They are starting to get settled into their colony across the inlet. 

In pier news: the barge is about 40 days away from station, heading south at about 8 knots. It's currently off the coast of southern California. 

Penguin Cam

 

I helped install the penguin monitoring camera out of Torgerson. 

The installation site. The photos from this camera can be view here under the Penguin Colony tab: https://www.usap.gov/videoclipsandmaps/palwebcam.cfm 

Penguin belly slides.

A wayward Gentoo among the Adelies.

The green flash!!