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!!

Out and About

 

Can you spot all 14 sheathbills??There have been a lot of sheathbills around this season. I think it is because there is a dead seal not too far away and the pickings are easy off that buffet. 

I went for a ski, probably the only one I will get in this year because the snow is melting very fast this year. The snow is currently at end of December levels (e.i. not much left of the glacier at all). This is a moderately sized elephant seal track, with skis for scale.  

There is still some sea ice present in the very protected coves, like here under the Point 8 cave. The skylight has gotten bigger, I think it may collapse this year, or at least get very very thin. 

Nice ice on one of the Point 8 beaches. 

Kelp Gull for scale. 

A pair of elephant seal pups making the cutest noises on Amsler Island. 

Who's around?

Besides the new elephant seal pups, there are only a few other critters around right now. While getting trained on the operation of small boats a few sheathbills came to say hello. 

We have also had a large number of cormorants around station this season, possibly due to their high fledge rate last season. 

There have been several occasions where a large group of 20-30 individuals will land on Gamage point and hang out for 20 minutes or so. 

The Gentoos over on Point 8 are also back, and look like they are preparing to nest there again. This is a band new nesting location for this species which is a pretty special thing to witness the colonization of a new area by these sub-polar penguins. 

And the ever present elephant seals. There seem to be more with developed noses this year.