Image courtesy of Jean Pennycook

From: Jean Pennycook
Cape Royds, Antarctica, February 6, 2006

Test the Water

Adelie chicks are completing the molting process. It is time for them to test the strength of their wings against the strength of the waves. Many of the groups have wandered down to the beach area and we watch as they allow the water to come up to their feet. In the top picture you can see a group of fledging chicks, tuffs of downy feathers still visible on their heads and backs, cautiously walking the beach. In the bottom picture you see the waves as they catch the chicks and carry them out to sea. Sometimes the chicks come swimming back, not quite ready to take the plunge; others do not return having made the transition to adulthood, swimming out to sea as they look for food. If they are banded we will look for them next year, if not, we will never know what has happened to them.

Go to the next postcard

Postcards from the Field: Antarctica

You might also be interested in:

The Earth Scientist, Volume XXVI, Issue 3, Fall 2010

This very special issue of The Earth Scientist is sponsored by the Mineral Information Institute (MII) and the Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration (SME) Foundation and is designed to provide a variety of resources to teachers and students to learn more about minerals and mining....more

Penguin Colonies

This is Ross Island, a volcanic island embedded in the Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica. Adelie penguins are found all around Antarctica, but we will be filming the documentary at the breeding colonies shown...more

View from our home

This is a view of the Adelie penguin breeding colony at Cape Royds in Antarctica. In the foreground you see Shackleton’s hut. Sir Ernest Shackleton and his team of explorers tried and failed to cross the...more

Time to Raise the Chicks

We are at Cape Royds, Ross Island, Antarctica, a penguin breeding colony of several thousand Adelie penguins. This female is 8 years old and has been a successful breeder in the past. She was first seen...more

Ice, Fire, and Penguins

Cape Royds penguin breeding colony is in the shadow of Mt Erebus, one of three volcanoes on Ross Island and the only active one. Antarctica Explorer James Clark Ross named two of the volcanoes after his...more

Proud Parents

At long last the moment we have been waiting for, the first Adelie chick of the season. We have been scanning nest sites for broken egg shells, evidence that a chick has hatched. On Dec 12, 2006 we sighted...more

A Family of Penguins

Chicks are hatching everyday now and the colony is bubbling with new life. The air is filled with the songs of penguins returning from feeding and the growls of predatory Skua birds as they circle the...more

How Do We Study the Penguins?

This is a device which identifies and weighs the parents as they move from the nest to the ocean to feed, and back. An electronic identification tag (like the ones in pets and race horses) has been inserted...more

Shop Windows to the Universe

Ammonites are available in our online store, along with other minerals and fossils, books, activities, jewelry, and household items.

Generous sponsorship of Windows to the Universe is provided by the Hewlett Foundation, the American Geological Institute, the American Geophysical Union, the National Science Foundation, NASA, NCAR, and the CISM and CMMAP projects. NASA CMMAP AGU CISM NCAR Hewlett AGI NSF