Image courtesy of Jean Pennycook


Beauford Island, Antarctica, December 10, 2008

Ice Cities

Beauford Island is a 30 min helicopter ride from Cape Royds. Here is the ice edge where our birds have to walk, and a much larger (120,000 nests) colony of Adelie Penguins. We have come here to search for banded birds and found many that have built their nests here even though they were hatched at other colonies. Why the Cape Royds birds would walk 50 miles when they could have built their nests here is a mystery.

Around the island are several large grounded icebergs. These behemoths are chunks of ice shelf that have broken off and found their way to this island where the shallower water trapped them. Only 10% of the iceberg is showing, 90% is underwater. To learn more about Adelie Penguins go to www.penguinscience.com.

Go to the next postcard

Postcards from the Field: Adelie Penguins 2008

You might also be interested in:

Traveling Nitrogen Classroom Activity Kit

Check out our online store - minerals, fossils, books, activities, jewelry, and household items!...more

Ice Shelves

Ice shelves are a part of the Earth's cryosphere. Ice shelves are usually extensions of glaciers or ice sheets that cover the land. An ice shelf is a part of an ice sheet that extends from land out over...more

Icebergs

Icebergs are large pieces of ice floating in the ocean that have broken off of ice shelves or glaciers in Earth's polar regions. They are a part of the cryosphere. Approximately 90% of an iceberg's mass...more

Spring Is Here

It is spring here, although you wouldn't know it. Temperatures are -10°C to -13°C, and in every direction all you see is ice and snow. But we know this is spring for Antarctica because the Sun is up. The...more

Return to Royds

This year the penguins arrived early. Our remote camera recorded the first ones Oct 21, a full week earlier than last year. The sea ice edge is 50 miles away so their walk is much further than last season,...more

Penguin Weather Vanes

Normally when I come down to the colony on my daily rounds the penguins are sitting every which way on their nests. Some face each other, some face away from each other, some face inwards, some outwards,...more

Baby Come Back.

The colony is very quiet now, the nesting groups of penguins are mostly males patiently keeping the 2 eggs warm while the females are out foraging for food. This year the sea ice edge, where the females...more

"The Birds" of Royds

Penguins aren't the only ones that come to Cape Royds to raise their chicks. The South Polar Skua makes its home here during the same time because the pickings are easy. Penguin eggs and chicks fall prey...more

Windows to the Universe, a project of the National Earth Science Teachers Association, is sponsored in part is sponsored in part through grants from federal agencies (NASA and NOAA), and partnerships with affiliated organizations, including the American Geophysical Union, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Earth System Information Partnership, the American Meteorological Society, the National Center for Science Education, and TERC. The American Geophysical Union and the American Geosciences Institute are Windows to the Universe Founding Partners. NESTA welcomes new Institutional Affiliates in support of our ongoing programs, as well as collaborations on new projects. Contact NESTA for more information. NASA ESIP NCSE HHMI AGU AGI AMS NOAA