Greetings from the land of wind & snow! We've had quite a week of rough
weather- horizontal snow & rain with gusts up to 70mph which blew off a
door & some heavy crates from our porch. It's tough working in gusty
winds. Not only do we have to fight our way out to the colonies against a strong
headwind, but we then have to carefully walk amongst agitated penguins
without getting blown over. The gusts from the side are particularly
frustrating because you end up staggering around like a drunk. Trying to
read small metal bands through binoculars is almost impossible with the
wind pushing you over. Needless to say, I'm really hoping we'll get some calmer
weather soon. The wet snow & wind has been particularly hard on the
week-old gentoo penguin chicks. They don't have the feathers to thermoregulate yet,
but they are a bit too big to fit all the way under their parent's brood
patch, so they get wet & cold. Quite a few died of hypothermia a few
nights ago - including the first chick of the season. : ( Very sad. This week
chinstrap penguin & skua chicks will start hatching & we launch into our
busy season. We're getting ready for the holidays down here at camp. We
put up our little x-mass tree - a 2 ft high imitation redwood with tinsel,
lights, & ornaments made from local materials. Presents are starting to
amass under the tree, but the nice thing is we can't get caught up in the
holiday stress. Our days go on as usual. In fact we don't even get any
days off for the holidays. Penguins never rest. My biggest excitement of the
week was a minor medical emergency. One of the Chilean researchers, Jorge,
slipped & fell in the intertidal zone & dislocated his shoulder. They
called me on the radio & I got to put my medical training to use. It took about
20 minutes of Dana & I working together to relax his muscles & get the
humerus back in place. Jorge is fine now, but he is the one-armed camp leader
until it fully heals. On Sunday we helped the Chileans with the pup weights
project. Every two weeks we catch 100 fur seal pups to weigh & measure as
an index of growth rate & health of the population. The Chileans do the
measurements & we go out to catch the pups. Right now it is very easy
because the pups are young, naive & trusting and they only weigh about 10
lbs. By the end of the season they are much wiser & can run & swim so they
really make us work hard. They also weigh a lot more in February & are
inclined to bite when you pick them up for their weigh in. Pups this week
were cute & friendly. They're getting old enough to start exploring &
we've already had a few young visitors at our doorstep. This morning the weather
was nasty, so we all stayed inside & did some spring cleaning. The
interior looks great. Now we need some good weather to repaint the exterior. That's
about all the news from Cape Shirreff. I appreciate all the email I've
gotten this yr. Just a reminder, pls keep msgs brief (<3Kb) or I probably
won't get the whole thing. My email is pretty restricted here. I love the
long msgs,photos, attachments, theses, etc but unfortunately you'll have to send
them via regular mail. I
miss all of you & look forward to being in more regular contact. Have a great
holiday season.
Love & penguin eggs, Iris
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