Merry Christmas from Cape Shirreff!
Finally we had a beautiful, sunny afternoon which made for a productive day of work. We're not expecting a white x-mass down here; perhaps a wet x-mass. We'll see. Sometimes the weather at the Cape surprises us. We could be blanketed by a couple inches of snow when we wake up or we could have a windy, dry day. We'll see. Tonight is Christmas eve. Mike is grilling some salmon for dinner. He's an excellent cook - everyone down here is. We're eating well. Later we'll go over to the Chilean camp to celebrate Christmas eve Chilean style. We'll hang out & drink until the wee hours of the morning, with a brief pause to exchange gifts at midnight. It should be fun. They have the amazing ability to stay up until 6am on a regular basis, although their work the next day usually doesn't start until 2pm when they wake up. On Christmas day we'll have a leisurely work day in penguin-world - just checking to see who is incubating & looking for new chicks which are hatching left & right. We'll exchange gifts & have a nice breakfast. In the evening the Chileans will come to our camp for Christmas dinner. This year we're going to try smoked duck - not penguin, mind you - roast duck from Indiana compliments of our friends at Cobacabana field camp on King George Island. We'll see what veggies we can muster up from our depleted supplies. Certainly we'll have no problems making lots of rich, fattening desserts. I hope you are having a nice holiday at home - Christmas or Chanukah.

Life is starting to get busy & interesting again in the world of seabirds. Our chinstrap penguin chicks are all starting to hatch. From now until New Year's we'll have new chicks every day. Many of the gentoo chicks are getting fat & BIG. They grow so fast. Some of the chicks are already 3 weeks old & they no longer fit under their parents. In a few weeks they'll be eating so much that both adults will have to go to sea to bring back enough groceries (fish & krill). During the day the chicks need to fend for themselves. They huddle together in groups called "creches" & seem to do okay. Their only real predator on land is the skua which generally prefers grabbing bite-size chicks from new parents, but will hunt larger chicks as well. Our brown skua & gull chicks are starting to hatch as well. The Cape is bursting with new life. The gulls have a terrible parenting strategy. When they see you coming, they fly off their nest & swoop around you chattering & yelling. Meanwhile their tiny chicks bolt from the nest & go hide with their heads in the corner, "if I can't see you, you can't see me." It's rough working with them from now until they can fly because any disruption causes panic & the chicks are very vulnerable to skuas when they go running down the rocks. Stupid birds. I wish they would realize when they were in a safe location & just stay put. Chinstrap chicks are my current favorites. They are so cute in their first week - tiny little white fluff balls peeping away under their parents. I love finding eggs that have just started to hatch. You can look in the hole & listen to the little chick trying to peck his way out. Now that everyone is hatching, we're going to start full-bore on the research - diet sampling, transmitters, etc. I enjoy the long days of work, although I'm praying we'll have better weather in January. So, all is well in the far south. I hope you are doing well & having a great holiday season. Enjoy the snow (if you have any.) 

Love & penguin chicks, Iris