 Happy New Year from Cape Shirreff!
We just finished our 2nd round of pup
weights. Fur seal pups are getting large & harder to carry for their
weigh-ins. We also did human weights & found that most of us have put on a
few pounds - extra insulation for the cold. Tonight the Chileans will come
over to ring in the new year with us. I'm on dinner duty, so I need to
start cooking soon. It's also our weekly shower day - yippee! All is well on the
penguin colonies. Chinstrap chicks are hatching every day & growing fast.
They are incredibly cute. Some of the gentoo chicks are almost 3 wks old &
are spilling out from under their parents. They're all belly - we call
them "Buddha chicks". Now there's always at least 1 parent on the nest
protecting the chicks, but in a couple of weeks their parents will both
have to go to sea to provide enough food for the gaping mouths. The chicks then
gather in a group called a "creche" & have to defend themselves from
marauding skuas. It's sad watching chicks getting nabbed by skuas, but
such is life in the penguin world. I have a big pile of elephant seals stacking
up near my colonies. Nothing smells worse than 18 elephant-seals defecating &
urinating for weeks on end, & supposedly the smell only gets worse. Fur
seals at least have the decency to poop in the water. Yesterday I had two
leopard seals come to shore. They are amazing to look at - strong heads, sharp,
pointy teeth. Soon they'll start feasting on seal pups who are just
learning how to swim, then in Feb they dine on fledging penguin chicks. We've been
seeing lots of humpback whales feeding near the cape. I guess the krill is
abundant in the area. There is even a Japanese krill trawler fishing
off-shore. Strange to see signs of civilization besides us (& we're only
borderline civilized.) The seal biologists have started sorting seal poop
under the microscope, a tedious task they try to glamorize by calling it
"diet sampling." Mike & I will start our own version of penguin diet
sampling next week. The process involves grabbing a penguin as it returns
from sea to feed its chick, then pumping its stomach with water until it
vomits. The penguins are released unharmed, but they have to go right back
out & feed again. It's definitely what Mike calls a "bad karma"
activity. We then sort, weigh, measure & ID the different components of
their diet. A lot of the CCAMLR work is to monitor the effects of krill
fishing on seabird & seal populations by studying diets, growth rates,
reproductive success, population size, etc, so all this animal torture is for their own good.
Skua chicks started hatching a couple of days ago. They're adorable
when they're young & tiny. In a week they'll reach the awkward, gawky
adolescent phase. Birds mature very fast. Time is flying by down here.
It's hard to believe it's already January & in a few months I'll be home. My
boss will be arriving in 2 weeks. Please write - I'd love to get some
mail!
I look forward to
hearing from you. Until then, Feliz Ano Nuevo!
Love,
Iris
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