Adelie in town

Someone gave me a tip that an Adelie penguin had dug itself a little snow cave as shelter down at the sea edge, by where the water treatment plant outflow is. (Random fact: unlike at Pole where all of our water was melted from the ice sheet, at McMurdo they have a reverse osmosis treatment plant that turns sea water into our sweet water.)

So I walked down to the sea ice view point there, as instructed...

...and then stood on the right edge of the platform and looked down, and sure enough there were little penguin footprints leading to the edge below the platform...

...and when I bent down I could see a little cave, and it was occupied! Being able to hold my phone down level with the platform gave a great view of this little guy.

...and then zooming in...even better! He's molting and looks very cozy and settled in there. I wonder how long he'll stay, as the sea ice is really freezing over. Makes me realize how little I know about the habits of penguins. I'll have to check back in on him in a few more weeks.