Torgerson Island

There's an island very close to station that has long been an Adelie penguin nesting colony. Torgeson has seen a 90% decline of nesting Adelie pairs in recent years as a result of climate change (the Adelies are moving farther south and traditionally more northern species such as Gentoos and Chinstraps are more and more often seen around these parts). But I had nothing to compare it to so it was thrilling--now that the chicks are big enough that our visit won't stress or threaten them--to get to visit Torgie for the first time last week.

A lot of the chicks were almost as big as the adults at this point, but most of them had not molted so still looked like cute fluffy little kids.

The scenery on the island--including some dramatic metamorphic rocks--was also a joy to explore.

Thanks to CL for taking these pics as penguins got thrillingly close to me. The Antarctic Treaty has strict rules about how close we are allowed to get to various kinds of wildlife without a scientific permit, and even if we are the regulated distance away and the animals are showing signs of distress, we are to move away to a greater distance. But if we are stationary and an animal approaches, that is the animal's choice. That happened a couple of times while I was at Torgie, once while I was just sitting and watching a colony (there was some cross-traffic!)...

...and again when I was back down at the shore getting ready to get back in the boat. I was ahead of the rest of the group and just sitting there quietly and these Adelies just popped out of the water directly in front of me. I didn't move at all, and they were so busy drying off and trying to figure out where to go next considering the other humans that were slowly making their way down from the top of the hill, I'm not even sure they noticed me!