Paulet Island

Leaving Heroina Island, we arrived at Paulet Island for a late afternoon Zodiac landing. On shore we hiked up a steep ridge, along a fresh water lake, and then over a saddle between two hills and back to the coble beach. Total altitude gain was about 800 feet, so except for difficult footing it was not a big deal physically. But the interesting thing was that at 800 feet above sea level, we could look up to higher ground and see penguins nesting. Each day, the adults would make the pilgrimage down to the sea, feed, and return to feed their chicks. This is a huge investment for a penguin, a huge expenditure of time and energy devoted to child rearing.

Imagine what would be the equivalent for a human parent in terms of time and energy ... maybe a five mile walk to the grocery store; a five mile return; carrying only the groceries that would fit in a single small bag.

These photos were taken in February, 2006 with a Nikon D200.

Not all the penguins nest up high. Firstly there's not enough room. Secondly, not all the penguins return to nest at the same time. Late penguins must settle for sub-optimal nesting spots. Here is part of an Adelie penguin colony nesting closer to shore.
On each island we visited, there were many kinds of seabirds. To be classified a true seabird, it needs to return to land only to mate and raise chicks. Otherwise seabirds spend their entire life at sea. This is a Blue-eyed Shag. There was also a colony of them nesting on Paulet Island. Like penguins, they showed no fear of us.
As we left the island, the sun came out. Generally the best time of day to photograph anything is very early in the morning or vary late in the afternoon. The sun is low in the sky and it creates a soft light filtered by a long journey through our atmosphere. This in turn creates well defined shadows which are photogenic.
The sea coast benefits from the soft evening light. Because it's summer in the Antarctic and because we are close to the Antarctic Circle, it stays light pretty late. This photo was taken around 9:50 PM local time.