We are back at McMurdo after spending six amazing days at Cape Bird, on the northern side of Ross Island. We were blessed with incredible, sunny summer weather the entire time, with the exception of a brisk Southerly that bullied us for a day with 50 to 60 knot gusts.



Getting to Cape Bird is about a 25-minute helo trip along the shoulder of Mt. Erebus, passing over Cape Evans, Cape Royds and beyond to where the sea ice ends and the open water reigns.



We passed over menacing looking crevasse fields that made me glad I was in a helicopter.



I would guess that those "chunks" are all much bigger than a house.

A beach near Cape Bird with shore ice and floes.



We passed Mt. Erebus then flew nearly over the top of Mt. Bird. The coast on this part of the island is sheer rocky cliffs, but over on the other side of the mountain is Cape Bird, a stretch of flat beach with terraces that Adelie penguins have found ideal for nesting.

The helo landed on the beach and one of the penguin scientists, Phil, assisted us with our about 200 pounds of gear. Which I thought was very nice, considering all that gear had to go up these stairs to the hut above.



The red box and bag at the bottom of the stairs is a survival cache.

The view from the hut is splendid, as you can see. The ovoid area at the bottom with the little black dots is a small Adelie penguin colony. There are a few of these colonies on the beach in front of the hut. But I thought there were a lot more penguins at Cape Bird than that.



Never fear; we found the rest of them. A short walk up the hill behind the hut revealed this view.



According to the Katie, Brian and Phil (the penguin scientists), there are around 80,000 Adelie penguins here. It's Cape Royds on steroids (for those of you in-the-know locals). On the horizon is Beauford Island (that's the island that the B-15 iceberg got stuck on a couple years back). On the right is a glacier that flows off of Mt. Bird.

While gazing at this magnificent view, I happened to look at my feet and found this.



What the..? What is that green stuff? The entire 10 years I've been coming here, I've never seen anything growing on Ross Island. But here is some moss, carving out an existence among the rocks.

The hut is a 40 x 25 foot structure owned by the New Zealand Antarctic Programme and we were grateful to be able to stay in their facility. This is the main living area of the hut. Water for drinking and cooking is melted from snow.



In addition to that there is no phone, no lights, no internet...not a single luxury... (hmmm, a certain 70's TV theme song just popped into my head). But they do have solar panels, a radio and a modern generator that provided enough power for everyone's computer and assorted battery chargers.

The next day, a sparkling, warm summer day, we packed up cameras and tripods and headed down the hill and up the coast. We were concerned about disturbing the nesting Adelies, but the scientists gave us some tips and assured us that it was okay to walk in between the rookeries, as the penguins are somewhat accustomed to human presence. Plus the fact that we are land-dwelling creatures, the Adelies don't really recognize us as a threat. Everything they are afraid of is in the water. So we walked slowly and carefully and made sure to keep a safe distance.



At this point in the summer, most of the penguins have laid their two eggs and are spending all their time keeping them warm. Their mates journey to the sea to "go fishing" in order to feed themselves and the chicks when they hatch.

We were lucky enough to spot a few chicks. This one is still half in the egg.



Penguins are amazing birds. But they don't really seem like birds though do they? They are most at home in the sea, where their streamlined bodies and "flipper wings" propel them along with graceful speed and agility. On land, their movements are slower and seem more awkward, even comical. It is so easy for one's voice to go up two octaves and pronounce their irresistible cuteness about every two minutes.



Ok, time for a quiz. True or false? (With the exception of their beaks and feet), Adelie penguins are black and white? The answer a bit later.

Penguins are flightless birds, but this photo seems to suggest otherwise. (Note center penguins reflection in water below).



While Adelies are fascinating creatures to watch and oh-so-cute, there are some harsh realities of a penguin rookery. One might be taken aback to see the countless carcasses of dead penguins and chicks littered around the edges of the rookeries, or the streams of penguin effluent coursing down the hill and mixing with glacial runoff, or the relentless overhead attacks of Skuas stealing and eating penguins eggs and newly hatched chicks. This ain't Sea World.

The warm summer temperatures are slowly melting away the shore ice.



We found an area towards the glacier that a lot of penguins gathered and waited for the perfect opportunity to jump in the water and go fishing. They seem incredibly nervous at the water's edge and for good reason. Leopard seals and Orcas are their main predators and can snatch them from the ice edge.



We waited for hours to get shots of the penguins jumping in. But it was worth the wait. Antz got this fantastic shot.



Adelie's often eat snow to hydrate themselves. This one found one of the few patches of snow left on the beach.



Okay, the answer to the quiz. False. They are black and white and BLUE.

Notice in this close-up that every tiny feather is tipped in light blue. I never knew this. This seems to make them rather exotic.



We spent six days at Cape Bird, venturing out in the evening hours (sometimes until 3am) when the sun was at its lowest angle and the light soft and glowing. While Anthony set up time-lapse shots and took stills, I captured lots of high-definition video.

Now we are spending our last evening at McMurdo Station. We have spent the last few days packing and wrapping up loose ends. Anthony has been out today getting last minutes sequences of Hut Point, Mt. Erebus, Roll Cage Mary and others. So this leg of our journey is coming to an end. Anthony achieved all his goals for this trip, but as an artist will tell you, "it never really is enough."

In the coming months, we will not be updating the blog as often as we have on this trip. Antz will be doing post-production work on his images and as soon as something exciting or notable happens, we will definitely post an update. If you will subscribe to the blog, you will receive notification when we have posted something new. I've been told there is a "Subscribe" button somewhere on the blog home page.

This just in...

As I've been spending hours trying to get this blog entry updated on an abysmally slow internet connection, this is what has happened outside.



It's not looking too good for our flight. *sigh*