The Adelie penguins are in trouble.
(pr. ah-DAY-lee)
Their populations are dwindling.
They're not moving to new places, they're simply...
disappearing.
Bill Fraser has been studying Adelie penguins at Palmer Station
in Antarctica for 35 years.
His findings were just published in a book written by Fen Montaigne,
and edited by bird biologist friend and co-staff worker, Brent Houston,
who's been a part of this study for several years.
Follow this link where Montaigne goes toe to toe with Stephen Colbert
in an interview on the talk show on global warming,
The Colbert Report
Each year we see these populations disappearing, too.
We've had the privilege to sit with them for some time,
watching their comings and goings.
It's tragic to know the next time we return they may not be there.
Some of these colonies have been dated back several hundreds of years.
They breed and raise their young on land,
after Antarctica has melted off its yearly accumulation of sea ice
and the penguins can find shore once again.
This usually happens in October and November each year.
The incubation period for their eggs is 35 days.
Adelies weigh around 9-13 lbs. and are about 18" tall.
They're solid as a rock being all muscle and very little fat.
After the chicks have fledged and lost most of their downy outer layer
they group together in 'creches' for warmth and protection
from invading skuas...birds that resemble sea gulls but are dark brown
and eat penguin eggs and chicks.
This frees up the parents to go to sea for food where
they eat krill and small fishes.
When they return to the colony they find their chicks by calling.
They feed the chicks packets of regurgitated food.
Sometimes they get distracted by our strange looking boats.
When the chicks reach maturity and have lost all their down
they are now ready to go to sea with the others in their colonies.
They spend the Antarctic winter feeding and resting on
ice bergs past the edge of the sea ice.
So the only time they're on land is to breed, incubate their eggs
and raise their chicks.
Below, a skua attempts to take off with an egg
but the Adelies fight back and eventually win,
this time anyway.
Penguins in Antarctica build nests of pebbles to aid drainage.
Heavy wet snow can be a disaster for eggs and chicks.
Going to sea can be very risky.
Leopard seals wait just below the ice or off shore
for the first penguin in the group.
Many will back away from the edge until the group finally
pushes one forward.
This can be disastrous, but not always.
Therefore there's always a great deal of hesitation among the leaders of the group.
A fishing and feeding trip in the sea has added benefits.
They always return clean and fresh.
This lucky Adelie penguin, below, escaped certain death from a leopard seal
by jumping into our zodiac for a ride!
The leopard seal knew it was there, it circled for quite some time
before giving up and going after other penguins.
Adelies are hardy and sturdy.
Their feathers are curved, forming a dense layer of warm trapped air beneath.
They create a waterproof barrier on their feathers by
expelling oil from a gland above their tails and spreading it around on top of the feathers.
This must be done each time they emerge from the sea.
Sitting on a nest in a tightly packed penguin colony
makes them targets for guano squirted with great force
from their nearby neighbors.
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ABOVE: South Shetland Islands, 2008
