Part I: Seals teeth and whales ears - Scott Polar Research Institute ...

whether the darker birds were older than the light-coloured individuals, but had no
immediate means of checking. We stood and watched them, flying along just above
the ice surface, into the wind, nose (or rather beak) to the ice and zigzagging like
yachts tacking to the wind. At frequent intervals they would alight, standing with
wings outstretched, or run along the surface for a few yards, taking off and running
again, and so on - but always into the wind. Then they would soar up and round to
the back of the queue. Occasionally a pair alighted, one standing astern of the other,
dipping beak to ground in a nervously regular action. I again noticed that the larger
birds were almost invariably darker than the others, but would have to check this by
measurements.
A week later Derek and John went to shoot a Dominican for the pot, which I first
skinned and examined - it had large cephalopod beaks in the stomach. Charlie
rushed excitedly into the hut calling out that he “had seen something queer" coming
out of a seal blowhole. This turned out to be a string of gentoo penguins - 18
altogether – the local version of a Loch Ness Monster I supposed! We walked out
about a mile to them and I caught and dispatched one for the pot - in fine condition
and very fat. Derek and John now appeared at the South end of Mirounga Flats. The
penguins were going in that direction and we followed them, catching another as we
met the others; this would supply us with much needed fresh meat. I skinned
another gull after lunch and then was kept busy preparing and roasting it for dinner.
The snowies, Cape pigeons and giants were abundant, plus a few Dominicans
including one immature; there was still only one sheathbill. I replaced the terragraph
at nest 39, which soon had a bird sitting above it.
Next day we had a penguin for dinner - the meat very palatable though smelling
slightly of kipper! And three days later I skinned and prepared (marinated) a
Dominican gull carcass for Derek to cook. That evening when Charlie and I came
back from the ice-edge it was dusk and the snowies were lined up at the crack
between Outer Islet and the shore, drinking. They followed us ‘leap-frogging’ over
one another. On 26 September John and Derek went over to Elephant Flats and
reported two terns. A well-fed, fat and healthy Adélie penguin was seen between the
two islands at Gourlay. Snowies were drinking at the tide cracks, Cape pigeons in
small numbers, giants in force, also Dominicans. Next day I skinned another two
birds for science in the morning and afternoon - but cleaning the penguin skin took a
very long time.
Bird numbers continued to fluctuate and a tern flew over on 3 October. Adélies
were now arriving over the pack in trickles. Five days later the snowies were in force,
a few Cape pigeons, giants in force, large strings of penguins travelling North and
Northeast; a dozen gulls and a few sheathbills. I heard another tern. Next day the
terragraph was clicking and there were many snowies and giants inshore, a few Cape
pigeons, about 16 gulls, and the usual half a dozen sheathbills. A few terns were now
taking up nesting territories. Adélies continued to stream in, mostly from the South
but we saw an occasional train from the north.
Tern numbers built up, snowies and giants were abundant, a few Cape pigeons,
the usual gulls and sheathbills, and larger numbers of penguins were coming in. By
10 October many of the Adélies at Gourlay were already paired (40%), thieving and
presenting of stones, fighting, crowing, was all most amusing. This behaviour has
often been described in the literature. Strings of penguins were still arriving, mixed
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