Penguins on Torgesson Island

A small part of the Adelie colony on Torgy

Adelies are the smallest penguins and they build nests out of small rocks, each year nesting in the same spot

Penguins don't nest in the snow so you'll see the colony spread out over these little rock clearings

It's hard to see clearly but this bird is a brown skua. They are the Adelie penguins main predator and will pull adult penguins off of nests to get to their eggs

Penguin tracks

Torgesson Island is just a few minutes from station, so a lot of people go there to penguin-watch, like I'm doing

A lone Adelie on its nest

A good Adelie photo

This photo gives you a sense of the size of the colony- the island is practically covered in penguins

Heading back to the water

On my second weekend here, Elizabeth and I took out a boat to go to Torgesson Island to see the penguins that nest there. We're only allowed to visit certain parts of the island so that we don't disturb them, but because they've been studied for so many years here, they are used to having humans around. I'd never seen so many penguins in one spot before and it was a little overwhelming . Of course, as soon as we got there I realized that I'd forgotten to change the batteries in my camera so these really great photos were taken by Elizabeth.