It was off to Humble Island today. Four or five of us were prepared to work with the penguins. At first, we spent some time observing the chicks. We were curious as to how they would act with their parents having left for the first time. It was time for them to be foraging for food. When we were through watching the penguins it was time to start tagging them. We had no clue as to how they would act. I wondered if it was too soon to be starting this but the chicks were extremely agreeable. This might be the age we should always tag them!
We worked on this for a while and then ate lunch. We spent quite a bit more time on this in the afternoon. Then it was time to observe the elephant seals. We wanted to see the effects they had on the penguins. They lounge around near the chicks all the time. Oddly enough, both groups seen to have no effect on each other. If it was almost any other type of animal, the chicks would probably reject them. We spent the rest of the afternoon watching the interaction between the penguins and the seals. Then it was time to head back to Palmer Station for din-din! After we returned, we cleaned up a little bit and had dinner. It was delicious. Even though we were tired, we spent some time talking and playing games with everyone else. Finally, it was time to go to bed. It was a tiring day. We learned a lot, but I'm glad tomarrow is my day off!