These
Adélies have a problem, they went out fishing at high tide and now. some
hours later have returned. In the meantime the tide has gone out. Still attached
to the land is the "ice-foot" an ice step left behind as the
tide rises and falls in the winter months to which the floating sea ice is
loosely attached. When the sea ice breaks out, the ice-foot is left behind
for a period of days to weeks before rising temperatures and the waves
cause this to break off too.
So what was a short hop
down for the penguins is now a step too high for them. I spent a couple of
hours one afternoon watching and following an ever increasing number of
penguins as they came back from their fishing trip. They wandered up and
down the shore-line trying to find somewhere to get up, but to no avail.
Eventually, the tide came back in and so they floated back up to the right
level and were able to get back to their nests. The ice-foot broke off
completely a few days later in a mild storm.
Photo; © Paul Ward - Pentax equipment, 100mm
lens, 35mm film, K64.
This picture may not be copied or used in any manner without
prior written permission.
