Amanda Bay Rookery
We went to bed at 1:30 am after taking our trip to the Amery Ice Shelf. We rose promptly at 5:00 am the next morning to go
to the Amanday Bay Rookery, another Emperor Penguin Colony. Our ship had parked itself in the Fast Ice, and as I waited
for our helicopter, I looked down and saw this revealing section of the ice broken by our ship. Note that the amount of ice
under the water is at least eight times the amount on the surface. Also, consider that the part under the water is deeper
than it looks as it is being viewed through the water.
Once again our
helicopter landed more
than a mile away among
icebergs so as to leave
the Emperors in peace
and quiet. At this colony
we were only able to see
a portion of the Emperors
as many were across a
break in the ice which we
could not cross.
The next picture is a very rare event. It was new to our birder and our wildlife experts. Emperor chicks on rocks!  The ice
had melted on top and was watery and rugged, so some of the babies decided to take advantage of the rocks which are
not common to most Emperor rookeries.
The texture in the picture at the left is
where the Emperor penguins each
held an egg. Their excrement melted
holes and each hole was watery.








Below, the Emperors with white chests
are Emperor chicks that are in the final
stage of molting into adults.
Below, chicks marching in a straight line. Since the edge of the ice was still thirty miles away, this was not their march to the
sea. Hopefully the melting will speed up so that these chicks can make it to the sea.