Hey! Somebody’s spying on us! (photo: Michael Trautmann)
Hi, everybody! I’m Micha, the electrical engineer for the Neumayer Station III, and in this series of blog entries, I’d like to share a few of the photographs I’ve taken over the past five months. 😊
Figure 1 Me in front of the Neumayer Station, shortly before the Polar Night (photo: Benita Wagner)
The series is divided into five entries, which will be released on a daily basis from today through Friday.
In today’s instalment, I’d like to follow up on Aurelia’s blog entry on penguins. It’s so much fun to have them around. And since the chicks have hatched, they’ve become one of our favourite attractions.
All closeups were taken with a Sony FE 200-600mm telephoto lens, F5.6-6.3 G OSS.
Figure 2 The penguin colony in a huddle (photo: Michael Trautmann)
Image Gallery
Figure 3 The penguin colony in a huddle (photo: Michael Trautmann)
Figure 4 The penguin colony in a huddle (photo: Michael Trautmann)
Figure 5 The penguin colony in a huddle (photo: Michael Trautmann)
Figure 6 Three curious penguins, with the rest of the colony in the background (photo: Michael Trautmann)
Figure 7 Heat vapours rising from the penguin colony and caught in the sunshine (photo: Michael Trautmann)
Figure 8 Two emperor penguins near the ice shelf edge (photo: Michael Trautmann)
It’s fascinating to see how the emperor penguins manage to keep their eggs from freezing, despite the local conditions. Unfortunately, not every penguin manages to keep their egg safe.
Figure 9 Two emperor penguins keeping their eggs warm together (photo: Michael Trautmann)
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Figure 10 An abandoned emperor penguin egg (photo: Michael Trautmann)
Figure 11 Another abandoned emperor penguin egg (photo: Michael Trautmann)
Towards the end of July, we started seeing the first penguin chicks. First, we started hearing their adorable peeping. But actually managing to see one wasn’t so easy at first. Two weeks later, there were chicks everywhere you looked. And yes, they are a breath-taking sight!
But it also makes you realise once again the extreme conditions that they grow up under. Unfortunately, they don’t all make it.
Figure 12 Hey! Somebody’s spying on us! (photo: Michael Trautmann)
Image Gallery
Figure 13 Curious emperor penguin chick (photo: Michael Trautmann)
Figure 14 Emperor penguins showing off their new chicks (photo: Michael Trautmann)
Figure 15 Sleepy penguin chick (photo: Michael Trautmann)
Figure 16 Emperor penguin mates, together with their chick (photo: Michael Trautmann)
Figure 17 Chick being fed (photo: Michael Trautmann)
Figure 18 Meet-and-greet for two emperor penguin chicks (photo: Michael Trautmann)
Figure 19 Frozen emperor penguin chick (photo: Michael Trautmann)
To round out this entry, here is a shot of the penguin colony with the polar lights, and one of the Milky Way in the night sky. 😊
Figure 20 The penguin colony in the glow of the polar lights (photo: Michael Trautmann)Figure 21 The penguin colony with the Milky Way in the night sky (photo: Michael Trautmann)
