King penguins, Right Whale Bay, South Georgia Island. Canon 5D Mark II, 24-105mm f/4L IS (28mm), 1/25 sec. @ f/9, ISO 400.
I wrote from the Polar Star about my first encounter with a King penguin. Now with some photos at hand, and a little more time and energy, I’ll retell the experience. Right Whale Bay, on South Georgia Island, is a beach loaded with fur seals, elephant seals, and king penguins. Throw in some giant petrels and a few other birds, along with lots of noise and distinct odors, and the scene unfolds into a biomass of life and sound. It was my first time ashore on South Georgia Island, that famous place I first read about in the book: Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage, many years ago.
I went with Jim Danzenbaker (one of the bird naturalists onboard) through the sea of life on land, to chart out a path to the king penguin colony prior to the guests arriving onshore. We navigated fur seals with very cute little pups scattered all over the beach. Navigate means that you give berth and beware of defensive, sharply toothed, sometimes charging fur seals which are not to be taken glibly. Closer to the colony we stopped to observe the crowds of penguins. One bird, maybe 30 yards away, singled me out for reasons of sheer curiosity (I think) and started walking directly at me. I knelt down and it came to within 2 feet, poked its head and bill at me, looking very curiously, then after a while proceeded to circumnavigate me, and sauntered off. It was incredulous. I was amazed. And I was without my camera! Except I had my handy iPhone which I pulled out and turned on the video. Excerpts:
It was a very thrilling and anthropomorphic experience, and I had no encounter as distinct and selective as that for the rest of the trip (save maybe Paulet Island-more on that later). It was a very grand welcome to the world of penguins.
After that, I went to get my camera bag, which I left back at the landing location. It was getting late, so the light was pretty shadowy but I managed to get my witts together and grabbed a few frames while feeling totally overwhelmed, and not really knowing where to point the camera. I could hardly sleep that night thinking that was just the first few hours ashore, and we were not even on the Antarctic Peninsula yet.
My friends Bob and Marcia Turner enjoying the sights at Right Whale Bay, South Georgia Island. Canon 5D Mark II, 24-105mm f4L (47mm), 1/80 sec @ f/7.1, ISO 400
