(This pic will - I hope - be replaced by a video clip & spoken story later; there are too many users online at the moment for our limited bandwidth to cope with much more than a few jpgs for now.)
Heartening news - this lone Adele wandered purposefully off-track, heading inland for what must have been a good hour or so before stopping, re-assessing the situation and turning back. This sort of 'lost penguin' incident seems to happen fairly often. Mummified Adele penguins and Weddell seals are common sights hundreds of kilometres up the Dry Valleys. What is it that causes them to go so obviously wrong - does their ordinarily reliable instinctual 'navigation system' malfunction? Are they spurned by their waddle? (I just learned that a group of land-based penguins is aptly named a 'waddle.') Or are these rebel birds pushing the parameters of what it means to be 'penguin,' independent characters breaking the rules of their community group in a bid to assert their autonomy or forge their own route?
It's difficult not to anthropomorphize these endearing creatures.
Photograph: Steve Clabuesch
Ah penguins. Gotta love 'em. Thanks for making sure they turned up here!
ReplyDeleteHi Laurice - this one might well be the only penguin we see all season. With your penchant for penguins, I'm glad to know you spotted him! Thanks for following Ice Lines - I'm really enjoying your blog, too. I was gutted to hear that Creative NZ has withdrawn/decided not to provide NZPS funding support this coming round. Grrrr and Ouch and Bloody Hell. What can they possibly be thinking? Thankfully, the Listener has reinstated their poetry page, but one can't help wondering why there seems so often to be a fight for The Essentials? C
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