Adélie penguins and grounded tabular iceberg, Ross Sea, Antarctica

Large tabular icebergs are common in the Ross Sea, and are mostly derived from the huge Ross Ice Shelf to the south. (They also known as ‘snowbergs’ as they more often than not comprise compressed snow rather than glacial ice, and are less dense than true icebergs). Sometimes a grounded ‘berg such as this one may stay in place for a year or more, until tides and currents send it on its way again.

As well as these icebergs, Adélie penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae) are frequently found gathered together on shore ice or on drifting ice floes in the Ross Sea. In this particular scene it seemed as though they were enjoying a day out at the beach, not unlike the way humans flock to popular sandy beaches on a hot summer’s day. It was about 10am on a weekday when I took this photograph, and it struck me at the time how odd it felt to be there watching these penguins when, back in New Zealand at that very moment, my colleagues at work would have been filling their coffee mugs for morning tea as part of their own daily routines.

As I pressed the shutter button, I caught myself wondering what my own life must look like from a penguin’s perspective… would it make any sense?