Among Penguins

by Strycker, Noah

• ISBN13: 9780870716294
• ISBN10: 0870716298
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-04-01
• Publisher: Oregon State Univ Pr

Summary

The year he graduated from college, twenty-two-year-old Noah Strycker was dropped by helicopter in a remote Antarctic field camp with two bird scientists and a three months' supply of frozen food. His subjects: more than a quarter million penguins. Compact, industrious, and approachable, the Ad#xE9;lie Penguins who call Antarctica home visit their breeding grounds each Antarctic summer to nest and rear their young before returning to sea. Because of long-term studies, scientists may know more about how these penguins will adjust to climate change than about any other creature in the world. Bird scientists like Noah are less well known. Like the intrepid early explorers of Antarctica, modern scientists drawn to the frozen continent face an utterly inhospitable landscape, one that inspires, isolates, and punishes. With wit, curiosity, and a deep knowledge of his subject, Strycker recounts the reality of life at the end of the Earth--thousand-year-old penguin mummies, hurricane-force blizzards, and day-to-day existence in below freezing temperatures--and delves deep into a world of science, obsession, and birds. Among Penguinsweaves a captivating tale of penguins and their researchers on the coldest, driest, highest, and windiest continent on Earth. Birders, lovers of the Antarctic, and fans of first-person adventure narratives will be fascinated by Strycker's book.

Author Biography

Noah Strycker, an Oregon State University graduate, has studied birds around the world, including on Southeast Farallon Island; in the Kimberley, Australia; in Hawaii; in Panama; and in the Antarctic. He is Associate Editor of the American Birding Association's magazine, Birding. He blogs at www.noahstrycker.com.

Table of Contents

Whiteout	p. 7
Why?	p. 17
South	p. 20
Arrival	p. 25
McMurdo	p. 30
Coffee House	p. 37
A Very Brief History of Penguins	p. 40
Ice Figure	p. 45
Visitor	p. 50
Home	p. 54
Crozier	p. 58
Snowcraft	p. 63
Bucketheads	p. 69
Flying Machines	p. 73
Touchdown	p. 77
Among Penguins	p. 84
Area M	p. 88
Metropolis	p. 91
Man Hauling	p. 95
Life of a Penguin	p. 102
Wrangling	p. 104
Penguin Science	p. 107
Schedule	p. 111
Never Trust a Penguin	p. 120
Gap Year	p. 127
Emperors	p. 132
Roughed Up	p. 136
Blondie and Blackie	p. 139
Seawatching	p. 149
Satellite Tags	p. 153
Thanksgiving	p. 157
Young Birders	p. 161
Stranded	p. 164
The Chase	p. 167
Penguin Traffic	p. 171
Christmas	p. 174
Heat Wave	p. 183
Bird Bums	p. 188
Banding	p. 192
Aftermath	p. 196
Acknowledgments	p. 202
Index	p. 203
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