Snow Petrels

Adelies and Snow Petreles rarely interact, but this one was interested in what the penguins were up to, for some reason.

This year there are a lot of Snow Petrels - every day we see at least 4, and sometimes more than 30 at once. Over the years they seem to be steadily increasing in numbers, at least as seen from Cape Crozier. But are they nesting here? We have tried several times to find them on Post Office Hill, Pat's Peak, and other seemingly likely cliff areas, with no luck.

Snow Petrels are the southernmost breeding birds, and except for humans (and humans' symbiots), the southernmost breeding animals, utilizing nunataks (snow free mountain tops and ridges exposed above the ice fields), sometimes many miles from the ocean. Apparently they project very stinky oil (i.e., they barf) at intruders to their nesting crevices, so perhaps it's just as well that we have not located them.