An expanse of pure milky white, as far as the eye can see. When Chennai-based Srikanth Chandrasekaran stepped down from a helicopter on the Snow Hill island in Antarctica, on an expedition to photograph Emperor penguins, “it felt like stepping into an extra-terrestrial world,” he recalls. Back in the city from the eight-day excursion, he narrates what he calls the trip of a lifetime.
Last month, the amateur wildlife photographer met his crew members — comprising stalwarts such as the Penguin Watch team, Sue Flood, author of Emperor: The Perfect Penguin , and several other biologists — at the “end of the world” Ushuaia, Argentina for a trip organised by Quark Expeditions, and set forth sailing along the Drake passage to Antarctica on an ice-breaker ship.
Love at first sight
From their ship, the helicopter flew them to the landing site: a mile away from the Emperor penguins’ colony at Snow Hill — the northernmost colony and the only one accessible to man. From there, they started walking on foot.
“We heard them before we saw them,” says Srikanth, recalling how the calls of the penguins grew louder, “It was like walking into a packed stadium waiting for a big game to begin.” And then they appeared in his line of vision, 7,000 of them, waddling around and huddling next to one another.
Struck with a sense of gratitude in being allowed to share space in what seemed to him like the last frontier of the world, he says, “It was surreal and overwhelming. There were no barriers here; they were free and we were too.”
Along with the sense of awe, also came a sense of responsibility. “I couldn’t help but feel guilty, being part of an environment where we don’t belong. We made sure not to disturb them,” he says. The crew was ordered to stay 30 metres away from the colony; the chicks, however, were curious enough to approach them and came as close as two feet.
Cameras down
For three days, the crew would spend six-seven hours photographing and filming the penguins; dropped and picked up by helicopters in the mornings and evenings. “The weather was quite pleasant for us. Only zero to minus four degrees, plus a good deal of sunlight,” he says. Unfortunately, for the penguins, that meant hot. “They were rolling around in the ice, eating snow to cool themselves.”
“Initially I was clicking as many pictures as I could, that was what I was there for!” he says, “But then I realised that it would be impossible to capture everything my eyes saw.” So he put his camera down, and just took in the wonderful sights. “I noticed an adult penguin taking the chicks on a walk. But when he left them, they had to find their way back on their own. It was quite entertaining the way they were fumbling around,” he says. The adults were trying to make the chicks self reliant.
When life thrives in places you don’t expect it to, it demands respect. “As cute as they look, the life of a chick can be quite tough,” says Srikanth, who also saw quite a few dead penguin chicks and abandoned eggs. .
Memories of a lifetime
From the ship he saw simultaneous moonset and sunrise. “The skies were glorious… lilac on one side of the horizon, orange on the other.” At nights, the moon was full, and in the moonlight, the ice looked whiter than ever. These are images etched in his memory. “On the second day, I woke up with my eyes burnt due to the reflection from the ice; I hadn’t worn my sunglasses all the time,” he says. That wasn’t all. “There were places where the snow was soft. One wrong foot and you could sink up to your thigh.” Remember, there is nothing but the ocean below.
Despite everything, Srikanth says he wouldn’t want to visit the penguins second time. “It’s not good to get greedy and disturb them more than you have to,” he says. Instead, he has memories of lilac skies, white walls of ice, and 7,000 penguins to last him a lifetime.
Life of an emperor penguin
The breeding cycle begins around April when the sea ice is thick enough to support the thousands of penguins. The birds return every year to the same location, and relocate their mates or, if they haven’t bred before, find one.
Penguins sing songs and bow their heads to court mates. Once they breed and the egg is laid, the male puts it on his feet and covers it with a skin fold, keeping it toasty warm. The females head for the sea to hunt.
During winter storms, the males huddle closely together to keep warm, without any food for four months till the eggs hatch. When the females return to the colony in July, they locate their partners with their unique calls. She has to work quite hard to convince her mate to hand over the tiny chick.
During the chick rearing period, both parents go to hunt, and chicks turn to anybody willing to feed them. By early December the chicks are nearly as big as their parents, with little black patches on their flippers.
Parents have to decide how long they are going to continue to look after the little one. If they leave the chick too early, it may die next winter. However, if they continue feeding the chick for too long, they may not feed themselves enough to survive the winter.
Srikanth will take children on a virtual tour of Antarctica through his photographs on November 29, from 5 pm to 7 pm at The Learning Community At Quest, Palavakkam.
Source: www.antarctica.gov.au
