| Month | High | Low | Rain |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 30 | 22 | .59 |
| Feb | 15 | 11 | .83 |
| Mar | 7 | -6 | .95 |
| Apr | 1 | -13 | .72 |
| May | -2 | -17 | .93 |
| Jun | -2 | -17 | .98 |
| Jul | -17 | -22 | .61 |
| Aug | -9 | -25 | .45 |
| Sep | -5 | -21 | .46 |
| Oct | 4 | -10 | .41 |
| Nov | 20 | 9 | .38 |
| Dec | 31 | 21 | .62 |
My binoculars were trained on a father penguin and chick when suddenly the view went fuzzy. I looked up to see two adolescent penguins waddling straight toward me, curiously eyeing my camera bag.
The black blur stands out starkly on the white-and-grey shadows of the coastal ice. We pull out binoculars for a closer look. The "blur" is alive. It is, in fact, some 15,000 emperor penguins, huddled together against the sub-zero winds coming off the sea. We've found the colony.
We settle in to camp, a warm and welcome refuge on the flat Antarctic plain. The Weddell Sea and the blue-white ice cliffs become our camp boundaries, and after a few days we feel a part of this polar community. With 24 hours of sunlight, the days merge with one another, and we come and go as we like with no regard for the clock. There is so much to watch, with adult penguins sliding on their bellies and downy chicks sitting on their parent's feet to keep warm. We are asked to keep a respectful distance from the penguins, but the birds themselves are under no such restriction: they frequently waddle up to us as we observe them from our thermal mats, just as curious about us as we are about them. The constant trumpeting and mingled calls of the colony are indecipherable to us, and we are astonished every time parent and chick are able to locate each other amid thousands of other birds, just by these calls. To hear the penguin symphony is to understand how finely tuned nature truly is. We watch, take photographs and learn.
For nearly 20 years, Dick Filby has led adventures to key birding habitats. He has guided journeys to Antarctica every year since 1990, and has camped at emperor penguin colonies numerous times. Filby has travelled the world in search of birds, most notably on a seven-month driving expedition from London to India and Nepal.
Arrive in Punta Arenas, where you meet your guide for an expedition briefing. Complete final preparations, equipment checks and safety reviews.
Fly south to the Patriot Hills base camp at 2,800 feet above sea level for acclimatization. Push ahead by ski plane into the remote Antarctic interior, one of the most difficult places in the world to fly.
Depart camp and fly east over the Ronne Ice Shelf to Berkner Island to re-fuel. Continue to the coast, searching for the penguin colony and a suitable place to land. Once on the ice, scout a route to the colony and unpack in your field base camp, a warm refuge from the polar extremes.
You live among the penguins, observing and photographing them from as close as 50 feet. This colony consists of about 5,500 breeding pairs and an estimated 3,300 chicks. Also within walking distance of your camp, the Weddell seals with pups cavort in the salty waters, popping their slick heads between blue icebergs. Snow-white Antarctic terns disappear against the ice cliffs, and the occasional lone Adélie penguin runs pell-mell through the field of emperors. Your expedition ornithologist is an expert on penguin behavior and lifecycles, as well as the challenges of conducting research under these extremes.
Return via ski plane to the base camp for a celebration dinner and a toast to your achievement and overnight.
Dependant on weather, depart in the charter flight from Patriot Hills back to Punta Arenas. The following day fly from Punta Arenas home.
