Chinstrap Penguin Survey on Elephant Island in Antarctica

Noah Strycker, a graduate student at Stony Brook University in New York, studies Chinstrap Penguins on Elephant Island. An observer must count every single penguin nest, one by one, and repeat the count three times within a 5% margin to ensure accuracy. It’s often easiest to find a high point with a good view, and use landmarks (like rocks and other terrain features) to visually divide up large chunks of birds. Elephant Island is home to one of the world’s largest Chinstrap Penguin populations, yet it has only been ornithologically surveyed once in 1971, by a British Joint Services expedition. To understand how penguin populations are faring, a census has been organised by researchers from Stony Brook University, Northeastern University and Greenpeace to study the impact of climate change on fragile chinstrap penguin colonies on Elephant Island in Antarctica. (This picture was taken in 2020 during the Antarctic leg of the Pole to Pole expedition under the Dutch permit number RWS-2019/40813)