Post the Twenty-Ninth

It was a beautiful evening.  Just right for a post-prandial stroll.  So, why not?  Why not indeed!

I grabbed my camera, and wandered out into the beautiful sunshine and balmy 2° evening air.

I'm very pleased I did have the camera with me, because I had some encounters with some birdies.

First off, I was Hitchcocked by some skuas.

They take a real interest in you as you walk along, which is a little bit disconcerting.  After all, these are the vultures of the Antarctic, and they are very opportunistic feeders.  They hunt as well as take carrion.  So they are, by necessity, very curious about living things that wander into their area.

Disconcerting it may be, but it does give me the chance to video them circling around above me.

But no doubt it soon becomes apparent to them that I do not represent a bit'o'dinner, and they settle back down, enabling me (and Swim-Swim) to get a shot of a couple of them.

Keeping an eye on me in case I suddenly die or something.

I continued walking, and when I got as far as I was permitted by station rules, turned around and came back again.

On my return journey I encountered this beside the path.

Looking for something.

 It barely paid me any attention, as it seemed to be looking around for something.  At first I thought it was concerned by the presence of the skuas.

Still looking.

As I was about to put the camera away and walk past this clearly distracted little penguin, the reason for its preoccupation became evident, and it wasn't skuas.

It was another Adelie, which emerged from the water about 20 metres away and began to make its way up the hill toward the path.

I'm guessing (and only guessing, mind you) that it was the first penguin's mate, since as soon as the newcomer drew attention to itself by calling, the first penguin got very excited and legged it up the path toward the new one.

The new guy didn't seem particularly perturbed by the skuas nearby either, since I suppose a healthy full grown Adelie can take care of itself.

Then something very interesting happened, which I only became aware of when I was sorting out the photos and video later on.  I didn't notice it at the time.

When it saw  the first penguin making its way along the path toward it,  the newcomer seemed to select something from the ground.

What is it doing?

Then, with its prize in its beak, it came up to the path to join the original penguin, and deposited the thing (stone?) nearby.

It seems to me that it had brought a gift!  How cool is that?  As I say, I didn't notice this behaviour until much later on, when I was sorting through the photos and the videos.  Had I noticed I would have paid much closer attention.

But, eh.  I may have alluded to the levels of my wildlife photography skills before, I think.

So there we go.  A bit of after dinner entertainment.  Nice.