Skua incident, Return of the Nodwell; season end

Hi all,

I fly north on your-Thursday, so this is my last ice message of the season; just a couple notes.

You might recall early season I mentioned our dept vehicle woes, which deteriorated throughout the season leaving us facing a crisis next year (having to run half size Happy Campers, which would greatly slow down the research teams from getting into the field, which would get NSF’s attention). In the middle of last season our tracked behemoth (vintage 1976, Navy), the Nodwell (see Oct or Nov ’03 on blog) died and we were told it couldn’t be repaired. Well yesterday I got a phone call to come pick it up. Our boss’s boss had pushed to get it resurrected but didn’t want to get our hopes up so withheld this information.

What a thrill to drive the Plodwell again, the one with two levers sticking up off the floor: you pull either one to steer. It doesn’t track straight so you leave drunken tracks across the snow, has a turning radius that one must be cognizant of (plus you have to be careful not to throw a track), and is so loud everyone wears ear protection. It leaks oil so we are outfitted with containment and spill kit supplies to deal with that (my favorite part of the job). But it works, starts in the cold, and will haul 20 people and gear without getting stuck. We had a challenging year with vehicles so this is a big deal, our preferred solution. It’s funny, a huge piece of shit that those of us who were here in previous years have come to greatly appreciate.

All the ship drama with the icebreaker channel? It all worked out.

It appears that the sea ice won’t go out much this year despite all the early season excitement because the mega berg B-15 finally left. Now, there’s a small berg, maybe only as big as Rhode Island or so, poised at the mouth of McMurdo Sound, causing a few ripples of anxiety among those who pay for the ships. That story, if it becomes one, will have to wait till October.

Remember that large scavenger brown gull the skua? After hearing stories for 3 seasons, I finally had my first incident. I was carrying a wrapped sandwich away from the galley when one swooped close over my shoulder and grabbed the sandwich right out of my hand. I couldn’t believe it, but my hands were indeed empty. The bird avoided brushing me with wingtips or feet, which I thought was a pretty coordinated bit of flying. Rumor has it that this is a well practiced skua skill. They don’t always avoid contact, however, and traumatize people regularly. Sometimes you see abandoned plates sitting there on the ground, plastic wrap fluttering.

The sandwich was heavy so the skua had difficulty gaining altitude. I saw my opportunity. Disturbing wildlife is most distinctly against the Antarctic Treaty, but I chose to re-interpret the law more toward its intention: protecting wildlife from human harm. Clearly eating human food is unhealthy for the bird on more than one level, so retrieving the sandwich would ultimately protect this sneaky skua more than letting him get away with it.

It was a fairly long chase around the “quad” type area between the galley and dorms, and a well matched race it was as I was right behind him the whole time. Then he made the miscalculation of heading toward an inside corner in the galley building. I realized this before he did (I guess that means I’m slightly smarter than a bird-brain) and herded him a bit more into the corner, knowing he wouldn’t be able to clear the building with the booty. It didn’t matter that the sandwich was full of skua-foot nastiness, because the skua didn’t get to eat it either. Ha.
And there weren’t any higher-ups around to bust me for treaty violation.

When I get home I’ll start developing the photo-display website my friend Rob set up for me, so then you can click through more photos more conveniently.

So, thanks for tuning in, and much more so for writing back to me despite my impersonal mailings. I much enjoy hearing from you, and about your life back ‘in the world’, particularly when I am down here in the land of ice and wind, stunning but stark.

Yes, I plan to return. I am not yet done with Antarctica, or should I say the Antarctic is not yet done with me.

The photos are from the SAR multi-day exercise in the Asgard Range and Wright Valley in the Dry Valleys. We are on the summit of Mt. Electra, Kiwi Paula and I.

Love, light, and the smell of spring in the winds, Susan