A Friendly Penguin Wave (Goodbye?!)

The 2012 Weddell seal science season for our crew is just about wrapped up, sadly enough.  Our camp has been pulled off the ice, and we've been busy scurrying around, returning equipment and gear, cleaning and washing everything.  We leave in 7 days!  Aaack!

It has been an incredible season with a lot of valuable data collected by a solid crew.  There are literally hundreds of people to thank for making this project a success...a substantial proportion of them working as support staff here on station.  Nothing would be possible without their wonderful and friendly support.  And I certainly can't forget to thank YOU (if you are a tax-paying American citizen).  Because this project is completely funded by the National Science Foundation, YOU are paying for it.

This may be my last season here on the ice, and so I hope you have enjoyed some of my attempts to capture not only the project, but also the incredible scenery and majesty of this place.  I may have a few more posts left in me, and then I predict Aspiring Ecologist to go silent for an indeterminate period.

A big, final THANK YOU to all my blog followers!  I received so much encouraging feedback, which helped me to keep at it, and I'm stoked there is so much interest in the Antarctic and the seals.

To the elementary classrooms that have been following along, THANK YOU too!  Keep admiring the world around you...even in your own backyard, there are incredible examples of how diverse, complex, and beautiful the natural world is.  And nothing is better to lift the spirits than to waddle around like a penguin for a bit.  Or even a seal if you can manage it.

Adios Amigos!

Comments

  1. Loved the blog. I hope you continue to post about your goat project!

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  2. Please keep posting about all your aspiring ecologist work going forward--it's a wonderful blog!!

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  3. Thank you so much, Jesse for all the beautiful pictures and your posts. They allowed us to follow the great work that you've been doing down there and to be part of it, in a way.

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  4. D'awwww! That penguin is so cute.

    Thanks for all the updates!

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  5. Thank you, Jesse, for your amazing photography and fascinating reportage. Tho the iPad can be fickle about allowing comments, we never miss a post! We know it must be such an awful lot of work--but our wish is that you'll keep on blogging whenever you can. Looking forward to following your adventures as you continue in what we sense will be a lifelong aspiration.

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