Can you identify the species of this little chick? He is one of the newest members of the SeaWorld family. He hatched on March 18, 2012, and is about five days old in these photographs. If you have an idea of what he is, please post a comment. The answer will be revealed in a few days, and it might surprise you!

Sunday, July 17th was dubbed “Arctic Chick Roundup!” We spent the entire day searching for nearly-fledged Arctic terns and banding them. Our goal is to band at least 200, and as of tonight we banded 130 – leaving 70 for tomorrow. Carefully combing the grass required a lot of knee bending, and all of us ...have sore knees to show for it. Additionally, the thick vegetation isn’t kind to anybody with allergies. I was ok, but some on our team were wearing face masks, and still coughing and sneezing.

Thursday, July 14 began early with another three hour stint in a blind doing a common tern feeding study. It was a cool, wet, windy morning. A storm had rolled in the previous evening, and we watched with glee as the rain filled our waiting collection of buckets, pans and our big rainwater collection drum. While drinking water is brought to the island in large plastic containers, rainwater is collected for washing dishes, clothes, hands, or just about anything else.

This holiday season there will be new exciting additions in the Penguin Encounter at SeaWorld San Antonio. Penguin breeding season began in September and is now in full swing. I was curious myself to see how the penguins were doing so I took a visit to the Penguin Encounter and spoke with Linda Weisenmiller, an aviculturist who specializes in birds.