Put on your best black and white outfit! Grab a fish sandwich for lunch! Put a penguin movie in the DVD player, waddle around the house with your hands stuck out from your sides, and make loud, trumpeting sounds! Why? Because today is World Penguin Day, of course!

Last week we showed you some pictures of our newest member of the SeaWorld family, and asked if you could identify him. You all certainly know your baby animals - the vast majority of guesses were correct, identifying the chick as a penguin. But the last time I checked only two individuals, Bethany and Amanda, even got the species - king penguin!

Throughout the month of March, we're featuring green animals! Today we have a White-Cheeked Turaco. Turacos are the only birds to possess true red and green pigmentation.

Tuesday, July 19th – my last full day on the island! It was a busy day, starting at 6 AM with a weather check and a walk down to the sea to check the temperature. Luckily for me, it was too foggy to do bird count. You can imagine my disappointment at not having to drag a spotting scope up the precarious spiral staircase of the lighthouse, then climbing a ladder to stand in the morning wind to count hundreds of birds. Climbing back into bed for another hour was definitely a treat, but right after breakfast we sprang into action.

Monday, July 18th was almost a day off for us. We began the day by banding 70 more Arctic tern chicks, which took several hours of searching, but after that we had some free time. It threatened to rain all day, with clouds rolling past, wind howling at gusts up to 23 mph and big waves crashing against the shore.

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.

Saturday, July 16 began a bit later, as we were allowed to sleep in a bit. After breakfast we all headed out and began searching for Arctic tern chicks to band. It reminded me of an Easter egg hunt from my childhood – we carefully moved back the tall grass, searching high and low for the chicks. We only wanted the big ones that were close to fledging, or losing their chick down and growing in their juvenile plumage.

Friday, July 15th got rolling bright and early for me on Matinicus Rock. It was my morning to do bird count and weather, tasks we rotate through. Doing weather involves getting a sample of sea water to read its temperature, assessing cloud cover and visibility, and recording data from the weather station such as temperature, wind speed and wind direction.

July 13th, 2011 is a warm day on Matinicus rock. The temperature is already 77 and climbing! While that’s not hot by Texas standards, to us it is quite warm. There is no breeze, which is unusual – typically it is quite windy on the rock. I took advantage of the warm temperatures to get out and do a little laundry - island-style!