WL Chung Photography

Imperial Preen.

Two Imperial Shags, also known as the King Cormorant or Blue-eye Shags. These distinctive birds with vibrant blue eyes are known for their for their grooming behaviours -- preening each other routinely throughout the day as part of social bonding.

Not just penguins in the south. 😆

Sweater-weather for SG is not so bad when compared to the living environment of this guy. 😅

The Emperor's Resillience.

Emperor penguins walk slowly and do not hop. They also toboggan, sliding across the ice on their bellies. Barely the size of a small human (25-40kg, up to 1.2m in height, the emperor survives in cold as frigid as -60 Deg C. 🥶



Instag 📸: .der.ling

Chilling at Neko Harbour.

The Weddell seal hanging out on the drifting ice floe near Neko Harbour.

Weddell seals are preyed upon by orca (killer whales) and leopard seals, both at sea and on the ice. Clever orcas hunt Weddell seals resting on ice floes with their wave-washing technique --> google "wave washing bertie"

Nature's Cathedral.
Lemaire Channel, Antarctica.

The towering cliffs, shrouded in mist and snow, rise dramatically from the icy waters.
Not for a polar plunge here for sure. 🥶

Solace in Solitude.

How did the first day of 2025 go for you? Did you also seek solace in solitude?

Song of the Humpback.

I love Antarctica. It's a place for silence, solitude and quiet reflection. At the same time, it's teeming with wildlife. There in the south, you don't seek out wildlife, they come to you.

This was near Petermann Island. A serendipitous encounter with an association of humpbacks (note: not "a pod"). They swam close enough for me to see their scars and barnacles. We were pleasantly teased by a curious one that came within 2m of us 😅

Fog and Ice

The mystery of the Weddell Sea, Antarctica beckons.

A lovely intricate pattern of ice on the sea leads to the mega iceberg in the foggy distance.

The Annoyed Neighbour

This Weddell seal was lying down peacefully with its eyes shut when it got startled and got up in annoyance at this skua that had swooped down at a range too close for its comfort.

Skuas are known to be aggressive little pirates, scavenging penguin eggs and hunting down penguin chicks. Sometimes, these skuas also hover around seal pupping colonies, taking the afterbirth or dead carcasses of the Weddell seals. It's not a surprise then that the Weddell seal would display such wariness towards this flying neighbour.

Lost in Translation

Sailing to the Weddell Sea was the closest hope our expedition had to seeing an Emperor penguin up close without heading to the actual colony on Snow Hill Island (needing helicopter-access). So we lucked out on finding this stray Emperor on an ice floe, and the same could be said of a small waddle of Adelies. The Adelie's comical flurry as it slides across the path of the Emperor is a stark contrast against the Emperor's size ( about 1.1 to 1.3m) and stately dignity.

The Proud Stone Thief

Gentoos are infamous for stone-stealing, along with the Adelies. On this ice field, stones are comparatively harder to get. This gentoo had just sucessfully nabbed a stone from a fellow gentoo and is hurrying back to the nest with its loot.

Seeing Double.

Chinstrap penguins are one of my favourites. Its name stems from the narrow black band under its head, which makes it appear as if it were wearing a black helmet, making it easy to identify. From their front, their beaks then look like noses, and the narrow band makes it seem like they are perpetually smiling.

The Penguin's Perspective

Already the 3rd largest in the penguin species, after the emperor and king penguin, yet this gentoo looks absolutely tiny standing in the gentle snow-fall against the backdrop of massive icebergs.

Wonder what it sees, and what it was thinking then.

The Skip of the Sunset

This gentoo penguin skips over the rocky coastline, enjoying the golden hour.

An average adult gentoo weighs about 5 -10kg, just like a sack of rice, and is about 75 cm tall. Contrast this little creature against a dramatic Antarctic mountain landscape in a beautiful sunset glow, and you get a moment of ah ha.

What big eyes you have!

Southern elephant seals have seemingly oversized eyes.
They are the largest seal type in the world, with male adults weighing up to 5000kg.
This lady here is probably only 500kg😅 . It also lacks the trunk-like nose that is typical of the males and is what gives the species its name.

Serene Skyscape

Roaring aurora in the sky.

Lofoten Islands

Serene Skyscape

The weather is just as fickle in Iceland
The storm came and went in half an hour.

Iceland

Estimated to be at least 55 million years old, the Namib Desert is just about the oldest in the world. Giant sand dunes and fierce shifting sand storms make this place so unhabitable, yet life still manages to find a way to thrive.

Today is World Environment Day with this year's campaign focusing on land restoration, desertification and drought resilience.

It all sounds very far away from us here in Singapore, but maybe we can start by using 1 less plastic bag, having a shorter shower and turning off the lights when not in use.

Mother Nature, once wounded, may take years and years (or never) to recover.

featured a small series of my Deadvlei photos, but here's another small Namib collection that I love.