More Birds Among Us

 Tonight was the first public meeting of the Point Roberts Penguin Institute and it provided the opportunity for a large, lively, and appreciative crowd to gather at the Community Center.  Information was front and foremost, and we were introduced to a variety of penguin species,  and told of their habits and physical characteristics, as well as their threatened status in a world not entirely hospitable to them.  (I do wonder, though who, other than a leopard seal, wouldn’t be hospitable toward a penguin?)  In fact, we could be even more hospitable than usual: with Point Roberts hosting pretty impressive low temperatures for several days in the past and more days in the future, it is possible that penguins themselves as well as Point Roberts itself, would benefit if the penguins permanently moved to Point Roberts, rather than just having the Institute working on studying them.  Penguins as an economic development plan!  Who wouldn’t/couldn’t get behind that?

Fortunately, for tonight’s stellar occasion, the Institute’s scientists did have on hand representatives of six different penguin species, including the Fairy Penguin, last seen by me south of Melbourne in New Zealand Australia, where it definitely doesn’t get exceedingly cold.  Each penguin representative took the stage in turn, while one of the Institute’s scientists described the bird qualities and asked the bird to demonstrate a variety of behaviors, including egg moving and flipper slapping.  Very interesting. And particularly impressive were the penguins large, orange, webbed feet, not to mention the dexterity with which they moved around the stage on those over-sized feet.

After the information, we moved on to the arts, as the scientists provided us with a few examples of poems about penguins that had arisen from their pens in the course of their studies.  And then the penguins recited some poems of their own about their lives and their good times, which poems, I would guess, were occasioned by the fact that penguins appear to be good-time Charlies.  And then, in conclusion and as a prelude to yet more work to be done in the future, the penguins and the scientists joined together to sing and dance, ending with a fine and only slightly altered version of  "Splish, Splash,” with everyone rocking and a rolling...

We can only hope that the Institute will consider providing us with regular appearances to update the P.R. community on their research findings.  And that the 13 children of our local elementary school, both penguins and scientists, have as good a Christmas as they had a Christmas Program performance.

Great job, kids!  Great job, teachers and volunteer music and drama coaches!