Annie Schmidt

Antarctica Program Director

I currently manage our Adélie Penguin Ecology research where we are addressing questions such as how penguin nesting habitat influences breeding success, how climate change may affect penguin nesting habitat, and how individuals vary in their response to these changes. I am lucky enough to spend a few months of the year at our field site on Ross Island, Cape Crozier, one of the largest Adélie penguin colonies in the world.

I started at Point Blue in 2004 as an intern investigating Leach’s Storm-Petrel demography on the Oregon Coast. The first time I held one of these tiny, incredibly tough, birds I was hooked and subsequently went on to study seabirds on the Farallon Islands. There is nothing like the bustling activity of a seabird metropolis to stimulate curiosity, wonder, and a desire to contribute towards a sustainable future. In 2013, I completed a PhD in Ecology at UC Davis where I studied the changing influence of ocean conditions on seabird populations on the Farallones.

I love photography, hiking, mountain biking and just about anything that involves being outside. When I’m not in the field in Antarctica (Oct-Jan), I can be found at our Petaluma headquarters.