Birds II--Penguins!!

I never imagined it would take this long to get to the Penguins, but I hope it is worth the wait? I do have a few videos that I woudl like to upload, but I have to figure out how to make them smaller files, or it will be too big. But, hopefully in a week or two, I can.
Magellanic Penguin, presumably named after Magellan. Also known as “Jackass” Penguin, for the noise they make. These guys were quiet though, so we can’t confirm!

King Penguin Crowd. The King Penguins are the largest we saw on the trip, about 3 feet tall. They are related to the Emperors, of “March of the Penguin” notoriety, but a foot shorter.

The King Penguin chicks are brown and furry until they fledge (loose their down feathers in favor of swimming feathers). Early explorers thought they were a different species because they look so different.

Gentoo Penguin on a mission!!

Another Gentoo. If you look really closely, you can see the roughness of his tongue. The spikes go back toward the throat so slippery fish can’t get back out when they are caught. The lipstick is a little too much if you ask me!

Chinstrap Penguins on an iceberg, with a Cape Petrel nearby, and two more inspecting something of interest.






Taking the high road!

Macaroni Penguins, named after a socialite group in Italy, who wore flamboyant clothes, with feathered hats, and called themselves “Macaronis”. (Yankee Doodle Dandy makes a little more sense now!!)

Adelie Penuins. The explorer that “discovered” them, named them after his wife. These guys were pretty funny!

There is no vegetation on Antarctica, so they build nests with pebbles. But, the BEST pebbles are the ones fund in someone else’s nest!! So, there is the daily drama of stealing pebbles from each other and squawks of indignation when yours are so “wrongly” taken!

Gentoo – Adelie Standoff!! (cue the Western music! If I was better at Photoshop, I’d give them holsters!)