Don’t forget to send in your wildlife photos, as the tank is running low. I have a smallish backlog, but it’s not big enough to make me complacent. Thanks!
Today we finish up John Avise’s bird photos from Antarctica and the South Atlantic, and we have two species of penguins on show:
Macaroni Penguin (Eudyptes chrysolophus):
Magellanic Penguin (Spheniscus magellanicus):
With a sleepy (or exhausted) Gentoo Penguin (Pygoscelis papua):
Love the macaroni penguins’ headgear.
It resembles the headgear from yesterdays rockhopper penguin. I’m going to stick my neck out and say they are more closely related to one another than to others. I was unaware there were so many species.
“Stuck a feather in his cap
And called it macaroni”
Exactly like the use of “macaroni” in “Yankee Doodle.”
Just to make certain my surmise was correct I looked it up: “The early English explorers named this penguin. In the mid-18th century, a young man who wore flashy feathers in his hat was called a “Macaroni.” This is also the origin for the words to “Yankee Doodle” sung during the Revolutionary War to poke fun at the poorly dressed Continental Army. The English explorers thought the yellow feathers of this penguin were like a fancy young man called a ‘macaroni.'” https://seaworld.org/animals/facts/birds/macaroni-penguin/ That definition of “macaroni” was in use back then, so makes perfect sense that this penguin would be given that name.
Interesting, Jenny. The Yankee Doodle analogy hadn’t occurred to me.
A neat true fact!
Maybe you should send a suggestion to ZeFrank?🤓
My favorite penguin photos are those showing their bills wide open as they vocalize- (or yawn?) There’s one in this batch too!