Today we have part 3 of Robert Lang’s seven-part voyage to Antarctica on a very small cruise ship. Robert’s narration and IDs are indented, and you can click on the photos to enlarge them.
These show you the reason I went to Antarctica:
Antarctica Part 3: Adélie and Chinstrap Penguins
My previous collection was about Gentoo penguins (Pygoscelis papua). The other two brush-tailed penguins are the Adélie penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae) and chinstrap penguin (Pygoscelis antarcticus). We saw Adélies near the shore, but only saw chinstrap colonies quite high up, a few hundred feet above the shoreline. Amazing that they chose spots that required such a hike to get to and from!
As you could hear in the video, their call is noticeably different from that of the Gentoo (seen in my previous installment). I call this photo “Call of the Chinstrap!”
The reason for the name “chinstrap” becomes obvious when you see them close-up.
And they, too, had chicks—cute little balls of gray fluff.
The Adélie colonies were down closer to shore, as you can see here:
Adélies have a stubbier bill, an all-black head, and a distinctive white ring around the eye. Although they have their own rookeries, we sometimes saw Adélies and Gentoos together. But the Chinstraps stayed off by themselves, the snobs.
Here’s an Adélie with its egg:
They lay one or two eggs, and we sometimes saw parents with a chick and egg or two chicks. Here’s a parent with one of each:
And an Adélie with two chicks:
Courtship and pair-bonding takes the form of two penguins facing each other, putting their beaks in the air, and calling:
And if courtship is successful, penguin porn ensues. (I’ll be posting this one on OnlyFlippers.com.)
Next: More birds, this time
Ahh – magnificent!
What an adventure!
Wow! Recently I read the 1915 book “Antarctic Adventure, Scott’s Northern Party” by Raymond Priestly (New York. E.P. Dutton and Co.), a travelogue and diary describing an amazing journey of exploration in Antarctica—mostly along the coast near and north of today’s McMurdo Station. (I had the book open in one app and maps open in another.) It seems that you were able to experience the same Antarctic Adventure much more safely! Penguins feature prominently in the Priestly book, partly as food, but also as subjects of study and fascination. The Priestly book doesn’t read as an edge-of-the-seat thriller, but it’s very interesting.
Thank you for these beautiful photos, merging charismatic birds with scenery of unearthly beauty!
Lovely! Thank you.