(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Dawn Chorus: What's On The Television Tonight? [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-04-09 Looks Like a Penguin! King Penguin When many people think of penguins, they often think of the movie “March of the Penguins.” Or like me, think of the Monty Python sketch. Often they’re associated with Antarctica or as being found in remote far-flung places. They don’t occur where there are polar bears, since penguins are birds of the Southern Hemisphere and polar bears are only found in the Northern Hemisphere. And no, they don’t have “Property of the Zoo” stamped on them. But that’s only a small part of the world of penguins. My recent trip to Antarctica and the South Atlantic gave me the chance to see and photograph several penguin species, eight of which were lifers. My subsequent trip to New Zealand offered a chance to see a few more and get two more lifers. At this point, I’ve actually seen 15 species out of the 18 species worldwide. I might get to see one more someday, although I don’t ever expect to see them all. However, a couple on my Antarctic cruise saw the last one of the 18 that they needed, so never say never. But enough about me. Let’s talk about penguins. First off, as I said there are no penguins in the Arctic. Penguins are a group of flightless birds found only in the southern hemisphere (with one exception…barely). They nest in large colonies of hundreds to hundreds of thousands. Many species are highly endangered. But they aren’t restricted to Antarctica. They range from near the south pole all the way to the equator. Many of them are found in temperate waters. In addition to Antarctica, there are species found in South America, others in Australia and New Zealand, and even one species in Africa. And as to remoteness, some are only found on remote islands, but some are found near major metropolitan areas. Here’s a cheat sheet showing all of the 18 species of penguins as currently determined by Cornell/Clements taxonomy: The 18 species are found in 6 genera, and I’ll discuss them based on those differences. Little Penguin (Genus Eudyptula) – As expected, the Little Penguin is the smallest of the 18 species at about a foot tall. It is found in New Zealand and along the southern coast of Australia. It’s also known as Little Blue Penguin or Fairy Penguin. The name eudyptula means “good little diver.” The Maori name is Kororā, which is onomatopoeic based on the call. This is a Little Penguin from New Zealand: Little Penguin — Stewart Island, New Zealand We saw it at Half Moon Bay on Stewart Island. It was one of a pair swimming and diving just off the ferry pier one evening. It even chirped one time when it surfaced. We were hoping to see it come ashore, but it got dark before it hauled out. We also saw them swimming in the Queen Charlotte Sound at the North end of South Island and during the ferry ride to and from South Island to Stewart Island. This species is a lot easier to see in Australia. They nest in large colonies and come onshore in the evening en masse. Near Melbourne they offer tours to see the “penguin parade.” But some authorities split Little Penguin into two species – one found in Otago (the southeast part of New Zealand) and Australia and the other found in the rest of New Zealand. So bear that in mind. Yellow-eyed Penguin (Genus Megadyptes) – This was the first penguin species I ever saw back in 1995 near Dunedin, NZ, a few years before I became a birder, but there has been a substantial decrease in the mainland population since I was there. It’s endemic to New Zealand with a population on South Island and another on some of the subantarctic islands of New Zealand. At one point, it was thought to be related to the little penguin, but recent studies show it’s related to the crested penguins. The name megadyptes means “large diver” although it’s actually a fairly small species as penguins go. Its Maori name, hoiho, means “noise shouter” because of its call. On my recent trip to New Zealand, we were able to see a few birds coming in to roost at Katiki Point, north of Dunedin on South Island. This is the surf that they had to swim though at Katiki Point in order to get to the cliffs where they roost: Katiki Point, New Zealand Pretty challenging, huh?!?! Unfortunately, the birds were fairly distant. We occasionally saw one bobbing in the surf, but the best picture I was able to get of one was this bird hiding in the brush on the cliff opposite the lookout: Yellow-eyed Penguin — Katiki Point, New Zealand You can see its crests and a flipper, but it doesn’t show the beauty of the species. So I dug through my old paper photos and found this picture from Dunedin in 1995: Yellow-eyed Penguin — Dunedin, New Zealand This was at a beach on the Otago Peninsula where you could sit in blinds and watch the birds come in for the night. Because of development and the risk to the birds, the chance to do that is much more limited now and access is much more difficult. Crested Penguins (Genus Eudyptes) – There are 7 species of crested penguins all of which breed on subantarctic islands in the southern oceans. They have yellow feather crests of varying shapes and size and big fleshy red bills. The name eudyptes means “good diver.” The most widespread of the crested penguins is the Macaroni Penguin. They’re found in the south Atlantic Ocean, the southern Indian Ocean, and even on Antarctica. They nest on steep cliffs on both rock shelves and in tussock grass. Macaroni Penguins — Hercules Bay, South Georgia These Macaroni Penguins were part of a nesting colony in Hercules Bay on the north coast of South Georgia. This is Hercules Bay: Hercules Bay, South Georgia In case you’re wondering, the penguins are at the base of that large crack in the rock on the left side of the picture. They were on the rocks at the water line and in the grass above. And if you’re also wondering what macaroni has to do with penguins, here’s the story: In the 18th century, some English dandies dressed in fancy clothes like those worn in Italy. That style of dress often included a hat with a large feather plume. Because it was Italian style, they earned the derisive nickname “macaronis.” So when the early explorers saw a penguin with big yellow feathers on the side of its head, they named it after the English macaronis. Another fun fact: in the song “Yankee Doodle,” there’s the lyric “stuck a feather in his hat and called it macaroni.” That’s what that lyric means and where it comes from. Another widespread crested penguin is the Southern Rockhopper Penguin. They’re found in the subantarctic islands off South America and New Zealand as well as several remote islands in the Southern Indian Ocean. It’s the smallest of the crested penguins. Some authorities split the Indian Ocean and New Zealand populations off as a separate species, the Eastern Rockhopper Penguin, but Cornell/Clements does not. This is a Southern Rockhopper Penguin: Southern Rockhopper Penguin — Kidney Cove, Falkland Islands It was in a colony of several hundred birds at a place called Kidney Cove on the northeast coast of East Falkland Island. It was a 1½ hour drive overland by 4x4 from the capital, Stanley, to get to the colony. This is how we got there: Birder Convoy — Falkland Islands This is the colony: Southern Rockhopper Penguin Colony — Kidney Cove, Falkland Islands How they get from the colony to the ocean below is beyond me, but they do! There is also a Northern Rockhopper Penguin, although Cornell calls it Moseley’s Rockhopper Penguin. It nests in the Tristan da Cunha Archipelago in the remote south Atlantic Ocean. It was previously considered the same species as Southern Rockhopper Penguin but was split as a separate species in 2006, based on different calls and their longer, crazier head plumes: Moseley’s (Northern) Rockhopper Penguin — Kidney Cove, Falkland Islands This particular Moseley’s Rockhopper is the only Moseley’s Rockhopper in the Southern Rockhopper Colony on East Falkland. He’s about 2500 miles (4000 km) from where he should be. In other words, he’s lost. So apparently he’s paired up with a Southern Rockhopper. He is the reason we drove 1½ hours by 4x4. Otherwise, the chance of seeing this species is slim and none. It was a lifer for everybody on the tour including the guides (and one of the patrons who has one of the top 5 bird lists in the world). Another crested penguin that I’ve just seen is the Fiordland Crested Penguin. It’s named for the Fiordland region of southwest New Zealand, but it also breeds on Stewart Island just off the coast of South Island. This species is endemic to New Zealand, but even there, it’s not common. It’s estimated that there are only a few thousand pairs. They breed during the southern spring and disperse during the summer. The Maori name for this penguin is tawaki. In Maori legend, Tawaki was a god that walked the earth in human form. Legend has it that Tawaki’s fellow human beings did not realize he was a god until he ascended a high hill, took off his costume, and “clothed himself in lightning”. So the yellow crests were thought to look like lightning. Here’s a couple Fiordland Crested Penguins: Fiordland Crested Penguins — Stewart Island, New Zealand We saw them on Stewart Island in a cave that could only be seen from a boat. They’re hiding in a cave because they’re molting – you can see all the feathers they’ve lost piled at their feet. Penguins molt all their feathers at one time because even small missing patches would deprive them of critical insulation when swimming. But during that period, they’re at risk since they’re unable to swim away from predators. Here’s another molting Fiordland Penguin: Fiordland Crested Penguin — Stewart Island, New Zealand This one has molted all the feathers from his face. He looks like Frankenstein! A crested penguin that I never expected to see is the Erect-crested Penguin. They nest on the Antipodes Islands and the Bounty Islands, which are tiny remote islands 400-500 miles SE of the New Zealand mainland. But sometimes they end up on the mainland, like this one: Erect-crested Penguin — Oamaru, New Zealand The two parallel crests is a feature of the Erect-crested. Other crested penguins have crests/plumes that tend to form a V-shape meeting over the bill. This bird was just finishing his molt. He chose the breakwater in Oamaru, New Zealand, as his “hiding” place, because it’s not accessible to mammals that might threaten it…including humans. A friend of our NZ guide found it a couple days before we were supposed to stay in Oamaru so it was a quick stop before dinner to see it — although it required a little speeding on the way to make sure we got it before sunset. It was our fourth penguin species seen that day! The other two crested penguins are the Royal Penguin and Snares Penguin. The Royal Penguin Breeds on Macquarie Island which is an Australian island halfway between NZ and Antarctica. There’s a research base there with only 20-40 people. Snares Penguin breeds on the Snares Islands group which is about 120 miles south of Stewart Island, NZ. They are uninhabited islands and maintained as a nature sanctuary with no public access. To see these penguins usually requires a separate cruise to see them – unless you get extremely lucky and one shows up on the NZ mainland while you’re there - so I suspect they’re probably going to end up on my unseen list. Brush-tailed Penguins (Genus Pygoscelis) – There are three species of Brush-tailed Penguins, named for their long, stiff tail feathers. All of these penguins breed on the Antarctic continent, although they also breed on many subantarctic islands such as the Falklands or South Georgia, as well as the southern tip of South America. Their plumage is black and white with no other colors. The name pygoscelis means “rump foot” which refers to how their long stiff tails support their weight like a third foot. The first penguins I saw on the Antarctic cruise were Gentoo Penguins. They’re found in the subantarctic latitudes between Antarctica and South America. Supposedly, the word “gentoo” was a colonial-era name for Hindus in India, and the name was applied to the penguins because the white patch on their head was thought to look like a head scarf. Different times. There are four subspecies of Gentoo penguins: One in Antarctica and nearby, one in South Georgia, one in the Falklands, and one in the Indian Ocean. However, there was a paper written in 2020 that suggested these may all be full species, not subspecies. This was based on DNA studies and measurements of specific body parts, like bill size, flipper size, etc. There aren’t any obvious visual differences. These are the Antarctic subspecies of Gentoo Penguin: Gentoo Penguins — D’Hainault Island, Antarctica We saw them in a large colony on D’Hainaut Island in Mikkelsen Harbor, a small bay on Trinity Island off the north shore of the Antarctic Peninsula: Gentoo Penguin Colony — D’Hainault Island, Antarctica The red on the ground is actually penguin poop. It’s red because this species almost exclusively eats krill, a kind of shrimp. The most abundant of the brush-tails is the Adélie Penguin. They primarily breed on the Antarctic coast and the nearby islands and are distinguished by their bright white eyes. It’s estimated there are 10 million of them worldwide. The name Adélie refers to Adélie Land, a French Antarctic Territory where the first specimen was collected (Adélie Land was named after the wife of a French explorer, Jules Dumont d’Urville). We also saw a large colony of Adélie Penguins near Argentina’s Esperanza Base in Hope Bay on the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, but the seas were too rough to go ashore. Fortunately we found a single Adélie Penguin mixed in with a group of Gentoo Penguins near Cierva Cove on the Antarctic Peninsula: Adelie Penguin — Cierva Cove, Antarctica Cierva Cove (64°10'2.92"S, 60°53'30.40"W) is the place where we went ashore on the Antarctic Mainland: Cierva Cove, Antarctica Despite their numbers, Adélie Penguins are at risk because of climate change. They prefer to nest on the ice and snow pack, and with the loss of ice in Antarctica they are losing breeding habitat. The third brush-tail is the Chinstrap Penguin. They are called that because they have a white face with a thin black line across their necks. They’re almost as abundant as the Adélie Penguins with 8 million of them worldwide. They breed in the mid-latitudes of the southern oceans. One of the best places to see them is the South Shetland Islands off the north coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. Unfortunately, when we were heading there, the weather was horrible…snowing with gale force winds, so we actually had to divert to a part of the peninsula further south. That meant we couldn’t visit most of the large Chinstrap colonies, and at the only one we could see we were unable to land. So the best view of Chinstraps I have is this picture: Chinstrap Penguins — Elephant Island, Antarctica These were on Elephant Island, which is where Ernest Shackleton’s men were marooned until he could travel to South Georgia to get help: Point Wild, Elephant Island, Antarctica However, in the comments of a recent diary, pthomas745 included a photo from his/her trip to Antarctica: Chinstrap Penguin In this picture, you can see the black “chinstrap” that gives this species its name. Banded Penguins (Genus Spheniscus) – There are 4 species of banded penguins. They all have some kind of black band on their white breast and black-and-white striped faces with some amount of bare pink skin near the eyes or bill. They are all found in temperate or even tropical latitudes, rather than Subantarctic or Antarctic latitudes. The name Spheniscus comes from the Greek word for “wedge” describing a penguin’s wedge-shaped wings. One of the most widespread penguins is the Magellanic Penguin. It’s found all along the Patagonian coast of Argentina and Chile, as well as the Falklands. There’s even some non-breeding records from Brazil and Uruguay. They nest in burrows in the coastal grassland/tundra. My first Magellanic Penguins were at a large colony along Seno Otway (Otway Sound) in Chilean Patagonia back in 2000: Magellanic Penguins — Otway Sound, Chile That colony was actually on the South American mainland near Punta Arenas. When I visited it was about 10,000 birds, but they have since abandoned that location and moved to other colonies nearby. On the recent Antarctic cruise, we only saw Magellanics on the Falklands and in the Beagle Channel. Magellanic Penguin — Carcass Island, Falkland Islands This Magellanic Penguin was on Carcass Island on the west side of the Falklands. We also saw a nesting female nearby: Magellanic Penguin — Carcass Island, Falkland Islands Africa has only one nesting penguin species, appropriately called the African Penguin. It used to be called the Jackass Penguin because of its loud braying call. They’re found mostly on islands along the coasts of South Africa and Namibia, although there are three colonies on the African Mainland. This is an African Penguin from one of the mainland colonies: African Penguin — Betty’s Bay, South Africa It was part of a large colony near Cape Town at a place called Betty’s Bay. Betty’s Bay is part of the Stony Point Nature Reserve on the east shore of False Bay (opposite the Cape of Good Hope). Betty’s Bay, South Africa Yeah, you know what the white on the rocks is. The most northerly species of penguin is the Galapagos Penguin. As one would assume, they nest in the Galapagos Islands. This is the only penguin which can be found in the Northern Hemisphere, although only by a few degrees. I saw a few back in 1999 near Isla Bartolome. Galapagos Penguins — Isla Bartolome, Galapagos Islands, Ecuador Where I saw it was in the Southern Hemisphere, but just barely. It was less than 1/3 of a degree below the equator. Here’s another one swimming just offshore: Galapagos Penguins — Isla Bartolome, Galapagos Islands, Ecuador The last of the banded penguins is the Humboldt Penguin. It’s named after the Humboldt Current of western South America. It looks like a Magellanic Penguin except it has two bands on its chest instead of the Magellanics’ single band. I haven’t seen it yet, but of all the penguins I haven’t seen, it the one I have the best chance of adding to my lifelist. It’s found along the coasts of northern Chile and Perú and can be seen on a pelagic birding trip from those countries or sometimes on land. In fact, I recently found out that a friend of mine here in Allentown has seen one. Great Penguins (Genus Aptenodytes) – The great penguins consist of two very charismatic species: the King Penguin and the Emperor Penguin. They can grow up to a meter tall, and are the most colorful of the penguins with substantial patches of yellow or orange mixed in with their black-and-white plumage. The name aptenodytes means “diver without wings.” King Penguins are the more easily seen of the great penguins. They’re found throughout the Subantarctic Islands with the largest colonies in the southern Indian Ocean islands, although there are also huge colonies on the Falklands and on South Georgia. There are even a few nesting on Tierra del Fuego. The colonies on South Georgia were almost wiped out by whalers – with no trees for firewood, the whalers used the fat from the penguins for fuel. Fortunately, they’ve bounced back. There are over 450,000 pairs of King Penguins in South Georgia now. We visited three different King Penguin colonies on South Georgia, each of which had over 100,000 birds. This is just a small part of the colony at Gold Harbor: Gold Harbor Penguin Colony — South Georgia The other two colonies we visited were even larger! This King Penguin was in the Gold Harbor colony: King Penguin — Gold Harbor, South Georgia They’re totally unafraid of people and are very curious. He actually walked up to me and I had to back up to give it space. There were also young birds in the colonies: King Penguin Chicks — Gold Harbor, South Georgia Young birds form large a group called a creche. This allows them to huddle for warmth. It also allows fewer adults to protect them from predators which allows their parents to go off for food. Old time sailors nicknamed the chicks “Oakum Boys” because they looked like oakum, a kind of tarred fiber used to seal the gaps between the timbers in old wooden sailing ships. This brings us to the last and biggest of the penguin species, the Emperor Penguin. They’re over 3 feet tall and can weigh up to 100 lbs. They mostly nest deep in the middle of the Antarctic continent far from the shoreline, although a few nest on scattered offshore islands. Amazingly, they nest in the middle of the harsh Antarctic winter because it gives them protection from predators. Most cruises don’t go to the islands where they nest because of winter pack ice — and you really can’t get to the middle of the continent. Of course if you really want to be sure of seeing the bird, you can join a special cruise for $30,000 which offers short helicopter rides over a colony. But on an ordinary Antarctic birding cruise, Emperor Penguin is the holy grail. You’ve got to get very lucky. Now you’ll remember I mentioned earlier that because of a gale in the South Shetlands we had to divert further south down the Antarctic Peninsula than a normal itinerary. Well…because of that diversion: Emperor Penguin — Wilhelmina Bay, Antarctica We originally found this one distant bird lying on the ice in Wilhelmina Bay on the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. It brought all of the passengers on deck, even the non-birders. That would have been enough. But while we were watching it two more birds popped out of the water and waddled up to the first. Three (!) Emperor Penguins — Wilhelmina Bay, Antarctica They seemed to greet each other, then we watched them paddle around on the ice on their bellies. They were all immature birds, but they were absolutely the highlight of the cruise. Emperor Penguin — Wilhelmina Bay, Antarctica The captain moved the ship as close as possible to the ice, but we eventually had to leave them there on the ice, because we had places to be. Three Emperor Penguins. Three Holy Grails. There’s nothing more to say, is there? NOPE! Emperor Penguin — Wilhelmina Bay, Antarctica So what’s new in your area? 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