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Adelie penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae) are the most abundant of the Antarctic penguins, and by a small margin the southernmost breeders. They spend the winter at sea among the pack ice and return to their breeding colonies (on small islands) in early spring. Two eggs are laid in November and hatching begins in Decenber after a 33-day incubation. At least one parent is in constant attendance until the chicks are 3-4 weeks old (to keep them warm and protect them from attacks by skuas). The two chicks in the left image are about 7-10 days old. In the picture at right, the chicks are older (3-4 weeks) and have begun to 'creche' -- leave their nests and gather in groups, with a small number of adults in attendance. Note the thick redish layer of prcessessed krill (in a spare moment I once calculated that every day, this penguin colony of roughly 8,000 breeding pairs produced about 15 tons of feces). I took these photos during one of the several seasons I was fortunate enough to spend studying a colony of these irrascible penguins on Torgersen Island, near the U.S. base at Palmer Station on the Antarctic Peninsula. |
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