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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. This bird is a yearling (it lacks the black chin and throat and white eye-ring of older juveniles and adults). Seeing yearlings in a colony is fairly unusual; they tend to return 'home' only when ready to breed at 3-5 years of age. I took this photo 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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