Itty Bitty Penguins

[Written by Elizabeth Leonardis for our old blog, So Civilized]

Adelie penguin feeding a newborn chick

The baby penguins are here! On nearby Torgersen Island, the first of the chicks starting hatching just over a week ago. I had an opportunity to go out there the other night and get my first glimpses of the little puff balls. The Adelie penguins each lay 2 eggs so many of the penguins had 2 baby chicks! When you stopped to listen you could hear little cheeps by the babies and many of the moms and dad were feeding their little ones. They are so ridiculously tiny.

Little penguin babe

Torgersen Island has only breeding Adelie penguins, however there are many Gentoo penguins that have been hanging out in the area more and more over the past few years. Everytime I am near Torgersen I see a plethora of Gentoos and lately there have been a few Chinstrap penguins. I’ve probably said all this before, but it is likely in a few more years that we will see Gentoos breeding on some of the islands around here. I like to think that these are their scouts checking things out for future generations. I was very fortunate the other day to get a photo with all three penguins breeds in the shot. They are each very distinct and it is fairly easy to tell them apart. Especially the chinstraps, they have a silly little black line under their chins, hence the name.

l. to r. Gentoo, Chinstrap, and Adelie penguins

I made a short video of the penguins and their chicks. Unfortunately, it came out a bit blurry when I uploaded it to youtube, but you get the point. They are just little gray puff balls anyway. The last clip in the video is a parade of penguins walking past us and if you have good eyes you may be able to spot the one that doesn’t belong. There is a Gentoo that is walking amongst the Adelies, no one seems to mind. You often see them “hanging out” together.