An Unsual Visitor

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

Macaroni Penguins are a species of penguin that can be found in the sub-Antarctic and Antarctic Peninsula. Although our station is also found on the Antarctic Peninsula, the Macarnoi Penguins are much further north than Palmer. However, the other day a Macaroni Penguin appeared on Torgersen Island, hanging out in a colony of Adelie Penguins and their chicks. This was a few days ago and the birders radioed station witht the exciting news. So at 10pm a zodiac load of us scrambled out to catch a glimpse of the rare Macaroni. Macaroni’s are actually the most abundant of all the worlds penguins, with 12 million breeding pairs, but there has only been one other sighting of one in our area. They don’t usually come this far south.

So Marvin the Macaroni, as Alex & I have named him, continues to hang out on Torgersen with the same colony of Adelies. He has now been here for about 4 days. We are all hoping he sticks around for a while because Macarnoi’s are probably the silliest looking penguins of them all. You can see for yourself.

Marvin the Macaroni Penguin

The Adelie Penguin colony that Marvin has adopted

If you are able to enlarge this photo you’ll probably be able to see a few chicks. Also Marvin in the back of the colony. If you have good eyes you might be able to see them in this version. They are the puffy gray balls under a few of the penguins. They are getting so big. I’ll post some more photos of the chicks soon.