penguin – Roumazeilles.net

King penguin

Yves Roumazeilles — Wed, 15 Apr 2020 17:20:00 +0000

Among all the penguins of the Falklands, there is only one king. One penguin so haughty, so aristocrat that it has earned its king title.

Slightly smaller than the Emperor penguin of Antarctica, it is defintely as colorful, except when it’s young. Then, it is only a fluffy bowl of dull feathers continuously asking for food from the grown-ups. Volunteer Point colony is THE right place to be if you want to meet them. But, you need to spend a long time on location if you want opportunities for many light conditions (the mere two hours offered to cruise ship passengers stopping by is definitely insufficient to even start understanding what they can offer).

King penguin, Manchot royal (Aptenodytes patagonicus)
Falkland Islands, November 2019.

Macaroni penguin

Yves Roumazeilles — Tue, 14 Apr 2020 17:01:00 +0000

If you liked the rockhopper penguin, you will love the Macaroni penguin.

The “Macaroni” is slightly bigger, supposed to be able to breed with rockhopper penguins, much rarer, but quite impressive. At first, you’d say this is the same animal. But side-by-side, you will quickly noticed the deep yellow of the longer eyebrows of the Macaroni penguin, and its thicker bill.

Macaroni penguin, Gorfou doré (Eudyptes chrysolophus)
Falkland Islands, November 2019.

Southern rockhopper penguin

Yves Roumazeilles — Mon, 13 Apr 2020 15:03:00 +0000

The nice colors of this penguin (red eye, orange beak,pink feet, yellow eyebrows) project an air of exuberance that no other penguin can reach. Small but noisy. Always very active. Always part of large groups and colonies.

But how do you join two imperatives like eating at sea, loving cliffs and living in colonies at the top of the cliff? You have to climb and be ready for rough waters.

Southern rockhopper penguin, Gorfou sauteur (Eudyptes chrysocome)
Falkland Islands, November 2019.

Magellanic penguin

Yves Roumazeilles — Sun, 12 Apr 2020 14:41:00 +0000

Severe, timid, quickly hiding in its earth hole or gone fishing far in the sea, the “Magellan” is not in favour of too much socializing. But you’ll find it nearly everywhere in the Southern seas, even in Africa.

Magellanic penguin, Manchot de Magellan (Spheniscus magellanicus)
Falkland Islands, November 2019.

Gentoo penguin

Yves Roumazeilles — Sat, 11 Apr 2020 14:23:00 +0000

This penguin is one of the most funny ones. Contantly active, always ready to surf the waves on Carcass Island.

Gentoo penguin, Manchot papou (Pygoscelis papua)
Falkland Islands, November 2019.

Murres thinking they are penguins

Yves Roumazeilles — Wed, 07 Sep 2016 22:20:44 +0000

Since penguins live only in the Southern Hemisphere and can’t fly, we could not encounter any during our 2016 trip to the Arctic Archipelago of Canada. However, we observed some birds who seemed to have the same behaviour assembling in groups on icebergs or ice-floes, like so many penguins do in the South of our planet.

Yes, the Thick-billed murre sometimes has the same kind of looks.

Thick-billed murre (Uria lomvia, Guillemot de Brünnich).
Akpait National Wildlife Area, Nunavut, Canada.
August 2016.

It’s smarter to travel in groups

Yves Roumazeilles — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 10:10:09 +0000

YouTube link