Penguin Time!

So I have written about all sorts so far – geeps, skuas, wanals and mollies, brief interludes with seals and white-chins, and even why we are all blonde! But given my job title there has been something distinctly lacking and it is time to put that right.... so here come the penguins!

First up we unfortunately have to get through some bad news. This year has been a disastrous year for our gentoo colonies with no breeding attempts being successful! The cause of this is being investigated but luckily I did get to see some hatch before they failed; however, this actually made the feeling of their bad time worse.

Gentoos on nest; a hatching; gentoo chick

But this is not a first time thing for the gentoos. Poor breeding years have happened in the past but the adult population survives to try again in better conditions the next year. So fingers crossed I bring you news of a good gentoo season next summer! However, not all penguin news is bad news; the macs are doing just fine!

Macaroni penguins

We have a number of different workstreams around the penguin colonies, all designed to better understand the population. Our work focuses in two colonies on the west side of BI; Little Mac and Big Mac.

Little Mac and Fairy Point Hut with a view of Big Mac in the background

Big Mac is absolutely awe-inspiring! To be amongst 80,000 penguins is an incredible experience, even if the weather on BI is so changeable that one minute we are counting in clear, but still cold, weather and the next a snow flurry is obscuring our view!

Changeable weather for counting macs - 10 minutes separates these photos!

Obviously counting so many penguins regularly would be impossible. As such we have transects through the colony that remain constant every year – marked by yellow stones – that are counted so that we can study any changes in the population. The transects are counted once during incubation and again when the chicks are hatching.

Incubating an egg and caring for a chick

Little Mac however is small enough that the entire colony is counted on the same days as the Big Mac transects. Whilst it is smaller it is actually much harder to count! Just a mass of penguins with no discernible boundaries within the colony makes accurately counting every penguin on a nest quite difficult.

Anyone fancy counting? Remember to only count those on a nest! :)

Even though counting them can be challenging at times it is impossible not to enjoy the work because being in the colonies of such funky little birds is absolutely magnificent!

Can't get enough of these cool little penguins

Their feathers are so thick and waterproof that the snow just sticks to the edge of them

Directing the traffic through the colony!

By mid-January the chicks are already growing rapidly. They are being left on their own at times and are even starting to form small crèches to keep warm. 

The chicks are growing well

Then by mid-February the chicks are really big, whilst at the same time immature birds are arriving at the colony to moult.

A moulting mac gives a chick a little hug on its way through the colony

The views that the chicks get across Big Mac are very impressive when the sun is out and it is always amazing to see them developing and beginning to grow their own feathers.

The views the chicks get when growing up are absolutely stunning!

Whilst the views at Big Mac are impressive it is at Little Mac where our work with the chicks takes place as we count how many have survived to fledging age in mid-February.

Counting all the chicks moving around the colony is a challenge

The chicks begin to look quite funny whilst moulting, not long until this dude is ready to fledge!

Soon the chicks will fully fledge and when they do the adults will go as well to feed. The adults will return after a month to moult and then leave a month later again to spend the winter away feeding, getting ready for their return for the next breeding season to begin in October.

Whilst the gentoos have had a bad year and the macs are doing well I should also mention a third penguin species. Whilst they don’t breed on BI we do get decent numbers of king penguins passing through from South Georgia. Some of these penguins are here just to rest whilst others are moulting, but either way it is always great to see some royalty around!

King penguins, looking either regal or scruffy depending on moult

Finally, there is also a fourth species to drop by Bird Island. Again only on passing through do we see this species and it is a much rarer sighting than the kings, coming ashore on occasion and normally just a single individual. But we do get a few chances each year to see a chinstrap penguin up close, a great opportunity as we haven't seen them since travelling down south on the JCR.

Chinstrap penguin visiting Bird Island and saying hello to its close relation, the gentoo

With only 17 species of penguins across the southern hemisphere (and therefore in the whole world) it is spectacular to be living in a location where I can see 4 of them in one day!

What a handsome penguin!