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Penguin With Babies
Magdelena Island (Isla Magdelena in Spanish). This is in the Strait of Magellan. I didn't actually see these, but others did. This photo is from the ship's CD -- as is the next one.
I have a memory of seeing a photo someplace on the trip where someone has gotten a photo of eggs in one of these nests. However, it apparently did not end up on the ship CD or in the Anderson's collection.
Looked on the Internet to see if baby penguins have some kind of special name (like baby geese are called goslings -- I think). Apparently not. They are just called chicks.
Have a vague memory that in the briefing/lecture on the ship from the expedition staff about penguins in general. It was said that, due to the time of year we were there, we were not going to see any eggs or chicks, Instead, we were there at the time of year for courting and mating (and we did see that acrivity).
Farther south, in Antarctica itself, most of the penguins build nexts out of pebbles. They cannot start building until the snow melts enough to expose those pebbles (and frees them from the ice so penguins can pick them up and move them). That was indeed what we saw at some places.
Because of that lecrture/briefing, it was surprising (a few days later, back on the ship) to see these photos of chicks (and eggs, if my memory of that one is correct). However, thinking about it now (as I'm writing these descriptions), that item in the lecture/briefing may have been intended to apply only to the colder areas, where long periods of continous snow cover are an issue. Not sure the weather this far north is such that this island would have a continous snow cover for much of the winter. Also, clearly, these penguins do not used pebbles to build their nests, they burrow. Finally, I suspect at the time we received that penguin lecture, the expedition staff probably did not know for sure we would be able to obtain permission to stop at this island.
Several things (such as the how the various groups of penguins may have been at different points in their reproductive cycle at different locations we visited) seemed to kind of fall into place as I have been sorting and examining these photos photos over two years after the trip. Should have done this earlier, when memories fo the trip were fresher.
While on the trip, there were so many new sights, so much new information, and so much time required for just the "business" of traveling in Antarctica, that there was little time to reflect on what we were seeing. By the "business" of traveling in Antarctica, I'm refereing to changing into heavy clothes for the landings (and then changing out of the after the landings), remembering the procedure for getting into and out of the small boats, and getting to scheduled lecture/briefings and meals on time (and, if I recall correctly, I did a pretty good job of keeping a day-by-day journal on this particular trip, using a laptop
(22 Nov 2010)
Difficult to see, but there are two chicks (their heads are in the center of the photo). Chicks do not have any white on them.
