When one goes to the great southern continent, there is one species of
wildlife which one expects to see all the time. It is not true that penguins are
present ALL the time - just most of it.
There are a lot of penguins about soon after the end of the coldest weather around mid-winter.
Fortunately the sea ice remains solid so that we can get to the islands near Casey and see
large numbers of Adelie Penguins.
The first thing the penguins (which usually mate for life) do when they get back to the island on which
they were born is start to construct the nests. These are simply piles of small rocks whcih are
carefully aranged by the pair of birds.
There are many fights about the construction of nests. There is very littl ematerial and it is jealously guarded.
Any attempt to steal usually provokes a vicious fight which can often draw blood even through the
thick covering of feathers. Those beaks are sharp!
Once the nest is constructed and the courtship displays goen through the penguins mate. This is one of the few
times that penguins can be sexed without a great deal of difficulty. The one on the bottom is the female.
The female penguin lays one or two eggs which hatch and produce the chicks. Sadly only one of these chicks will
survive to moult and leave with the adults when the ice breaks up and they move out to the fertile seas
to the north.
Sometimes the birds like to just pose for photos. It certainly seems so doesn't it?
Every few days one of the adult birds in each pair (sometimes both together) will take the long trek to
the edge of the ice to collect food. They then trek back to the islands and...
