Here are some more pictures of a massive king penguin breeding colony – estimated to be about 60 000 breeding pairs strong – at Salisbury Plain on the north coast of South Georgia, an island in the freezing Antarctic region. South African birdwatcher Werner Sinclair took these photographs during a three-week pelagic trip to this amazing corner of the world.
See also: King penguins in the wild: Salisbury Plain part 1
Have a look at the king penguin’s amazing eye – it’s completely black! According to SeaWorld.org, “The pupil of a penguin’s eye is circular. When constricted, however, the pupils of the king penguin are square.”
King penguins are monogamous and “usually breed with the same partner during the following season,” says Birds in Backyards. Couples incubate their young as a team until offspring are old enough to join a crèche (about 38 days after hatching).
Although they’re birds, penguins can’t fly. Instead, their “wings are modified into paddle-like flippers. The bones are flattened and broadened, with the joint of the elbow and wrist almost fused. This forms a tapered, flat flipper for swimming,” according to SeaWorld.org.
King penguins are very sociable creatures. According to Werner Sinclair, when this photo was taken the penguin pair had been having a rather long, vocal conversation with another bird that seemed to be minding its own business … And then the pair promptly walked away! Wonder what the discussion was about?
Salisbury Plain lies between the mouths of glaciers Grace and Lucas on the north coast of South Georgia – a remote but breathtakingly beautiful part of the world. Here, about 60 000 king penguin breeding pairs are left to do their thing. The red dots in the background are the members of the expedition crew with whom Sinclair travelled (and not some unidentified walking object).
