Penguin Watch Talk

large chicks

  • yukon_kate by yukon_kate

    I am just starting out, and having trouble sometimes distinguishing large chicks, having not seen them progress from tiny. For example is the third from left with white throat a chick? Are all white throats chicks

    Posted

  • yshish by yshish moderator, translator

    Hi,

    Yes, you're correct. These are Gentoo penguins. The adults have black throats and their backs are black as well (not dark grey as the chick ones). The adults have clear white patches on their heads (the chicks don't). You can compare them here (the left one is the adult, the right one is the chick).

    http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/t/adult-gentoo-penguin-chick-28142792.jpg

    As the chick grows up the white patch starts appearing on its head but it has fuzzy margins. Look at this image:

    enter image description here

    Hope this will help you. Don't hesitate ask questions when having trouble recognizing chicks of other species.

    Zuzi

    Posted

  • DZM by DZM admin

    Welcome to the project, yukon kate! Thanks for joining us. Hope Zuzi answered your questions, but if not, please feel free to drop by Talk any time to ask about anything else, or just share something cool that you've found!

    Posted

  • Singingway by Singingway

    I'm having trouble distinguishing large chicks from adults. Could the tutorial be expanded to include a video, with a scientist talking, explaining her decisions, while she marks a photo example?

    Posted

  • susanbauer by susanbauer

    I'd like to second Singingway's request re distinguishing btw large chicks and adults. Sometimes the distance of the penguins from the camera makes this even more challenging. When in doubt (per another post I read here) I am marking them adults.

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  • gardenmaeve by gardenmaeve moderator

    I understand that an expanded series of photos is in the works to help us recognize the chicks of each species as they mature.

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  • Shiphrah by Shiphrah in response to gardenmaeve's comment.

    I also want advice. Often the pictures are blurred, or too small, to make a clear distinction between adults and chicks (though more information would indeed be helpful). When in doubt, should I mark them as adults?

    Posted

  • AvastMH by AvastMH moderator

    Correct Shiphrah. Please do mark them as adults if you are unsure. We are working on better pictures at the moment (along with frequently asked questions). Though there are certain times when it is just impossible to be sure even for those of us who have been counting for some time 😃
    Happy counting!
    AvastMH

    Posted