Penguin Watch Talk

Birds in the water- Chinstrap penguins?

  • gardenmaeve by gardenmaeve moderator

    There is a series of photos seen last night that show many birds in the ocean. jo0oley found this one http://talk.penguinwatch.org/#/subjects/APZ0004qsx and the one shown here was spotted by Motherjoanne. Others showed fewer birds, but all from this same camera site.

    It's hard to see them clearly- might they be Chinstrap penguins returning with food for the many chicks?
    Thanks,
    Gardenmaeve

    Posted

  • Nickypeng by Nickypeng moderator

    Hi
    It is possible that they are penguins but I'm afraid that at least one of them is flying!!

    If you right mouse click on the pic you can open it in a new tab - and you can zoom on that picture (we don't tell people about this because you can't count from there or go back to the counting screen)
    On that picture you can see that at least one of the birds in this pic is flying.
    Also on this pic and APZ0004qsx , the birds seem to be sitting on top of the water with their heads up on longish necks - more like ducks.
    Penguins don't sit up like that - they look more like they are swimming along in their usual underwater swimming position but with their heads and backs just breaking the surface. They tend to swim in like that right up onto the beach and they just stand up.
    (That is hardly an eloquent explanation, but I hope it is understandable).
    They are really quite heard to see coming ashore, even when you are quite close to them. (Says she who has sat in bird hides for hours watching for penguins to come ashore only to have them materialize as if by magic standing on the beach!)
    So, while I hate to spoil the excitement, I think it more likely that they are a large flock of something like shags or gulls or something of that sort.

    I noticed that this pic and APZ0004qsx are only 4 days apart, so perhaps here was a large school of fish around that was attracting the birds. If there are other pics, it would be interesting to see the dates.

    NickyPeng

    Posted

  • gardenmaeve by gardenmaeve moderator

    Yes, I use the right click/zoom feature a lot after classifying an image- it helps when verifying what I'm wanting to comment upon.
    I was surprised elsewhere by the duck-like swim stance in images of penguins recently...but that was in images, not looking at the birds themselves as you've described!
    I'll have a look through to gather other images from this time period when I have time.

    Thanks much!
    Gardenmaeve

    Posted

  • gardenmaeve by gardenmaeve moderator

    Here's another from the series, just counted by @hoatzin http://talk.penguinwatch.org/#/subjects/APZ0004qvv
    Seems to be a lot of action with many seals and others.

    Posted

  • yshish by yshish moderator, translator in response to Nickypeng's comment.

    Actually, penguins can swim with their heads above the water surface like ducks (proof!) and I think that many of the birds in the linked image can be penguins (as well as shags or other sea birds)..

    Anyway, I can ask the scientists about their opinion on those guys and let you know then:]

    Cheers,

    Z.

    Posted

  • AvastMH by AvastMH moderator in response to yshish's comment.

    I thought that pengs stayed closer together when bobbing around on the surface? Interested to know the answer 😃

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  • gardenmaeve by gardenmaeve moderator

    Thank you all. It is so interesting to tease out the rest of the story when studying still images. I appreciate your observations and ponderings!

    Zuzi- That's exactly the kind of photo I was thinking of when I wondered about some of the animals in the water being penguins.

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  • AvastMH by AvastMH moderator

    Oh! amazing pic of floating pengs! They really do look lik educks- well I've learnt something today 😃

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  • gardenmaeve by gardenmaeve moderator

    Another in the series here http://talk.penguinwatch.org/#/subjects/APZ0004qo5

    Posted

  • gardenmaeve by gardenmaeve moderator

    juliebugs1 found another image: http://talk.penguinwatch.org/#/subjects/APZ0004quw

    And one more noted by Whereizmom http://talk.penguinwatch.org/#/subjects/APZ0004quf

    Posted

  • gardenmaeve by gardenmaeve moderator

    It seems at least some of the swimmers are seals. http://talk.penguinwatch.org/#/subjects/APZ0004r7q

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  • penguinTom79 by penguinTom79 scientist, admin

    Hi All,
    Please don't mark penguins in the water- we didn't think there would be that many when we wrote the guide!
    Part of the problem is that this image is Saunders in the South Sandwich Islands. There are roughly 1/2 million penguins in this colony, so there are always a lot coming and going from the beach!
    Cheers,
    Tom

    Posted

  • yshish by yshish moderator, translator in response to penguinTom79's comment.

    Thanks, going to correct the FAQs. Have you checked them already? Is there anything wrong? I've completely forgot to ask you about them!!

    Thanks,
    Z.

    Posted

  • gardenmaeve by gardenmaeve moderator

    Thanks very much for that clarification, penguinTom79.

    Posted