Northern Gentoo nests
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by
gardenmaeve
moderator
We've become used to the nesting habits of the Southern Gentoo penguins we've seen here at PW. There was some confusion when the new dataset of images, complete with some new sites, arrived. Where are the Gentoo pebble nests?
This brown area with moulted feathers is the remains of the rookery shown in other images such as this one: Nesting in seaweed Nests are made of a dug hollow or burrow space, then lined with available vegetation. In this case we see brown seaweed lining the nests and forming a mound around each one.
Finally, this link shows what's left of the nests by the time chicks are growing big. Big chicks, worn-down nests Less of the seaweed is visible, more sand and pebbles show, and the seaweed lining is quite worn down. Quite obvious in this image is the unhatched egg, bottom left corner. We don't mark eggs out of the nests. Gardeners among us will know fertile soil is much more likely with the combination of penguin guano, seaweed, feathers and sand here, while those ingredients minus the seaweed make just a thin soil in Southern pebble nest regions.
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