Penguin Watch Talk

Behavior

  • ekhenry by ekhenry

    Are they laying on nests? Does the female make the nest before she lays the egg or does the male do it?
    What is the primary purpose of what the penguins are doing in this picture? Are they mainly resting, incubating the eggs, or are they protecting their hatch-lings with their entire bodies?

    Posted

  • AvastMH by AvastMH moderator

    Hello ekhenry.
    Yes these Gentoos are sitting on nests made from mounds of grass . Apparently the male starts the nest building, but both take part. They take turns in foraging for food at sea during this time, with one left building/protecting the nest (penguins will steal nesting matter from each other!). The egg takes about 35 days to hatch and can reach a temperature of 30C or a bit more during that time. We can only hope that they all have eggs in their nests to incubate. Once the chicks hatch the parent stands guard over them. Typically you see the parent standing half crouched at an angle over the chicks to protect them. With no significantly sized feathery wings they cannot tuck their brood under a wing. The penguins in this picture are Gentoos as well - but with rocky nests. However, they do show that 'guard' pose with which they shelter the chicks: http://talk.penguinwatch.org/#/subjects/APZ000321c

    I hope this helps and that you are enjoying PenguinWatch 😃
    AvastMH

    Posted

  • yshish by yshish moderator, translator

    Hi @Ekhenry,

    Exactly as @AvastMH said. Just want to add that her 'we can only hope that they all have eggs in their nests..' means we don't mark any eggs unless we can really see them 😃

    Thanks for your question, keep asking!

    Zuzi

    Posted