FAQ - 4th Penguin species, chick X adult, breeding cycles

• by yshish moderator, translator

  4.1 What species and how do we classify them?

  • Penguin species? No, there’s no need to worry about recognizing individual species (and no way to classify them either). We only need you to recognize adults from chicks. The key features for telling them apart varies in individual species and they change during the chick’s growth. Sometimes you can even see mixed colonies of 2-3 different species.

  • Nests? No need to mark them. We only care about eggs/chicks/adults.

  • Eggs? We rarely see them. Mark only eggs you can really see. Don’t mark eggs outside the nest or broken ones/empty egg shells.

    Empty egg shells or eggs outside the nest - We do not mark them.

  

  • Chicks? Check out the breeding cycles in the following part to know when to expect to see chicks. Mark only chicks you can see and you are sure about.
  • Moulting penguins? As long as you can see chick features on them (see them below) mark them as chicks. Otherwise we mark all moulting penguins as adults.

  Moulting chicks of King penguins - you can clearly see some brown feathers = mark them as chicks.

  

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  These may look like moulting chicks to you but they may be moulting adults as well. When they have all marks of maturity visible = mark them as adults.

  

  • Unsure what you see?
  • If unsure whether you’re looking at egg/rock then do not mark it.
  • If unsure whether a chick/adult, mark it as adult.

  Unsure what you see? Mark them as adults.

  

  Posted April 26, 2015 4:50 PM

• by yshish moderator, translator

  4.2 Penguin species, chicks or adults, breeding cycles

  • Gentoo (Pygoscelis papua)

  • Adults have got clear white head marking and black chin/throat, black backs, long black tail feathers and white stomachs.

  • Chicks are grey, rather than black (shade varies at different ages) on their back, they’ve got white chins/throats. Their stomach is cream/dirty white. As they grow up, a white marking starts to appear on their heads. They’ve got short tail feathers.

  • Gentoo adults usually lay two eggs.

  • Nests are built from pebbles or soil mixed with grass, seaweed, etc. (depends on the subspecies).

  • Breeding cycles:

    

    

  • Adélie (Pygoscelis adeliae)

  • Adults have got clear white stomachs and clear black backs, white thin circles around eyes (not always visible from bigger distance) and black chins/throats.

  • Chicks are dark brown with no white patches until they become juveniles. Then they change dark chin feathers for white which continues down over their stomachs as they become older. They’re considered as juveniles as long as their chins/throats are white!

  • Adélie adults usually lay two eggs.

  • Nests are built from pebbles.

  • Breeding cycle:

    

  • Chinstrap (Pygoscelis antarctica)

  • Adults have got white front with black strap over their chin, black head top and back.

  • Chicks are grey with no black feathers or straps over chins.

  • Chinstrap adults usually lay two eggs.

  • Nests are built from mud.

  • Breeding cycle:

    

  • Rockhopper (Eudyptes chrysocome)

  • Adults have got distinct yellow ‘whiskers’ on sides, red beaks and eyes. Their backs are black and stomachs white.

  • Chicks have got dark beaks, dark brown heads and backs and cream stomachs. They haven’t got head whiskers.

  • Rockhopper adults usually lay two eggs.

  • Nests are dug into the ground.

  • Breeding cycle:

    

  • Macaroni (Eudyptes chrysolophus)

  • Adults have got a distinct yellow crest, thick red beaks, red eyes, white stomachs and black backs.

  • Chicks have no crests on heads, their beaks are dark brown as well as their heads and backs. Stomachs are cream.

  • Macaroni adults usually lay two eggs.

  • Nests are dug in the ground, may be lined by pebbles/grass or surrounded by a grass tussock.

  • Breeding cycle:

    

  • King (Aptenodytes patagonicus)

  • Adults are grey with white stomachs, orange chests and cheeks on black heads. They have got an orange stripe along their beak.

  • Chicks are all brown and fluffy. They can appear bigger than adults! Mark them as chicks as long as they have got some brown feathers on their body.

    

  • Their breeding cycle is very complicated. They lay one egg at a time, but they breed during the whole year. It takes 14-16 months to court, lay an egg and raise a chick. Most pairs raise a chick just twice in a period of three years as a result. You will see chicks of different ages all together. In this extended breeding period, early breeders start in November, late breeders start in January.

  • King penguins do not make nests. The single egg (and later the chick) is incubated on its parents’ feet under a brood pouch - a fold of skin covered by feathers. Chicks under the brood pouch are hidden and rarely seen. Larger chicks stand on their own feet and form crèches. So you won’t usually see chicks unless they are big enough to be in crèche.

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  //Breeding cycles: Adapted from Pinguins info (2014) by Zuzi @yshish ; approved by the PW science team.

  Posted September 10, 2016 1:40 PM