[Backup] old FAQ - 3rd AL: Adult or chick / penguin species

• by yshish moderator, translator

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  This is a backup of the old FAQs. Click here to see the actual ones.

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  1] How to recognize chicks from adults

  • To distinguish between chicks and adults it helps to identify the species first. But generally, chicks have got fluffy plumage. Look for the main differences in these images for each species (below*).
  • There are usually two chicks in each nest.
  • For a short time after hatching chicks are unable to stay warm in the nest alone so you can spot them huddling under one of the adults (usually the father) as fluffy grey / dark blobs.
  • As they grow up, they become able to stay warm on their own so their parents can finally leave them to forage for food in the sea while their chicks form crèches guarded by just a few adults. The purpose of these flocks is to protect chicks from bad weather conditions and predators.

  2] A juvenile or an adult / moulting penguins

  • Sometimes it can be very difficult to tell an older chick from an adult. Adults usually moult at the same time at the end of a breeding season (between February and April) when both (adults and chicks) moult. Juveniles become adults when they lose their chick feathers. Adults moult to keep the insulation and waterproof qualities of their feathers. It is very difficult to distinguish between them at this time even when you're a scientist. So please, mark the moulting penguins as adults unless they miss the signs of maturity for that species (= you're sure they are not adults). For example, the chicks of King penguins have got brown feathers. When it looks like an adult King but still has some clusters of brown chick-like feathers, then you can mark it as a chick.

  Gentoos

  Adults have got a white head marking and black chins / throats, black backs and white stomachs. Chicks are more grey than black on their back, and have got white chins / throats. Their stomachs seem to be dirty white / cream. Both have got red beaks and feet.

  

  Rockhoppers

  Adults have got yellow / white 'head whiskers' and red beaks. Their backs are black and stomach white. Chicks have got dark beaks and dark brown back and dirty white / cream stomachs. Chicks haven't got head whiskers.

  Adelies

  Adults have got clear white stomachs and clear black back, and white circles around their eyes (not visible from bigger distances) and black chins / throats. Chicks are dark brown with no white patches until they're juveniles. Then they change dark chin feathers for white which continues down over the stomach. But they are juveniles as long as they have got white chin feathers!

  Kings

  Adults are grey with white stomachs, orange chests and cheeks on black head. Chicks are all brown and fluffy. Mark them as chicks as long as they have got some brown feathers on their body.

  Chinstraps

  Adults have got white front with black strap over their chin, black top of head and black back. Chicks are grey with no black feathers or straps over chins.

  • When you really can't tell them apart, it is always better to mark them as adults so the scientists will know their count at least.

  *Will add some images to each species later..

  3] Penguin species

  • There's no need (and no way) to identify the species in the classification. The penguin identification pictures under your classified image are there for your information only (to help you recognize chicks from adults). They are not linked to the counting process. The scientists know who is nesting at each site. Easy!

  Posted September 10, 2016 12:11 PM

• by yshish moderator, translator

  Here is a comment posted by @mhwallace01 as a reaction on the 3rd FAQ in the original discussion thread:

  I have photographed penguins in the wild, and have some tips for
  identifying chicks vs adults on a photo.

  Adults can be quite shiny; chicks are fluffy, and the light is
  absorbed by their downy feathers, so they look like velvet. For me,
  this is a key differentiator.

  Chicks do not have the species marking of the adults on their heads,
  another important way to distinguish them.

  When standing up, chicks are shaped like pears, quite bottom heavy,
  especially right after a feeding when they seem to be 90% stomach.
  Adults are shaped more like a lipstick tube, with the same
  circumference down from the neck to the feet.

  There are also headless penguins in the photos; some tuck their beaks
  in their "armpits" when they sleep. If shiny, they are adults.

  Chicks usually have a lot of mess on the front of their bodies, the
  result of moving while the parent regurgitates food into their mouths;
  what misses the mouth dribbles onto the breast. Since many penguins
  eat krill, the mess is often a pinky taupe in color after it dries. Of
  course, adults at the nest get dirtier with every passing day, but it
  seems more brown than pink, in my experience.

  Often, chicks from the same parent are 2 different sizes; one egg is
  laid before the other, and hatches first and is better fed.

  Of course, it's hard to see in many photos who is adult and who is
  chick, a short one next to a tall one is not always a chick..

  So, to find chicks, look for fluffy, pear shaped penguins with
  pink-taupe stains on their chests. AND look for gray blobs at the feet
  of adults; they try to climb back into the egg pouch until they are
  quite large, often being able only to warm their heads in there.
  Sometimes they look like pancakes.

  King Penguin chicks look like Kiwi fruit.

  Chinstrap penguin chicks look like big velvet medium brown blobs.

  Michelle

  P.S. When I was at Bailey Head, the colony of Chinstraps, I sat down
  in the mud. A bit later, an adult penguin approached me, looking me
  straight in the eye, and dropped a pebble at my feet. This is a
  highlight of my trips to the southern ocean. (PPS - this is how
  penguins woo their mates. I felt so complimented.)

  Posted September 10, 2016 12:13 PM