Birds and Birding's Guide to:

Watching THE PENGUINS

Emperor penguins

The six genera into which the Penguins are divided may be separated into two groups. In the first, which embraces only the genus Aptenodytes, both mandibles are long, relatively slender, and slightly curved downward at the tip, while in the second group the bill is of moderate length, and never has the lower mandible curved downward. To Aptenodytes belong the two largest species, the Emperor (A.forsteri) and the King Penguins (.4. pennanti) respectively.

The Emperor Penguin is bluish above and white below, with the top of the head, cheeks, chin, and throat deep black, while there is a large semicircular patch of orange-yellow on each side of the head. The total length is about forty-eight inches and the distance between the tips of the flippers thirty-six and one half inches.

They frequent the shores of the Antarctic continent. The King Penguin is much smaller, being only about twenty-six inches long and is similar in coloration to the other, except that the bluish gray of the upper parts inclines to pearl-gray on the back of the neck and shoulders, and the orange patches on the sides of the head continue as narrow bands down each side of the throat, and unite at the base of the fore neck, broaden into deep orange patches, which shade into yellow and disappear on the white breast and under parts.

This species is found about the Straits of Magellan, Falkland, Marion, Kerguelen, Macquarie, and Stewart islands.

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