Birds and Birding's Guide to:

Watching THE PENGUINS

Penguins Nesting

During the nesting period they resort mainly to the wildest and most inaccessible islands and isolated rocks in the southern seas. Here they come, or at least once did, in countless thousands.

The nests of some of the species are placed on the ground, while others nest mainly in burrows or holes among the rocks, and it is said of at least the King Penguin that the egg is carried in a pouch or fold of skin between the legs, being laid down only for the purpose of changing it from one parent to the other. When on the ground the nests are rude affairs, consisting of a few grasses or are simply slight depressions scratched in the earth by the birds.

The burrowing species of the Falkland Islands have modified their habits to some extent since the advent of civilization, now making these holes ten or fifteen feet long. The eggs are usually two in number, but apparently in some species there is but one; they are white or greenish white in color and possess a very thick shell.

Both parents take part in the incubation of the eggs and attend to the needs of the young with great care until they are able to shift for themselves. Notwithstanding this extreme care for the preservation of the young birds, Gould tells us that heavy gales of wind frequently destroy them in great numbers, hundreds occasionally being found dead on the beach after a storm.

When sitting on the eggs or brooding the young, the old birds sit closely and if approached too near resent the intrusion with their powerful, sharp bills and are capable of inflicting severe wounds.

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