Image courtesy of Jean Pennycook

From: Jean Pennycook
Cape Royds, December 29, 2006

The Penguins Are Three Weeks Old

Today these chicks are three weeks old. They are almost as tall as the adults. They need a huge amount of food and in a few days these chicks will be left to themselves in the nest as both parents will need to forage for food to meets their growing needs. At this point they are big enough to fend off the Skua attacks, although some Skuas will attack them anyway. This year chicks are fat because the open water is not far and parental trips to find food take sometimes only a day. This makes for a plentiful supply of food and a busy colony with much coming and going. With open water coming closer to us, we expect to see whales off the shore soon.

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Postcards from the Field: Antarctica

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