Photo © by Rodrigo Tapia
Ardley Peninsula, King George Island, South Shetland Archipelago, Antarctica, January 1992
Alternative name: Bearded Penguin
- Pygoscelis antarcticus
Identification
Length 68-77cm (26¾-30¼ in), Smallest of the pygoscelid penguins.
Adult: Bluish-grey to blue-black above, white below. Crown and rear of head black, face and throat white with narrow 'chinstrap' across throat from ear to ear.
Bill black
Legs and feet pale pink.
Immature: Similar but with dusky freckling on face and more extensive dark cap extending to eye.
Distribution
Circumpolar in Antarctic seas. Breeds on the Antarctic Peninsula and on South Georgia and the South Shetland, South Orkney and South Sandwich Islands. Increasing and expanding range and now breeds in small numbers on Bouvet, Peter First, Heard and Balleny Islands. Pelagic range mainly in open sea bordering pack ice but movements unclear. Vagrants have been recorded in the Falkland Islands, Tasmania, Macquarie Islands and Campbell Island.
Taxonomy
This is a monotypic species[1].
Habitat
Photo © by Joseph Morlan
Grytviken, South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands, 6 March 2018.
Breeds in large, densely-packed colonies on slopes above shores of islands and Antarctic coasts, otherwise at sea.
Behaviour
Breeding
Colonial breeder, November-March, two white eggs laid nest is a shallow scrape ringed with small stones. Two white eggs laid in November and incubated for 36 days, first by male than female. Young fed by both sexes and join creche at about 4 weeks.
Aggressive at breeding colonies and regularly charges human intruders.
Diet
Crustaceans, especially krill.
Vocalisation
Loud braying, growling and hissing calls.
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2018. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2018. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Martínez, I., Christie, D.A., Jutglar, F. & Garcia, E.F.J. (2018). Chinstrap Penguin (Pygoscelis antarcticus). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. (retrieved from https://www.hbw.com/node/52460 on 8 June 2018).
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Chinstrap Penguin. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 11 May 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Chinstrap_Penguin
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.1
