One Of These Is Not Like The Others

The last excursion of my Antarctic expedition brought with it its own little gift. This macaroni penguin would be the fourth species of penguin I would see, and the only one at that. Amidst a colony of aptly named chinstrap penguins, this yellow crested penguin has decided to make this pile of rocks his home as well.

Interesting fact about crested penguins in general - they lay two eggs, but almost always raise only one of them successfully. Not only that, but the first egg laid is substantially smaller than the second egg. This is especially true of the macaroni penguin, where the first egg is only about 60% (3.2-3.3oz) the size of the second egg (5.1-5.5oz).

A macaroni penguin makes his way through a chinstrap colony.