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Gentoo Penguin | Pygoscelis papua
Ezelspinguïn | Pingüino de Pico Rojo
The Gentoo Penguin is a medium-sized penguin with a white band across the crown and a bright orange-red bill. Within the region a small population breeds on the Prince Edward Islands, where, unlike most other penguins there, it stays near the coast all year and breeds in the southern winter.
Voice
In the colony a loud, hoarse, donkey-like trumpeting, gaa-gaa-gaaah, given with the head thrown back and flippers spread, and a short husky bark as a contact call.
Recording: Meena Haribal — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · converted to mono · xeno-canto
Identification
About 76–81 cm. The upperparts and head are blackish grey, the underparts white. Characteristic is a white band running from eye to eye across the crown, often with some white flecks on the nape. The bill is orange-red with a black ridge and tip, the feet bright orange. The tail is strikingly long for a penguin and protrudes behind the bird, earning it the old name brush-tailed penguin. The sexes are alike. Immatures have a greyer throat, a smaller white head patch and a duller bill. Chicks are grey with a white belly.
Confusion species
No confusion within the region: King Penguin Aptenodytes patagonicus is much larger with orange ear patches, while Macaroni Penguin Eudyptes chrysolophus and Eastern Rockhopper Penguin Eudyptes filholi have yellow crest plumes and a black throat. The white crown band and orange bill are easily seen even on swimming birds.
Habitat
It breeds in small, loose colonies on low coastal flats and among grass tussocks and moss a little inland, in a nest of pebbles and plant debris. It forages close inshore, mostly within 20 km of the colony and in shallow waters over the island shelf, on fish, krill and other crustaceans and squid.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of southern Africa.
Range and movements
Within the region only on Marion and Prince Edward, with roughly a thousand pairs in all; not known from the African mainland. Beyond the region it breeds on the Crozet Islands, Kerguelen, Heard, Macquarie, South Georgia, the Falkland Islands, the South Shetland Islands and the Antarctic Peninsula.
How and when to look
Seen on a visit to Marion, for example during the annual relief voyage in April–May, when birds are often already gathering at the nest sites; eggs are laid from the southern winter. Look along the east coast near the research station and on the quiet beaches where groups come ashore.
Conservation status
Not globally threatened and increasing in the southern part of its range. The Marion population, however, is small and has clearly declined over recent decades, probably through changes in food availability around the island. Disturbance near the research station is limited by strict rules on entering the colonies.
Scientific name
Pygoscelis papua | (Forster, 1781)
Forster described the species in 1781 as Aptenodytes papua; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Pygoscelis was introduced in 1832 by Wagler. Pygoscelis comes from the Greek pugē, 'rump', and skelos, 'leg' — for the legs set far back on the body, on which these penguins walk upright. papua refers to Papua (New Guinea); Forster wrongly believed the species occurred there, whereas it lives in the southern oceans. The specimen the first description was based on came from Falkland Islands.