Penguins are one of the main highlights of any Antarctic trip. However, while most people tend to imagine the Emperor penguin is the "typical" penguin of the Antarctic, the Emperor is usually one of the least likely penguins that visitors will see.
This is because most visitors travel on one of the cruise ships that visit the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula, and there are only a few very small colonies on the Western side (in Marguerite Bay. The next nearest Emperor colony is Snow Hill, to the east of the Peninsula in the Weddell Sea, whose icepack necessitates travelling on an icebreaker rather than an ice-strengthened ship.)
Instead visitors to the Antarctic Peninsula are far more likely to see Gentoo and Adelie penguins in the Gerlache Strait and Lemaire Channel areas, in particular the Gentoo and Adelie Penguin Colonies of Cuverville, Neko Harbour and Peterman Island, which many cruise ships try to visit if the weather allows.
The Gentoo Penguin (P.Papua Ellsworthii) Colonies on Cuverville Island and Neko Harbour
Cuverville Island and nearby Neko Harbour are two of the most visited locations by cruise ships. This may be because Cuverville island is considered to be the largest breeding colony of Gentoo penguins with (according to a research paper for the Instituto Antártico Argentino by C.A. Aguirre & J.M. Acero in 1994) over 4000 pairs of breeding birds in total, spread over a couple of colonies.
Neko Harbour tends to be on cruise ship itineraries as it allows the Antarctic visitor to say that they have set foot on the Antarctic continent (rather than an Antarctic island). At 64º 50’ S, 062º 33’ W for Neko Harbour and 64° 41'S, 62° 38'W 33’ W for Cuverville Island, both locations are still north of the Antarctic Circle, so 24 hour daylight is very nearly, but never quite possible.
At Neko Harbour, the Gentoo penguin colony is located on the western headland, and Gentoo penguins can often be seen nesting in the remnants of an emergency shelter built by the Argentinian Antarctic Program. The colony is fairly small, measured in the hundreds and much smaller than either the ones at Cuverville or Peterman Islands. Further up the hill from the Neko Harbour Gentoo colony, visitors will often find skuas breeding – baby Gentoo penguin chicks form an important part of their diet.
Gentoo (P.Papua Ellsworthii) and Adelie (Pygocelis Adeliae) Penguin Colonies on Peterman Island
There are two large Gentoo colonies on Peterman Island, one at each end, with a smaller Adelie colony and a Blue-eyed Shag colony at the southern end. Chicks of both species of penguin begin to hatch in early December, and by late February most of the juvenile penguins have already gone to sea.
Although both species of Penguin are fairly similar in size, Gentoos can be easily distinguished from Adelies by the white patch to the side of each eye, which the Adelies don't have (see images).
Climate Change and Penguin Populations on Peterman Island
It is thought that climate change is having a significant effect on the relative populations of Gentoo and Adelie penguins on Peterman Island. The Adelies used to be "king of the island", with only a few Gentoos breeding there, but according to Nigel Milius (Quark Expedition's ornithologist on the Kapitan Khlebnikov Epic Antarctica trip of Dec 2009) this has now reversed with a couple of thousand Gentoo penguins now outbreeding the few hundred remaining pairs of Adelies. According to Ron Naveen of Oceanites inc in The Antarctic Sun (a publication of the US Antarctic Program), the change in species distribution correlates quite specifically to temperature data in the region, with warming temperatures distinctly favouring the usually more northerly-based Gentoos over the typically more southerly-based Adelies.
Emperor Penguins are unlikely to be seen by most visitors to the Antarctic Peninsula, whereas Gentoo and Adelie penguins are far more likely to be seen by those who visit Neko Harbour and Cuverville and Peterman Islands on the Antarctic Peninsula. Separate articles by the same author give more information on the Emperor penguin colony of Cape Washington and the Adelie penguin colonies in the Ross Sea area of Antarctica.
Chiz Dakin - A keen mountain walker, scrambler, cyclist and occasional climber and sea kayaker for several years, Chiz Dakin has carried a camera with ...
