Blondie And Blackie
December 6, 2008
It was too windy to go outside yesterday (but not a full gale), so we caught up on sleep, data entry, and eating. Three inches of snow fell today, and the last of the sea ice has blown offshore. A half-mile section of ice that we walked over to reach the Emperor Penguin colony two days ago was open water this morning; a sobering realization. Michelle and I put up new tents after breakfast (in place of the ones that were destroyed by 90mph winds last week) and spent an hour securing them with ropes and rocks. With sun shining this afternoon, we got some time to work in the penguin colony.
There are bound to be some funky birds among a quarter million penguins. Two of the most interesting-looking individuals we’ve seen at Cape Crozier are Blondie and Blackie.
Blondie looks like a regular penguin, except where he should be black, he’s bleached blond. He’s missing some melanin pigments in his feathers, a similar condition to albinism. This is the seventh consecutive year that Blondie has returned to the same nest, but this season, for the first time, he’s incubating an egg. We think he found a mate, but haven’t seen her yet. So maybe he just stole someone else’s egg.
Blackie is a little different. Where she should be white, she is jet black—in fact, she is entirely black, beak to tail. Last time we checked, she was sitting happily on eggs. This year, we also found another black penguin near the top of the valley, building a gigantic nest, but he had no egg or mate. I hope the lady penguins look more than feather-deep, for his sake.
In past years, albino (all-white) penguin chicks have hatched at Cape Crozier, but none ever survived. Nobody has seen an albino penguin adult here—yet!
Blondie Sits On His Nest
Blackie On Her Nest
Another Black Penguin
A Normal Adelie Penguin
Penguins In The Snow
4 Responses to 'Blondie And Blackie'
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I am so happy I came across your blog! I’m not sure where – but it could’ve been via Clare in Arctic Bay.
In any event – I love your photography, can’t get enough of penguins…
allmycke
7 Dec 08 at 4:50 am
Very cool!
You might have seen it, but the Australian Antarctic Division has a page with unusual penguins: http://www.aad.gov.au/default.asp?casid=1693
I found this page mentioned in the July 2008 issue of the Polar Times, which featured a melanistic Chinstrap Penguin on the cover and an albino African Penguin (in a zoo) on the back cover (I have scans here: http://brdpics.blogspot.com/2008/07/black-and-white-penguins.html). I’d be tickled to death just to see a penguin of any stripe some day outside of captivity!!
Your photos are much better quality than most there- keep up the great work!
Bill Schmoker
7 Dec 08 at 1:22 pm
One of the coolest Adelie Penguins I saw was an almost molted chick, about 2/3′s the size of all the others, with just a crown of down on top of his/her head. Looking for all the world like there should be a safety pin stuck through its ear and Doc Martins on its feet.
Clare
7 Dec 08 at 7:03 pm
Amazing, are you going to follow them to adulthood and the colour of their offspring? If they survive that is.
Arija
23 Dec 08 at 12:05 am