The Tropicbird-Penguin
January 9, 2009
We found another weird penguin today. This one was almost entirely white, with just a little black patterning on the back, white flippers, white tail, and a red bill. It looked for all the world like a penguin version of a Red-billed Tropicbird. We joked it may be a hybrid, but tropicbirds live in tropical oceans and penguins stick to Antarctica, so it probably wasn’t a match destined to happen. Instead, it’s just another melanin-deficient bird, this one pretty close to being entirely albino.
We still call it the tropicbird-penguin, though. I have made a comparison below – see for yourself! (And no, that Red-billed Tropicbird photo wasn’t from Antarctica; I took that one in Maine a couple years ago, but you can see the similarities).
The Tropicbird-Penguin
An Actual Red-billed Tropicbird For Comparison (In Maine A Couple Years Ago)