A possible Adélie penguin sub-colony on fast ice by Cape Crozier, Antarctica

• DOI: 10.1017/s095410201900018x
• Publication Date: 2019-05-14T07:36:46Z
• Authors: Michelle Larue; David Iles; Sara Labrousse; Leo Salas; Grant Ballard; David Ainley; Benjamin Saenz
• Keywords: Pygoscelis; Cape; Guano

Abstract Adélie penguins are renowned for their natal philopatry on land-based colonies, requiring small pebbles to be used nests. We report an opportunistic observation via aerial survey, where hundreds of were documented displaying nesting behaviours fast ice ~3 km off the coast Cape Crozier, which is one largest colonies in world. counted 426 engaging pair formation, spacing similarly normal nest distributions and lying divots that looked like On our first visit, it was noticed guano stain bright pink, consistent with krill consumption, but had shifted green over course ~2 weeks, indicating birds fasting (a behaviour egg incubation). However, eggs not observed. posit four hypotheses may explain proximate causes this caution against future high-resolution satellite imagery interpretation due potential confusing ice-nesting presence emperor penguin colonies.