The Gentoo Penguins (Pygoscelis papua) become smaller the further south they live. Their slaty-black heads are topped eye to eye with a neat white bonnet, and they have a bright reddish-orange bill. Long, stiff tail feathers stick out as they walk, often cocked up in the water. No other penguins have such a prominent tail.

Gentoos on the peninsula return to their breeding grounds on flat areas on rocky coasts in October/November. Their attachment to a nest site is not strong as there is usually no shortage of possibilities, but their pair-bond is strong and they usually mate with the partner of the previous season.

Parents share an incubation period of 31-39 days, and the chicks are fed on undigested shrimps or small fish by regurgitation. They gather in the protection of crèches at four to five weeks allowing both adults to go fishing and fledge in about 62-82 days in the south. Uniquely among the penguins, the young continue to be fed for a gurther period by their parents after fledging, so that they are hanging around the moulting area together will into March. The total population of Gentoos is somewhere around 400,000 pairs, most living south of the Antarctic convergence, mainly on South Georgia. They are currently increasing in range both in the Falklands and the Antarctic Peninsula where these photos were taken. – Antarctica a guide to the wildlife by Tony Soper.

These penguins take advantage of stream-lined bodies and strong “flippers” in the water to dive more than 600 feet deep and swim up to 22 miles an hour, the fastest of any other diving bird. – Oceania.org