Rockhopper Penguins

January - February, 2015

We have spent two amazing weeks in the Falkland Islands photographing different species of birds and animals, but our primary target was penguins. There are five penguin species breeding on the islands. This blog is about Southern Rockhoppers.

Rockhopper penguin is one of the smallest and perhaps the most charismatic penguin. Their population is roughly 320000 pairs in the Falkland Islands (world population seeks 1 million pairs). Rockhopper colonies are well situated in Saunders island where we spent most of the time photographing these little fellows.

At Saunders we stayed at the Neck (three nights) and Rookery (two nights).

The Neck is a sandy narrow strip which divides two large peaks. It's a home for a large Rockhopper colony.

Rockhopper penguins are recognized by their yellow eyebrow above a red eye and yellow plumes at sides of head.

Small chicks hardly resemble their striking looking parents.

The youngsters, who are part way through the moulting process, look completely ridiculous. Immature Rockhoppers do not have such obvious yellow markings and plumes as adult penguins do.

Southern Rockhoppers are small penguins (average length of around 52 cm) but they have super strong little bodies. They hop great distances to their nesting sites up steep cliffs and incredibly easy get around rocky and dangerous places.

The ones who are not very confident in jumping are encouraged by others.

As we visited the Falkland Islands in late January, penguins already had their chicks. Nevertheless the birds carried on "refurbishing" their nests with stones and sticks.

With hungry chicks to feed adult penguins head out to the sea to forage daily. It's highly dangerous activity. Predators are not only in water but also on land. Southern Giant Petrels wait for a right moment to attack Rockhoppers.

It creates an atmosphere of panic and fear.

At the end of the day penguins return from the sea back to their colonies.

Little ones are finally fed.

Unfortunately some penguins return from the sea with injuries. This Rockhopper got away from danger but may not survive.

About a kilometre away from the Neck, there is a colony of Black-browed Albatross and King Cormorants. Rockhoppers live in a very close neighbourhood to these birds.

From time to time penguin colonies are visited by sheep. There is no big surprise as Saunders island is run as a sheep farm.

Rockhopper is an aggressive bird and will fight anyone coming too close to its territory.

Conflicts between crested penguins are very common too.

The Rookery was our next destination on Saunders island. Rockhopper “shower”- a stream running off the mountains - is the main sight of the island.

Admittedly upon reaching the Rockhopper colony we had a bit of a shock because we could not see the “shower”. Only later when we started climbing down the cliff following the penguin highway we spotted a stream and yes, there were penguins taking a refreshing shower. These little chaps sometimes need to wash their bodies not only from salt but also from smelly guano.

Up the cliff there is a healthy Rockhopper population where cute chicks provide hours of enjoyment.

King Cormorants nest tightly in the neighbourhood of Rockhoppers.

Such colonies provide not only interesting observations but also super strong smells from guano, urine and regurgitated baby food. After couple hours of photography admittedly we used to smell similar to them.

At Rookery we stayed at a cosy and warm self-catering cabin.

After Saunders we planed to go to Volunteer point but due to a thick fog our flight was cancelled. We stayed one more night on the island in a location called Settlement. Its's a place were the owners of the island live.