#antarctic birds

[sitting-on-me-bum]

Adult emperors (Aptenodytes forsteri) guard a creche of older chicks. At least 10,000 chicks of about this age are thought to have perished during the recently documented catastrophic collapse of colonies on the Antarctic peninsula.

Image credit: courtesy Adam Schiefelbein/AAD 

[this-is-a-nice-stick]

Antarctic Shag (Leucocarbo bransfieldensis)

© Steve McInnis

[sathya-kalburgi]

Love these nice guys 💛💛

📷@ fernlichtsicht

[baby-bird-beaks]

Antarctic Shag (Leucocarbo bransfieldensis)

© Noah Strycker

[thedrawingrat]

Antarctic empire my beloved<3

[fatbirdpics]

Snow petrel. Apparently there were 3 landings on the boat in total that day. Based on the Frozen Planet II bit I watched, my guess is that this guy came out worse in a fight--note all the orange patches on his(?) wings, they will spit that waxy stuff at each other, and the dangerous thing is that if it freezes they won't be able to fly anymore. However it was 3-4 degrees Celsius so that wouldn't have been an issue then.

Anyway, he did *not* like the expedition staff member coming over to get him off the boat haha.

[jemichiart]

One of my pieces for the @polarlightszine featuring Arctic Terns - the birds that have the longest migration route, going from one pole to the other and back in a year. Impressive little guys!

You can get this gorgeous anthology about the Arctic and Antarctic life on https://polarlightszine.itch.io/ and support a good cause 💙

[snototter]

A pair of nesting Antarctic Terns (Sterna vittata) on Deception Island, Antarctica.

by Gregory "Slobirdr" Smith

[birds-and-friends]

Antarctic prion and Gibson's albatross, Chris Burwell

[bird-of-the-day]

BOTD: Antarctic Shag

^Image credit: Liam Quinn

Antarctic Shag (Leucocarbo bransfieldensis)

The Antarctic Shag is the only species of the cormorant family found in the Antarctic. On average, they dive 25 meters (82 feet) to feed on fish, but their maximum dive depth is around 60 meters (196 feet). They are unique in the cormorant family in that they don't need to spread their wings and dry off their feathers after becoming wet.

[kiss-kiss-bird-in-love]

Antarctic Shag (Leucocarbo bransfieldensis)

© Chris Wood

[sitting-on-me-bum]

In more penguin news, this image provided by the British Antarctic Survey shows adult emperor penguins with their chick near the Halley research station in Antarctica.

Photograph: AP

[datgreenmonstah]

Kept seeing this quote and some variation of it, so I felt like drawing something to fit the vibe.

One of the flowering plants that I chose is the “Antarctica Pearlwort” I also chose an emperor penguin since they were the most affected by the ice melt this yr, losing over 10,000 chicks in a colony.

[colorsoutofearth]

King penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus)

Photo by Wim van den Heever

[dougdimmadodo]

Arctic Tern (Sterna paradisaea)

Family: Gull Family (Laridae)

IUCN Conservation Status: Least Concern

Arctic Terns live a life of almost constant migration: they breed in the Arctic circle and surrounding subarctic zone during the northern hemisphere’s summer (typically inhabiting their nesting site from April until August), and upon the end of the breeding season they travel over 24,000km (roughly 14913 miles) to spend the southern hemisphere’s summer in the waters surrounding Antarctica. Depending on where the terns leave from and where they choose to nest, this pole-to-pole migration adds up to a total distance of between 48,000 and 70,000km (29826-43496 miles), making it by far the longest migration carried out by any animal. Arctic Terns feed primarily on young fish (although they will also take crustaceans, molluscs, worms and, where available, insects and berries) and nest in colonies, with each individual returning to the same colony and reuniting with the same mate every year, so long as the male in the pair succeeds in an initial courtship display involving being chased through the sky by the female to show his fitness and providing gifts of fish to show his hunting ability. They nest near the coast by excavating a small ditch in soft, sandy ground, and produce a clutch of 1-3 eggs which are brown and speckled to help them blend in with their surroundings. Both the mother (who stands guard of the nest and incubates the eggs) and the father (who provides fish for his mate and chicks) will fiercely defend their nests from any other animals that come near them, and have been known to drive back threats as large as Polar Bears.  

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Animal Advent Calendar - Day 3

Image Source: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/4449-Sterna-paradisaea

[wolfie180g]

Trick or treat! (Penguin)

Taking the leap!

@grievingangelhopefuldemon

Sorry for the delay! I think this was the cutest penguin and I just had to draw it :)

Reference photo under the cut