Some penguins for a chilly Monday morning in London.
Shot in Antarctica, the porpoising penguins almost drove me crazy trying to predict their movements and capture them in focus. Finally, I got a few shots that were sharp. What with all the action and trying to wield the long-ish lens, it was only when I reviewed the shots that I realised that there were three different types of penguin here.
Leading the pack is a chinstrap penguin, with its distinctive helmet and chinguard markings.
Next up is the gentoo penguin with the bright red beak and feet and white bonnet across the top of the head.
Close behind are the macaroni penguins. The name is due to the yellow eyebrow feathers (my term, not a technical one!) which were considered to make it look like a 'dandy' (someone who dressed raffishly). When the name was chosen, there was a popular nursery rhyme called 'yankee-doodle dandy' -
'Yankee-doodle went to town
Riding on a pony.
He stuck a feather in his cap
And called it macaroni'.
So now it all makes perfect sense.... and I think we should be happy that it isn't called the yankee-doodle penguin.
Penguins travel in groups a lot, to avoid being singled out by predators like leopard seals, but until I took this shot I wasn't aware that the different species travelled together as well.
You live and learn...
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