At the Auster Rookery in East Antarctica, a new chapter in life is beginning for thousands of emperor penguins. During a visit to the colony, staff from the Australian Mawson Station discovered numerous newly hatched chicks. After months of darkness and extreme cold, the next crucial phase of the breeding season is now underway.
The Auster Rookery lies on the sea ice off the coast of East Antarctica, around 54 kilometres from the Australian Mawson Station. Staff from the station visit the colony regularly during the winter.
During their most recent visit in early September, they were met with a markedly different scene: numerous silver-grey chicks had hatched in the meantime and were sitting safely on their parents’ feet. At the same time, the colony appeared significantly larger than it had been just a few weeks earlier.
Together against the cold
Over the coming weeks, the chicks will grow rapidly and develop a thick down coat. Before long, they will form larger groups, known as crèches. There, the chicks huddle close together whilst their parents venture further out to sea to forage for food.
By early Antarctic summer, the chicks must have grown strongly and developed their waterproof juvenile plumage. Success in this depends largely on stable sea ice. If it breaks up too early, before the chicks can swim, this can prove fatal for many of them.
The latest observations at the Auster Rookery are therefore encouraging for now: a new generation of emperor penguins has survived the harshest months of the Antarctic winter.
Rosamaria Kubny, PolarJournal