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Emperor penguins at the West Ice Shelf

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Abstract

In 1956, an emperor penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri) colony had been reported during an aerial survey north of the north-western protrusion of the West Ice Shelf in East Antarctica. About 15,000 birds were estimated to be present. The region often has very heavy pack ice conditions hindering access by vessels. In the summers of 2009–2011, we surveyed the area from the air and sighted two emperor penguin colonies. One was situated on top of the ice shelf and comprised 342 adults and 1,156 chicks. The second colony was seen near the northern edge of the West Ice Shelf on the sea ice about 60 km farther south than in 1956. There were at least 1,498 adults and 3,436 chicks.

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Acknowledgments

This project was undertaken as part of ASAC Project 484. I would like to thank the pilots Leigh Hornsby, Chris Wilcox, Dougie Gray, Frank Ross, Bob Heath, and Allan Moore for their excellent flying; Nobuo Kokubun and Mike Grimmer for their assistance in the field; Alison Dean for her support; and Perry Anderson, Theo Davis, Lucas Koleits, and David Hosken for participating in the surveys. I would also like to express my gratitude to Jerry Kooyman, Yvon Le Maho, and an anonymous reviewer for their constructive and thoughtful comments that greatly improved this paper.

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  1. Australian Antarctic Division, 203 Channel Highway, Kingston, TAS, 7050, Australia

    Barbara Wienecke

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  1. Barbara Wienecke
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Correspondence to Barbara Wienecke.

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Wienecke, B. Emperor penguins at the West Ice Shelf. Polar Biol 35, 1289–1296 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-012-1172-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-012-1172-9

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