If I Were Going...: November 2025

The most fun bird!

We’ve gone full circle and now we are back to Antarctica for December – this time to look at some Penguins. By now, it’s almost two years since we took that trip, but I still get excited looking at these photos.

There are eight varieties of Penguins in Antarctica and sub-Antarctic. On our trip, we saw four, but only got decent photos of three. So, let’s take a look …

Main page

We start in the upper lefthand corner with two Gentoo Penguins – the most common one for us – characteristically throwing their heads back and calling.

We saw these noisy, noisy birds all over; these are from a breeding colony at Neko Harbor;
the right photo is on the calendar

I hiked up an icy hill to get these shots; too bad I couldn’t use them all

The next photo on the top of the main page is a group of Adélie Penguins in Yalour Islands. We only saw this variety in three spots because they live farther south and exclusively in Antarctica.

These guys are preparing to plunge into the icy water from the rocks; Photo: Scott Stevens

Contact! We didn’t use this one; Photo: Scott Stevens

The third variety we saw and photographed in Antarctica was the Chinstrap, so called because, well, It looks like it has a chinstrap.

This one, at a breeding colony at Hydrurga Rocks, is standing over a fluffy gray chick
that is almost completely obscured by the rocks

The fourth variety was the Magellanic, which we saw on a distant beach in the Beagle Channel as we were returning to Antarctica.

None of the photos were good enough for the calendar

One of the biggest surprises to me was how many Penguins we saw vigorously swimming. Somehow, I expected floating (like Puffins), but not the high-speed “porpoising” in and out of the water.

Gentoos on a mission in Neko Harbor

Another shot I didn’t use

The three biggest photos on the main page are, indeed, three of my favorites from the trip.

This Adélie, with its tuxedo-like styling and blue eye-ring, provided a classic pose

These two Gentoos on an iceberg provided us with a great deal of entertainment
as they squawked and gestured

Here’s another look that I didn’t use

And, this portrait of three Chinstraps in front of an iceberg and a snowy mountain is so beautiful
that it was also our holiday card; Photo: Scott Stevens

Whenever I do the calendar, I live in fear that I will make a mistake. Doing this blog pointed out that this location is mislabeled on the calendar. This shot is at Hydrurga Rocks, not Yalour Islands. I am sure its not the only error.

Calendar Page

The calendar page provides more variety of the same three Penguins species.

The page has a cropped version of a Gentoo being harassed by two
(not just the one shown on the page) Brown Skuas that eventually stole her chick

The shot of a Chinstrap diving from the rocks as two friends watched, left,
was actually part of a series; Photos: Scott Stevens

Our best views of chicks was at an Adélie colony on the top of a bare rock; Photo: Scott Stevens

Here are some closer looks we didn’t use

Next up is a line of Adélies considering going in the water, but one has a lot to say about it

They are pretty good at lining up, as these unused photos attest

The next could be the luckiest shot (two shots) I could have gotten.

I was trying to capture the two Penguins swimming without realizing there was a Humpback Whale
in the frame; I used the second one of them fully airborne

And, finally, a close-up of a Chinstrap swimming right towards our Zodiac

He got tired when he got close and just floated by

More Photos

Of course we had more. So, so many that culled to even a too-large group was virtually impossible. You can read all about Penguins here and see lots of shots. Plus, almost all my Antarctica posts have some Penguin photos.

The first place we saw Penguins was on first stop, Deception Island, where they were swimming far away as we approached the island (I despaired of getting good shots) and then on the beach once we arrived.