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The Macaroni Penguin | Articles of Interest for Travelers to The Antarctic

The Macaroni Penguin

The Macaroni is the largest of the crested penguin species, reaching about two feet in height at adulthood and weighing just over ten pounds. Macaronis most resemble the Royal penguin, a species that visitors who travel to Antarctica from South America will not see, and are similar in appearance to the Rockhopper penguin which they might. Visitors should have no trouble distinguishing the Macaronis from Rockhoppers during their Antarctica tours, even though both are crested with yellow face feathers and bright, red-orange beaks, black backs and white fronts. The Macaroni’s yellow plumage reminded British explorers of the elaborate style of hats worn by some of their flamboyant countrymen in the mid-18th century, giving the species its name.

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The Macaroni subsists on a diet of fish, krill and squid. Though the Macaroni can reach depths of over 200 feet, most dives are short and usually shallow. Macaronis lay two eggs. For this species, survival of the fittest is a matter of timing. After the second egg of the season is laid, the first is abandoned. Breeding season begins in October, the Antarctic summer. The female incubates her first egg and shares the responsibility with her mate after she lays the second which is the larger of the two. Eggs hatch in about a month. The young remain in the creche between two and three months.
The greatest congregation of Macaroni species, comprised of almost three million breeding pairs, is found on South Georgia Island. At the northern edge of its range, on the east side of the Falkland Islands, Macaronis are non-endemic but may be seen at Pebble Island, a destination that visitors may reach by air during their travel to Antarctica. This site is actually a Rockhopper colony, but visitors on Antarctica tours may also see a very few Macaronis. Macaronis are also sometimes seen at the Rockhopper colonies on Sea Lion Island in the West Falklands as well as at the Punta Tombo Reserve in Northern Patagonia, though visitors who come here during their Argentina tours do so to see Magellanic penguins. Some, but not many, Macaronis are found at Elephant Island in the Shetlands, the furthest south that Macaronis breed. Macaronis also breed on the South Orkney and South Sandwich islands as well as on the Antarctic Peninsula. Several thousand Macaronis breeding pairs are found at remote island locations in Argentina and Chile as well as on islands on the opposite side of Antarctica, far from places that tourists on Southern America tours will visit.
The Macaroni is the most abundant of penguin species. Though between nine and twelve million breeding pairs are estimated to exist, the numbers are declining.

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