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There are around 450,000 pairs of king penguins on South Georgia, which is about half the world’s population. The island has more than 30 colonies in total. The largest is at St Andrews Bay, which is home to a staggering 150,000 pairs. For this reason alone, it’s one of the most popular landing sites for visitors. Along with St Andrews Bay I was able to visit Salisbury Plain and Fortuna Bay, but there are colonies across the island.<\/p>\n\n\n\n South Georgia is such a hotspot for king penguins because of its proximity to the Antarctic Convergence, where the cold polar waters meet the more temperate ocean. This makes it rich in squid, krill and lantern fish \u2013 all prey items that are high on the king penguin’s menu. They can swim great distances to find the best feeding spots \u2013 some of those birds you see waddling up the beach when you land might have just swum hundreds of kilometres for their dinner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n King penguins have a rather unusual breeding cycle. They take around 14 months to raise a chick, so they don’t breed every year. One happy consequence of this is that the colonies are occupied year-round and there are always lots of chicks in their fluffy brown coats to see: an instant wildlife photographer’s dream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unlike all other penguins apart from the emperor, king penguins don’t make a nest. Instead, they carry their eggs tucked into a warm fold and carry it with them. If you’re in a colony and spot a penguin that looks like it’s walking on its heels, that means it’s incubating an egg. Eggs are typically laid around January, but it’s sometimes possible to see incubating adults earlier in the season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The sound of a king penguin colony is almost unearthly. As you approach, it’s like the roar of a distant music festival. The panoramic sound is almost overwhelming at first, but once you’re tuned in you start to hear the individual birds. There are two main modes: the insistent high whistling of chicks demanding food from a parent just returned from the sea, and then the trumpeting and accordion wheeze of the adults looking for their offspring among the tumult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Keep an eye out for moulting penguins. Adults shed all their feathers every year in what’s called a catastrophic moult \u2013 when you see them in various states of disarray you’ll understand why. It takes four weeks to replace their plumage, so the penguins have to hungrily remain on land until the new feathers have grown. Given how it’s almost impossible not to read human emotions onto these inquisitive birds, I thought they looked like particularly grumpy teenagers \u2013 their lack of calling certainly adds to their sullen demeanour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/52533655437_dcb9781608_k-1024x576.jpg\")
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