Dr Isaac Vaisman, APSA, PPSA
February 2025 - Molting King Penguins
About the Image(s)
Molting means when an animal shed old feathers, hair or skin, or an old shell, to make way for a new growth. King penguins molt once a year, replacing their entire coat old feathers. It is called catastrophic molt because they have a low energy level since they fast for 2-3 week while the new feathers grow. During this time, they are not waterproof and are vulnerable to predators. They can look scruffy and sick, also are at risk of starvation and dehydration.
This image was created a few years ago in Antarctica using a Nikon D4 with the Nikkor zoom lens 70-200 mm f/2.8 @ 200 mm and these settings: ISO 1000, f/8 and 1/750 sec. The image was PP in LightRoom, and slightly cropped.
3 comments posted
Isaac, Thanks for sharing the information on molting, I had never thought about penguins molting since they can not fly. It looks like one is a contrary facing away from the other. Bruce Posted: 02/02/2025 22:42:10
Isaac - This is an extraordinary image. The similarities and the differences are striking: Some of the penguins are molting, others are not; some are facing forward, others are not, they all have the beautiful orange/yellow/blue markings. And the framing of the penguins is perfect. Similar to my question about Bruce's elephants, I'm curious about how the original scene looked and how you decided to concentrate on this group of birds. I assume there were lots of other penguins around, perhaps cropped out of the final image. This is an awesome grouping, but I wonder what, if anything, resulted in you focussing in on this group. Posted: 02/05/2025 02:35:03
Richard, this group happened to be there. There is only minimal cropping. Posted: 02/06/2025 21:18:04