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Antarctic

Circular roughly in shape, Gentoo nests are found on rocky, uninhabited shores. They are built out of whatever supplies are at hand. They seem to prefer grass and vegetation.

Competition for nesting materials can be fierce as they will aggressively fight over stones.

They take stones and other material away from other birds' nests.

Carrying a rock in his beak from another nest back to the nest he is building for his chicks..

The next few photos show a male penguin picking up a rock and moving it. What you don't see is another male penguin right after the male put it in his nest came over and took the same rock for his nest . It is a constant moving of rocks all the time.

This mother is sitting on eggs that were laid late in the season.

More moving rocks. It never stops

Chick survival is often dependent on the availability of food and the lack of predators.

Amazing how each Gentoo penguin is exactly alike in coloration and markings.

If food is in short supply, the parents will preferentially feed the stronger of the two chicks, sacrificing the weaker one.

The chicks stay in the nest for about a month at which time they form nursery groups or creches, while their parents hunt for food.

After about 3 months, usually in January, the chicks grow their adult feathers and are able to head out on their own.

Here you see a mother feeding her young chick by opening her beak the young chick is able to reach back into mouth of the mother for food she has brought back up.

Feeding time.. with the whole head into the mothers mouth.

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