Osmund Smith was a 28-year-old shepherd in 1948 when he observed the first pair of King penguins arriving at Volunteer Point, 30 miles northeast of Port Stanley, in the Falkland Islands. Little did he realize that by 2025, his family would benefit financially from their descendants, earning thousands of pounds annually from their presence on the land which they now own . Upon further research I determined that this colony was established because of overpopulation in South Georgia Islands 980 miles away. In 2011 I witnessed a solo King Penguin, my first, lost in the seas and living alongside in a Megallanic penguin colony in Martillo Island near Ushuaia, Argentina
King penguin colonies are found across the subantarctic and Southern Ocean north of 60°S, with large populations on Iles Crozet, Iles Kerguelen, and South Georgia. Some colonies consist of hundreds of thousands of breeding pairs each summer (see population distribution map).
In 2015, I had the opportunity to visit South Georgia and photograph these beautiful animals. There are approximately 450,000 pairs of king penguins in South Georgia, which account for about half of the world's population. The island has more than 30 colonies in total, with the largest located at St Andrews Bay, home to around 150,000 pairs. Additionally, I visited Salisbury Plain, which hosts another 60,000 pairs.
Historically, king penguins have rarely visited Antarctica itself, preferring the relatively temperate conditions around the Antarctic convergence for both breeding and feeding. However, they are beginning to migrate southwards towards the Antarctic peninsula, with individuals sighted on Elephant Island and the South Shetland Islands. According to researchers, this movement is almost certainly a direct result of climate change.
During my trip to the Antarctic peninsula and the Falklands in 2025, accompanied by my wife, I aimed to show her a large King penguin colony. Approximately 2,000 breeding pairs are found at Volunteer Point on East Falkland Island, accessible via a challenging off-road journey from Stanley. Visiting Volunteer Point is essential, though attempting the drive independently is inadvisable due to difficult terrain. We were a convoy of 24 Land Rover vehicles driving through a tundra landscape and soft peat bogs. Getting stuck is quite common and therefore many ships do not send their passengers to this spot 36 miles and 2.5 hours away on rough track. A smaller colony of 20 pairs exists near The Neck on Saunders Island, which we also visited. 
Despite the scientific specific name patagonicus, King Penguins no longer breed in Patagonia. King penguins used to breed on Islas de los Estados (Staten Island) until the colony was wiped out by sealers in the 19th Century.
The king Penguin is the largest of the penguins found in the Falklands, with a typical weight of 12 - 14 kg and an average length of 90 cm. It is second in size only to the Emperor Penguin, which rarely strays far from the frozen waters of Antarctica.
The King Penguin has distinctive orange patches on each side of the head, extending down and meeting beneath the chin, where they become yellow and blend into the silvery-white breast plumage. The mandibular plates on either side of the bill are also orange. The female is slightly smaller than the male but has similar plumage.
King Penguins do not build nests; instead, they lay a single egg weighing around 310 g, which they hold on to their feet for the entire incubation period of about 55 days. This behavior allows breeding in much colder terrain than species that lay their eggs on the ground and eliminates the need for nesting material. Both parents take turns brooding the egg, with shift changes every 6 - 18 days while the other parents go to sea for extended foraging trips.
The newly hatched chicks are also held on the parents' feet for the first 30 - 40 days, during which time they develop plumage and can regulate their own body temperature. During chick-rearing, parents continue to alternate brooding duties, although the periods may vary from 3 - 14 days, resulting in potentially prolonged waits between feeds. King Penguins travel far from the Falkland Islands in search of food during chick-rearing.
Chicks are eventually left in creches, allowing both adults to undertake extended foraging trips at sea, with chicks being fed even less frequently. During the austral winter, chicks may go up to 3 months without a feed, with healthy chicks capable of surviving up to 5 months without nourishment. Chicks can lose up to 50% of their body weight during the winter.
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Despite this lack of food, King Penguin chicks can survive prolonged cold weather by increasing metabolic activity through burning body fat in muscle tissue while remaining inactive. Stored body fat reserves are usually adequate to sustain the chicks for at least 3 months. However, as body fat becomes depleted, chicks must start breaking down body protein for energy, leading to rapid weight loss and potential starvation unless the chick is fed. Nonetheless, starvation typically does not occur until a chick, initially weighing around 10 kg at the start of winter, drops to just 3 kg. Few animals can survive a 70% loss of body weight and still recover.
Preferred breeding sites are flat coastal plains near the ocean, accessed via sandy beaches. The breeding cycle differs from that of other Falklands penguins, with chicks taking nearly a year to fledge. This requires them to overwinter at the breeding colony, during which time they remain in creches and are well insulated from the cold by their long brown downy coats. They eventually fledge the following summer and will not return to breed until they are at least 3 years old.
King Penguins can live over 30 years in captivity and typically return to the same site to breed throughout their lives. Breeding is preceded by the annual molt, which lasts 4 to 5 weeks. The return to the breeding colony is poorly synchronized, so birds often change partners each breeding cycle.
King Penguins are highly curious about humans, with chicks particularly likely to approach and investigate people sitting quietly, using their bills to probe boot laces, hair, or other items. In contrast, adults can be quite aggressive towards each other within the colony, pecking and striking each other with their flippers. Adults announce themselves by extending their necks skyward and emitting a trumpet-like call, while chicks produce a squeaky piping call.
King Penguins generally forage at depths of 150 - 300 m, with dives of up to 500 m recorded. These are the deepest dives among penguins, second only to the Emperor Penguin, which is not found outside Antarctica's frozen waters. King Penguins mainly feed on small bioluminescent Lanternfish and some squid species. Deep dives are made during daylight hours, but King Penguins can also feed at night by making shallow dives, presumably hunting by sight due to the bioluminescent light emitted by their prey. Foraging depth may be influenced by diurnal migration patterns of prey species rather than solely by light penetration. In the Falkland Islands, the foraging range extends to the edge of the Antarctic Peninsula, the Atlantic coast of South America as far north as Buenos Aires, and across to South Georgia and possibly beyond.
King Penguins at Volunteer Point are occasionally preyed upon by Orcas (Killer Whales), which patrol close to shore in search of Gentoo, Magellanic, and King Penguins. Sea Lions and Leopard Seals also hunt penguins in Falkland waters. No terrestrial predators pose a threat to adult King Penguins, but birds such as skuas and gulls may target eggs and small chicks if given the opportunity.
I have shown some nice images of turkey vultures eating penguin eggs.
Human impact is currently minimal, despite King Penguins being a major tourist attraction. They tolerate human presence well, provided tourists remain on the outskirts of the colony. There is no direct exploitation of King Penguins in the Falkland Islands, and they are rarely caught accidentally by commercial fishing nets. There is little overlap between King Penguin prey and commercially harvested squid and fish species, meaning the Falklands’ fishing industry is unlikely to significantly affect King Penguin population trends. Nevertheless, the fact that virtually the entire Falklands population resides at Volunteer Point makes it vulnerable to incidents like an oil spill in the area.
Ramdas Iyer/[email protected]
Source Credits: Falkland Conservation, Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition
Gallery:
This featured blog entry was written by Iyer from the blog Photographing Wildlife - Ramdas Iyer.
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