The Bitter End - Penguins

By Captain J. Gary "Gator" Hill

Ahhh, the return of winter and with it comes the return of penguins to South Georgia Island. What tomfoolery is this, you might ask? You’ve never heard of the Georgia islands having penguins?

As a tour guide, this is one of my favorite times of the year. Winter provides a chance to take you, the reader, and other folks who might want to tag along, outside the bubble. You never know what you might see. In 2019, a Belgian photographer named Yves Adams happened to be in the right place at the right time and spotted a very rare yellow penguin. Obviously, this penguin didn’t get the memo on dress code and the standard black and white tux was forgone. Instead, a white suit with a large yellow blaze down the front and a yellow cap were worn. Quite the fashion statement, I think.

I’m sure by now you’re wondering if the cheese done slid off Ol’ Gator’s cracker (and you may not be too far off base). But this is truth: there is a rare and exotic penguin on South Georgia Island. The caveat being that South Georgia Island lies some 800 miles out in the Atlantic Ocean, east-southeast of the Falklands. But I had ya’ going for a minute, didn’t I?

As we know, an animal's genetic code determines what they will look like. For example, we don’t expect to see a blue cardinal. But occasionally we get thrown a curve ball. We’re familiar with albinism, the absence of pigmentation, like in my reptile cousin the albino alligator, or the pink dolphins that appear from time to time. In this penguin’s case, the proper term for his coloring is leucistic, meaning that not only melanin, but other pigments, are reduced.

This yellow penguin discovery took place in in 2019, but the pictures were only released in February of 2021. I’d never heard of Yves Adams before, so I figured he had to be some hotshot National Geographic or similar shooter. A quick trip to his website revealed that he is a passionate photographer and photo tour guide whose travels have taken him to over 30 countries, racking up nearly 2 million photos over twenty five years. Check out his work at yvesadams.com/portfolio/. [Editor’s note: I want to be him when I grow up.]

Ok, let’s poke our heads back out the rabbit hole before we meet some chick headed for a tea party. As we know, most albino aberrations are a result of a lack of pigment, specifically melanin. But without a genetic sample you can’t whether an animal is albino or leucistic, the latter of which was likely the case with this bird given the color of its head. Its beak, feet and eyes seem to lack normal pigmentation, and generally the rare albino tends to lack the black plumage and exhibit a more austere white which is much more common.

Whatever the case, no other King penguin among the estimated 125,000 birds that were observed displayed this unique marking. It will be interesting to see if this one can be found again or to see if any others exist.

And speaking of rare birds, my plans are being laid for my annual Tybee Beach Owl tours that begin mid-January. These fascinating creatures are found only on Tybee Island and only mate during the full moon cycle. Sadly, there are only seventeen of these rare, big-eyed birds left in existence and they are all male! However, they don’t seem to know, and they keep trying anyway, bless their hearts. Looks like its going to be one of those years. If you’d like to go along on a tour, use that there email address below!

May your new year be blessed, filled with love and happiness, good health, and may we move past the craziness of the last couple of years and return to a real normal.

Till our wakes cross again, peace and love and shrimp and grits. I’ll see you on the water!

No tuxedo for this guy! This King penguin sports a more tropical look! Photo by Yves Adams, www.instagram.com/yves_adams/ www.yvesadams.com

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