ML208743491

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

My partner Elaine said she fancied a walk on the beach so we stopped at the first pull in we came to and there was an adult king penguin standing on the beach! It was as straight forward as that, completely unexpected on a randomly selected beach. It was in pristine condition, it looked fat and healthy and had clearly completed it's moult, with a nice glossy sheen to its feathers. Incredibly while we watched it suddenly threw its head back, spread it's flippers and let out a trumpeting bray in display and then dropped its head down onto it's chest. It repeated this several times over the course of the hour or so in which we watched it. A magnificent bird, an incredible find. I have submited this record to Birdlife Australia. Another king penguin was reported east of Hobart earlier in the month but that was an immature bird with a yellow teardrop on the side of its head and the pattern on the underside of the flippers is clearly different to the Bruny Island bird which in anycase was an adult with a golden teardrop. A third king penguin, another immature, was reported from further south in Tasmania at the beginning of February.

Technical information

Model

DSC-HX400V

Lens

4.3-215mm f/2.8-6.3

ISO

100

Focal length

14.7 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/4.0

Shutter speed

1/2000 sec

Dimensions

3735 pixels x 2953 pixels

Original file size

2.84 MB