The Forum Has Moved!

The original post by jkr, has been edited and updated by our new Topic Assistant, Gabi.
Gabi has agreed to monitor the Gentoo Penquins discussion thread. Thank you Gabi!


Gentoo Penguins Cam - Worldwide First Webcam of the Antarctic
was established in polar summer 1990 / 91


The Cameras
There are 7 camera's around the base. Four are pointed at the penguins,
the others show the surroundings of the base. To access the cams click on
the images below.

1. Cams #1 - #6: (15 - 30 min. refresh cams) - Click Image 1.

2. Cam #7: (30 min. refresh cam) Click Image 2. Then:
Click Selection under Webcams in left hand column and select OHIG-WEB3


1. 2,


GARS O´HIGGINS ( German Antarctic Receiving Station )


Station GARS O´HIGGINS Site Map: Red houses= Chilean Base; White houses= German Base




At the German Research Station GARS O´HIGGINS ( German Antarctic Receiving Station ) in the Antarctic are little penguins nesting. The Gentoo Penguins

The German Centre for Aerospace in Oberpfaffenhofen near Munich, Department DFD BI and BKG ( Bundesamt für Kartographie und Geodaesie) maintain the Station GARS O´HIGGINS on the island and next to the Chilean Base BERNARDO O´HIGGINS:

This place is inhospitable. In the polar winter night no longer a ray of sunshine comes and the termometer drops to minus 40 ° C. In the Antartic summer temperatures climp up to a little bit over 0 ° C at this base location on the Northern tip of the Antarctic peninsula. This peninsula extends so far to the north that it is already in the area of the west wind zone. However , the wet and mild west winds are stopped by the mountains of the peninsula. There are often storms at sustained speeds of 250 km /h .

The season is: currently winter time

The time on the station GARS O ´HIGGINS is the same as the Chilean time.
GARS O´HIGGINS TIME - 5 hours = VANCOUVER ( PST ) time
GARS O´HIGGINS TIME + 2 hours = MAINE ( EST ) time
GARS O´HIGGINS TIME + 4 hours = GERMANY ( MEZ ) time

But:
The Camera time = UTC ( Coordinated Universal Time ). That´s the world time or called the Greenwich Mean Time ( GMT ). In Germany we say: 0-Meridian ( Nullmeridian or Zero- Meridian )

CAMERA TIME ( UTC ) - 8 hours = VANCOUVER TIME ( PST )
CAMERA TIME ( UTC ) - 5 hours = MAINE TIME ( EST )
CAMERA TIME ( UTC ) +1 hour = GERMANY TIME (MEZ )

Screenshots and photos are welcome in this thread as part of the discussion. We welcome all screenshots and photos of the Gentoo penguins on the Station Gars O´Higgins captured via the webcams. Screen captures are limited to three (3) per post and should be no more than 500 pixels wide. Please use the file tag (not the IMG tag) when attaching your captures. Also, make sure you save your captures in the JPEG format.

As a courtesy to viewers with slower internet connections, please limit the pictures in each post to no more than a total of 150,000 bytes. Please do not post animations (though it's fine to post a link to them). Also, please limit emoticons to three (3) per post. Some members have difficulty with moving emoticons so please limit the animated emoticons to one (1) per post. Please remember this thread is solely for observation/discussion regarding the events in and around the penguin area.

Thank you for your cooperation!


To read previous discussions click HERE

JudyB originally created this post and the information is no longer relevant and has now been updated by Gabi


The Gentoo Penguin Pygoscelis papua


is listed on the ----------------------Red List of Threatened Species IUCN----------------------

-----------------------------------( International Union of Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources )--------------------------------

---------------------------------------------------------------NEAR THREATENED-------------------------------------------------------





( C ) by the " Bildergalerie " of Martin Grund



The Gentoo penguin is a flightless seabird related to the Adelie penguin and the Chinstrap penguin. They call in a variety of ways but the most frequently heard is a loud crying like a donkey. This is the reason why the Gentoo penguin is called in Germany " Eselspinguin " . Esel = donkey

The english term originated from the Portoguese gentio like gentile.

The Gentoo penguins are exclusively found in the Southern Hemisphere with breeding colonies on the Antarctic Peninsula, and the islands of Falklands, South Georgia, South Orkney, Prince Edward , Kerguelen and South Sandwich. They typically build their nests along the shoreline with stones and pebbles and practically any material that they can find suitable for the purpose. One nest can consist of about a few thousand pebbles. They prefer breeding in the north so they can get the most solar radiations. Males are significantly larger than the females . Males have a maximum weight of about 8,2 Kg ( 19 lb ) and females of about 7,4 kg. The Gentoo penguin can reach up to 30 inches in length . Their weight drops to about 4,5 Kg when raising up the little chicks.
Breeding near the shorelines allows the penguins to be able to quickly access food and quickly get back to their nest.

The head is black except for the white spot above the eyes . The white underparts are sharply separated from the bluish-black back. The bill is orange-red and they have whitish -pink webbed feet and a fairly long tail . That´s why they belong to the genus of the " Long-tail" penguins .
The plumage consist of innumerable almost hair- like feathers.


Each year the breeding season on Station GARS O´Higgins generally starts in late September or October when the penguins first come out from the sea looking for the best location for building nests.
Each year they change the nest . At the age of two years the Gentoo penguins are capable of breeding . During the mating the male trumpets like a donkey and offers the female a very nice stone to obtain her favors. Gentoo-penguin pair-bonds are long-lasting.
The female lays 2 eggs with a weight of 130 gram. Despite the two eggs being laid 3-4 days apart from each other and an incubation time of 34 - 36 days , the chicks hatch within a space of 24 hours. Both parents share the incubation. Studies have shown that both take turns in breeding in a rhythm of 2 days. The new born babies have a unified grey- colored plumage. The chicks remain in their nest about 30 days then they get their pre-adult feathers. This plumage has similar markings to the adult feathers but without a white head patch and



( C ) by the " Bildergalerie" of Martin Grund

except that the dark areas are a browny grey rather than black, and there is no white head patch. After a further 80 - 100 days they molt a second time and now they are able to dive and to stay under water.

Adults are able to dive to a depth of more than 200 meter. Diving penguins reach on average 6 to 12 km/hr , though there are reports Gentoo penguins reach speeds of 36 km/ hr. The Gentoo penguins are regard as the fastest underwater swimmers of all the penguin species.

look at who's back......

looks like it is a decent day up there.....and they all gather around.....

They seem to have a lot of snow - I hope some of the nests will survive.

still lots of snow


but still incubating

Dec. 24


Dec.26

wide angle Dec. 26