Matt Sewell - Penguins and Other Seabirds

Its great spotting a seabird youve never seen before. Even if some of these birds fly (or swim!) a little further afield, youd be surprised at how many you might be lucky enough to spot. So heres a handy way of keeping all your jottings in check. Get spotting either sitting comfortably at your window or pack your boots and binoculars and go on your travels across the globe. Here's a downloadable PDF. Happy spotting!

Thank yous:

To my goldfinches, Jess, Romy, and Mae. To the Sewells, the Lees, and the Roses.

To Megan Lee, all at Caught By The River, Simon Benham, the Free University of Glastonbury and The Crows Nest, Richard King and the Green Man, JK, the Montague Place Street Team, and all the friendly folk of the Shire.

Massive shout-out to all the seabird conservationists: keep up the good fight!

Emperor Penguin

Emperor Penguin

Aptenodytes forsteri

As penguins go, this guy is the boss, the sultan of the Antarctic snow. Hes the star of Hollywood movies and blue-chip nature documentaries, so high and mighty among his penguin peers that he alone was chosen to represent his species on the wrapper of my favorite chocolate cookie. In his Olympic wetsuit, with eyes darker than Ozzy Osbournes Ray-Bans, the Emperor is the biggest and heaviest of all known penguinsweighing the same as a fat Labrador retriever and standing just as tall as the dog on its back legs. His bulk isnt gained through being lazy; it comes from his thermal underwear, a physical necessity to protect him and his offspring from the subzero temperatures of the South Pole as he and his Empress make babies during the winter. The females leave to recuperate after laying their eggs, feeding solo in the ocean while the males, for months, suffer the banshee-wailing whipping wind, snow drifts, and sunless gloom of new fatherhood. With temperatures at -94F the daddies bunch together in a hundred-strong, rotating huddle, eggs safely tucked up on their shuffling feet inside the warm incubating brood pouch. Soon after the fluffy chicks hatch, the females return from the sea, fat, sleek, and healthy. They relieve the dad of his duties andlike ships that pass in the nightthe Emperors slip off to feed themselves on fathoms-deep dives, reaching depths of 1,770 feet and holding their breath for 15 minutes at a time. Wow!

King Penguin

King Penguin

Aptenodytes patagonicus

Second to the Emperor, but still a King, our only other Aptenodytes family member stands 3 feet tall with a haughty air in his mithril silver cloak and glowing imperial topaz neckwear. His vivid opulence is a stark contrast to the rocky, snow-flecked terrain of the King Penguins kingdom, which stretches from subantarctic islands, the Falklands and South Georgia, to parts of Australia and even as far north as Argentina. Living in more hospitable conditions than the Emperors, the Kings share the parental day-to-day duties of caring for their egg and, eventually, their chick, whichespecially when compared to the dignified nobility of its folkslooks like an awkward toddler in a Sasquatch outfit. These baby Bigfoots gang up and hang out, forming crches in defense against the predatory skuas and Giant Petrels while their folks are off feeding and stocking up in the ocean, expertly avoiding killer whales and leopard seals. Despite these everyday struggles and the fact that they were once massively hunted for food, fuel, and their warm feathery robes, the King Penguins population is figured to be well over a whopping 2 million pairs.

Brown Skua

Brown Skua

Catharacta antarctica

The shadow that hangs above our penguins. Eggs, chicks, and even adult birds are never safe from the largest and heaviest skuas murderous threat. In their dark domain the whole world is their enemy, and perhaps their prey, too. Colonizing wherever you find penguins, from the Antarctic up to Chile, their story of life and survival has played on repeat for millions of years, and hopefully it will run for millions more.