Circle of Life (Antarctica - Part 8)

There’s always a hero and a villain. The heroes die early, since they probably starved to death trying to be the nice guy.

The villain in Antarctica is undoubtedly the Skua - a medium sized bird with an affinity for stealing and eating penguin eggs.

They hang around the penguin colonies, waiting for an egg guardian to doze off before stealing their children. (Disclaimer - next set of pictures are not my own).

Occasionally you’d stumble on a broken egg laying about, with a smug looking Skua sitting alongside. A penguin only produces one egg a year, and most had not even nested yet. Combined with a 40% penguin mortality rate, the odds aren’t looking good.

Birth, life, and death are such an evident circle in the wild.

One man’s sorrow, another man’s treasure. A bird pecking at the wound of a badly wounded penguin, who likely had a close encounter with a leopard seal or an orca.

This was the start of the summer, so most of the animals were doing the classic pre-birthing rituals. I’ll space you the photos of penguins and birds copulating and skip right over to the aftermath - baby chicks!

And a few more noteworthy bird photos.