Pygoscelis chicks at the Central Park Zoo

It is penguin raising season again at the Central Park Zoo.  One of the really neat things about the zoo is that they keep their penguins on Southern Hemisphere time.  As the austral calender rolls on, the penguins go through their yearly cycle of molting, pairing, and nesting.  This adds extra value to your zoo membership, as you can visit on different weeks and see penguins diving for pebbles, tending to eggs or standing around grouchily while their molted feathers clog the filters.  As winter approaches in New York and the days get shorter, the penguins get a full Antarctic summer day’s worth of light and start working on their nests.  Each year, several batches of eggs hatch at the zoo, yielding a new crop of baby Chinstrap (Pygoscelis antarctica) and Gentoo (Pygoscelis papua) penguins. This year, there is a special blog covering it all: http://chicks.centralparkzoo.com/

Pink Dot, one of the new arrivals at the Central Park Zoo.