u/DripsOfDopamine

*Under Kevin’s Watch*

Hello penguin gang! This is a longer video than usual; skip to 6 minutes and 48 seconds if you’d like to see one of the chicks under the blue left-side gazebo stepping outside of the nest circle!

This video starts with one of the chicks under the blue gazebo on the left-side lounging with its head and arm on the side of its nest. Then it stands up and does some flapping. Then the chick gets some food from mom (This should be Kevin because it looks like the ID band was on the right side). Around this time (4 min) the chick under the yellow gazebo on the right side also gets some food! Then, back under the blue right-side gazebo, the chick lays back down, but slides out of the nest. It stays out for a minute, takes some steps and does some flaps, but gets a nip from the neighbor and decides to get back into the nest with dad.

Hello penguin gang! Here we can see the chick from the 6th nest back. I think it is the youngest based on its size. There seems to be some kerfuffle with the parents. We can also see the chick from the 5th nest back in this video. I am hoping that all of the chicks will hang out together soon!

This African penguin exhibit is located at the Mystic Aquarium in Stonington, Connecticut. A non-profit focused on research, conservation, and rescue, it serves as the Northeast's premier marine mammal rescue and rehabilitation center. It houses New England’s only beluga whales as well as California sea lions, harbor seals, sharks, tropical fish, and of course African penguins! Through their research they have developed a method to determine the sex of a penguin chick by analyzing its egg.

I was able to meet the chicks that most recently hatched when I visited the aquarium a couple months ago. When I saw them, they still had their baby fluff. But now, they are ready to hit the water with the other penguins! Tomorrow on Wednesday May 20th you can see the chick’s first swim and gender reveal on the livestream, 10:30am-1pm Eastern Standard Time; I will post the link below.

Hello penguin gang! I was able to catch what might be this chick’s first time exploring off the pebble pile! It doesn’t stray far, and gets back on the nest pretty quickly.

You can also see the chick under the yellow gazebo in this video have a pretty impressive PS! Sprays all the way to the neighbor lol

In this video, you can see some movement under the right side yellow gazebo of the newest Gentoo penguin baby! At about 47 seconds in the video, you can see it getting a meal from its parent. The parents must give small portions of food so as to not overwhelm the tiny baby; a little leftover spills out from the parent here. Then, if you look above the yellow gazebo with the newborn, you can see the head of what I’m thinking is the oldest gentoo chick in the colony right now, who may be the chick of parents Muffin & Mittens.

At around 2 minutes in the video, you can even see it have what is sometimes referred to in the eagle community as a PS (or, Poop Shoot; similar to the shorthand of BM for Bowel Movement).

Hello penguin gang! I got a video that goes with the previous post about the chicks having the nest to themselves. They are getting so big, it looks like it is getting more difficult for a parent and two growing kids to fit on the pebble pile together. I imagine Kevin & his partner Steffi are saying, they’ll be fine on their own, right?

Quick chick update, taken yesterday. Great line of sight where you can see three chicks!

Hello penguin gang! So first in this video, we can see the newborn chick on the right side yellow gazebo nest getting a quick meal for its parent! But, did we mislabel this nest as the Muffin/Mittens nest? I say this because I have also included videos of the chick of the blue gazebo nest on the right, above the yellow one; this one is only partially visible so I hadn’t seen the chick yet, but now that I have I think it looks older than Kevin’s twins (on the left side blue gazebo nest). This would line up better with what we have heard about Muffin/Mittens having the first egg of the season!

I am not the authority on the nests and do not have contact with the Zoo, so I welcome any discussion or corrections!

In the first part of this video, we have a young little penguin chick with its parent. The latter half has videos taken 2 weeks later, and the chick has grown to almost the size of the parent!

Hello penguin gang! Here are some clips I took today of the parents of the blue gazebo, Kevin & Steffi, switching off kid-covering duties, sometimes referred to as the “guard stage.”

The first half of this video was taken yesterday, when the chick under the yellow gazebo was bathed in a nice ray of sun while getting fed. There is a parent guard shift. The second half of this video was taken today, which was much rainier, and you can see the chicks under the blue gazebo getting fed. A penguin also has a little trip over another’s tail to the right of the yellow gazebo.

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