Around the World for Penguins Where to See All the 18 Penguin Species

After albatrosses, penguins are now the second most threatened group of seabirds in the world, with only five of the 18 species being considered as “least concern” by BirdLife International. Unlike the albatrosses, none are critically endangered …. yet.

This book follows on from the success of Otto Plantema's recent Around the World for Albatrosses. It is a comprehensive guide on where and how to see all the 18 penguin species. The format and design are like his other work and if you are one of those people who believe that “real birds eat fish”, then this book will be irresistible.

The traditional approach to a subject like this might be via one of two routes: either a description of the world’s penguin locations or an assessment of each species and the main facts about their lives. Because each penguin species tends to live in just one or two areas of the world the approach taken here is geographical, and it works well. So, although the King Penguin is found in many places it is described under the chapter for South Georgia (where most people see it), even though the largest colonies are in the French Subantarctic. The same is true for the Macaroni Penguin, but in each case, the species are given plenty of text and photographic space wherever they appear.

The book takes us to the breeding grounds on Antarctica, South Georgia, the Falkland Islands, Tristan da Cunha, South Africa, the Subantarctic Islands, New Zealand, Australia, South America and finally, the Galapagos.

Like many birders, Otto’s first encounter with penguins was during a visit to the Falkland Islands, after which he decided that he wanted to see every penguin species on their natural breeding grounds, and having achieved that aim he is well placed to discuss them. He even helped with surveys as a passenger on a research vessel to the French Subantarctic. All the photographs in the book were taken by him, and apart from the information on the locations and species, there are plenty of tips for achieving great photographic results.

Just as this book was printed, news was announced that researchers had located 11 new colonies of Emperor Penguins using satellite images. That glimmer of hope needs to be seen against a background of challenges from climate change and commercial fishing. Other satellite images from recent years suggest that the King Penguin colonies on Crozet have declined by 88% over the past 35 years. Penguins need our protection, so it is great that revenues from this book will be granted to BirdLife’s Marine Programme.