Love Birds in Tuxedos
Roxy and Floyd are in the love palace, AKA the nest behind on the rocks at the Aquarium of the Pacific. These two fell in love two years ago, and have become a mating pair. Above is their offspring, Heidi, born June 2013. You can watch Floyd and Roxy on the Penguin Chick Live Cam where all this afternoon delight will likely soon lead to a new sibling for Heidi!
Read below for more on Magellanic Penguin mating habits:
From March 1 to about July 1 our penguins will be breeding. During this time human interactions with the penguins will be minimized... Magellanic Penguins usually form life-long pairs. One egg is laid about 37 days after mating and a second egg is usually laid one to three days later. The female incubates the eggs for the first shift of about 20 days [while the male forages and then they switch.]
After hatching, both parents brood the chicks…. The chicks stay on the nest for as little as nine to as long as seventeen weeks depending on amount of food available to the foraging parents. About 10 days before the chicks fledge, the parents stop feeding them.
When the chicks leave the nest, they molt, replacing their down with feathers. When 60 to 70 days old the chicks, now feathered juveniles, are ready to head out to sea! (Aquarium of the Pacific)
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