Instantly recognizable by the black band that gives them their name, chinstrap penguins are the most abundant penguin in the Antarctic, where they gather in massive breeding colonies.

After spending the winter north of the sea ice, chinstraps return in late October or early November to their nest sites, usually with the same breeding partners. These colonies are on the rocky, ice-free coasts of the South Sandwich Islands, South Shetland Islands, and Antarctic continent.

The sheer number of birds in the colonies is astounding. The largest colony, on the uninhabited South Sandwich island of Zavodovski, hosts some 1.2 million breeding pairs. Baily Head in the South Shetland Islands is home to more than 100,000 pairs.

A female chinstrap typically will