testmeat photoblog

this colourfully crested flightless bird is a macaroni penguin, watching a very flighted snowy sheathbill pass by. calling a penguin a flightless bird, whilst ethologically accurate, does them a bit of a disservice. it shifts the focus to what they lack, the ability to fly, instead of what they possess, the ability to swim and dive. and when all of their food is underwater, it makes perfect sense that their wings would evolve into flippers and they would become excellent swimmers. they're so at home on water they can spend over half the year without ever coming onto land. so i doubt this macaroni was looking on in envy at the sheathbills aerial ability, in fact as sheathbills are known to eat penguin chicks and eggs there was almost certainly a different emotion going through it's yellow crested head.

here's the original