There is a lot of action going on in this photo. These adult adelie penguins are protecting their young hatchlings from the overhead advances of a common Antarctic predator, a skua, which is an opportunist and a scavenger who preys on unsuspecting young penguins.
As the bird approaches, the adult penguins all gather around the vulnerable chicks and poke their beaks in the air trying to deter the attack.
It was fascinating to be so close to this kind of wild interaction. In many other wildlife encounters, the presence of a human changes the way the wildlife behave, but here in Antarctica it was business as usual for the predators just trying to survive another day.
Location: Antarctic Peninsula, Antarctica