Sea bird gets more than it bargained for after starting a fight with a fearless baby penguin
When this baby penguin was left unguarded, a pack of sea birds came in for the kill but did not expect it to fight back
A fearless penguin chick plucked up the courage to bully boy sea birds who ganged up on it while its parents were away.
The feathered stand-off was captured last year at Petermann Island, Antarctica by Shayne McGuire from San Dimas, California.
After the sea birds repeatedly took turns to chase the defenceless 12-week-old chick around, they got a shock when the tables suddenly turned.
Shayne said: "The chick's parents had both gone out to sea to feed and bring back food for the chick.
"This little one was coming down a hill toward the rocky shoreline when the attack happened.
It was by itself.
"Normally, the chick was big enough to fend for itself against one Skua, but there was a breeding pair that targeted the chick. So they took turns trying to wear it down.
"One would attack it and chase it as the other rested, then they would change over and the fresh one would start a new attack.
"Once the chick reached the bottom of the hill and a half circle of people, it turned up the courage and charged the Skua.
"The Skua hissed and the chick actually hissed back and lunged at the Skua.
"You can see by the birds face it was taken aback by the about face in attitude from the chick.
"The chick put everything it had into turning the attack back on the Skuas, and the chick had a good audience backing it.
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"After one huge lunge and hiss at the closest Skua, the chick put its head up in the air, making it look even taller and stared at the Skua.
"You can see the body language of the Skua change from predator to uncertain.
"There is a picture of the Chick mouthing off to the Skua, I think it is saying 'Not today!'
"This seems to be what the chick was waiting for, as soon as the bird's body language changed, the chick abruptly turned and ran straight toward the group of people behind it.
"The Skuas looked disgusted, and didn't follow. They already had several bodies stashed up on the hill already."
