This is Bird Note.

While it's still winter in many parts of North America, it's summer in Antarctica, and

the birds are singing, at least the penguins are.

A pair of King penguins stands face to face.

They tilt their heads back, point their long-bills skyward, and trump it in unison.

Second largest of all penguins, King penguins stand nearly three feet tall.

They're surprisingly colorful, too, with a bright oval of lustrous orange yellow adorning

the back half of their dark heads.

Some King penguins form breeding colonies that number in the tens of thousands, and when

many pairs tip their heads back and sing, it sounds like the world's largest kazoo

band.

Altogether, more than two million King penguins nest on islands in the southern ocean,

the sea that surrounds Antarctica.

Their breeding cycle ranks among the longest of all birds.

From the time the female lays her single egg in late spring, it'll take about 14 months

before that chick is ready to fend for itself the following summer.

We hope with a loud send-off from the immense kazoo band.

For Bird Note, I'm Michael Stein.