Penguin chicks take their first public swim

Three-month-old Humboldt penguin "Nicolas" and two other Humboldt chicks join others in the main penguin exhibit for the first time Friday at the Rosamond Gifford Zoo in Syracuse.

A row of a dozen children pressed their hands and noses to the glass at noon Friday at the penguin exhibit at the Rosamond Gifford Zoo at Burnet Park.

They pointed and shrieked as Syracuse's three smallest North American Humboldt penguins tried to catch fish thrown by keeper Deborah Tobin. It was the first day in the main exhibit, Penguin Coast, for 3-month-old chicks Andres, Raul and Nicolas.

Photo: Jim Commentucci / The Post-Standard