Friday, February 11, 2011

Pinguinos

I feel like it's a general consensus that people love penguins. Are they really cute, or is it more of a fascination with how unique they are? Regardless, when you ride 2 hours on a ferry to go see them and take pictures, you realize that there is something special about them that draws you there.
As we approached the island, the guide gave us some general facts about the Magellanic Penguins, named after Ferdinand Magellan of course, who saw them on his first voyage around the bottom of South America. She reminded us to disembark the ferry boat to the left and continue walking since there are plenty of penguins to see everywhere. Nothing can prepare you for just how many penguins there actually are to see until the boat gets close enough...

These particular penguins swim every year all the way from the southern coast of Brazil. The guide also explained that they come all the way down to Chilean Antarctic because of the long daylight hours that are necessary for their breeding process which generally occurs between September and February. When I was there, the chicks were fairly large and losing their baby feathers.

some larger than others

The adults are known for their "tuxedo" look, which also helps disguise them from predators...


They are also a noisy breed, braying away and calling for their mates...


Check out all of the burrows...

These penguins take equal care of both babies so they both have a great chance of survival

Isla Magdalena is a preserved area, so you literally just walked around on a small roped off path observing them in their natural habitat.


I think it's then when you look around and realize that you are hanging out with penguins at the bottom of the world...


4 comments:

  1. Whee! I've actually never been to Isla Magdalena, though I've been to Punta Arenas I don't know how many times. Maybe I'll get there someday. I do love penguins, and particularly like how this breed stares at you first with one eye, then the other. Seems like you're having a great time on your trip, that's excellent!

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  2. I loved the video!!! Haha penguins are great. It makes me sad that I was too sick to do the Isla Magdalena tour when I was down there last February.

    Also, nice background picture.

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  3. Abby's right about the video. "!Que lindo!" to quote the little girl/boy. I'm curious about the the temp when you were there. Thanks for the trip details.

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  4. Eileen-
    You're totally right about the eye thing!

    Abby-
    I can't believe I had my camera ready with video to catch that crazy one right in front of me.

    Meg-
    You can hear the wind in the background of the video. It wasn't actually that cold (45-50 maybe) but the wind was so strong you could barely hold your camera still.

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