Magellanic Penguins, on our last proper day in Patagonia.
The place was the wind-blasted Isla Magdalena, two hours boat trip up the Magellan Strait from the Patagonian metropolis of Punta Arenas. (Tierra Del Fuego lies enticing on the other side of the Strait...)
The penguins aren´t that fussed about the two hundred odd humans who spill off the ferry each day to visit them. You walk along a path that you takes past the edge of this breeding colony. Some birds will actually approach you and, in MJC´s experience, attack your shoes.
There are about 75,000 breeding pairs here. The penguins are not on Isla Magdalena all year. They swim ashore from the open sea during October. Some come from as far away as southern Brazil.
Following the shoe incident, MJC tries to blend in with the natives.
Each pair raises one or two chicks per year. These chicks are little more than two months old. By the end of April, they will all be out on the open seas.
sounds like the penguins have good taste in shoes.
ReplyDeletelovely photos - like the rest of your posts.