Protected: Puerto Madryn, Argentina to Montevideo, Uruguay
February 28, 2012Protected: Welcome to Argentina! Ushuaia and the Falklands
February 27, 2012Protected: Feb 4 Turning the Corner – Cape Horn
February 24, 2012Penguins – at last!
February 23, 2012For several years I’ve hoped to see penguins in the wild on our trips. One reason or another kept that from happening. At Otway Sound in Chilean Patagonia the dream became reality in a big way. There is a huge colony of Magellanic penguins that live in this desolate, beautiful spot in southernmost Chile. I saw them, heard them, and smelled them up close and personal, a day I won’t forget.
The area has 500 kinds of birds, including umpteen ducks and the condor. Vegetation is low, brown and yellow scrub for the most part. There are very few trees. It is extrememly windy; the record within the city limits of Punta Arenas is 218 km/hr. It is summer here but the temperature in the city was only about 10 C.
Early in the morning we travelled by bus from Punta Arenas for about an hour to Otway Sound, then walked two miles along protected shoreline to the rookery.
Otway Sound, Patagonia
Visitors must walk along an elevated wooden boardwalk to avoid disturbing the penguins and their burrows.
the boardwalk
Magellanic penguins, fast facts: 2 eggs per year. The nest is underground, a mini-cave or burrow. They return to the same cave every year, which they find by smell. They mate for life, live on average 25 years. True or false – the young of Ottway go to Brazil to find a mate, then return to Patagonia to have a family. (true)
We were advised that the penguins here are accustomed to people watching them but were warned not to get between a penguin and its burrow. They bite if they think you are threatening.
It was extremely windy plus we had to walk into the wind to get to the rookery – winds about 80 mph! It was very cold too. None of that mattered because the penguins were just so entertaining and wonderful to watch.
penguin couple
Rabbits live quite happily among the penguins
brown rabbit to left of penguins
penguin rookery at Otway Sound, Patagonia
I took quite a few videos too but can’t upload them on the ship; will do when we’re home.
The visit was too short of course but on the way back to Punta Arenas we saw more wildlife. The elusive condor - huge, with a wingspan of 3 metres (9 + feet). They fly so high that there’s nothing to photograph them against to indicate scale -
condors
and wild ostrich roamed the fields
By early afternoon we were back at the ship and had time to take the shuttle into the city of Punta Arenas. Separate post.
