Penguin Success
Compared with our whale hunt in Puerto Piramides, we had better luck in Punta Tombo, a marine reserve about 70 miles south of Trelew. The timing was much better - it was peak nesting season.
The drive south reconfirmed the desolation of Patagonia. It is flat, dry and completely isolated. After forty miles on relatively smooth roads, we spent the remainder on gravel. Seventy miles took two and a half hours.
We parked and made our way towards the ocean on a wooden boardwalk.
The wind was fierce and it was cooler than expected. We weren't dressed properly, I had on a fleece pullover but needed a jacket. The wooden boardwalk took us up over the dunes and led us to a gravel walkway. None of the 30,000 penguins were to be seen.
The colors were spectacular - especially the ocean.
We saw two silhouettes and then started seeing more an more penguins in the scrub brush.
Once you adjust your eyes, you realize they're everywhere. These are Magellan penguins, they visit Punta Tombo during mating season from Southern Brazil.
The females lay two eggs inside a hole they dig in the ground. The male and female share the care taking duties, which last for 40 days until the chicks hatch.
They also take turns watching and feeding the chicks for the next 30 days.
When the males aren't hunting for food in the oceans, they can be seen laying flat on the ground, soaking up the rays, snoozing.
This seemed to be a popular pastime.
We continued our walk towards the beach hoping to see them in action in the water.
While they're a bit dopey and slow on land, they are anything but in the water. They race around with a speed and agility that is hard to believe. They move at least 100 times faster in the water.
They're known to go out a hundred miles to hunt in the ocean for food.
No comments:
Post a Comment