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A second day of walking in a Penguin colony. This time it’s the Magellanic penguins on the Magdalena Island Penguin Reserve near Punta Arenas, Chile. We arrived at port at 6AM, but gathered for the excursion at 5:45AM! As this is a tender port, we left by tender boat for the city pier in Punta Arenas (lower star on map), went through a quick Customs check (bag scan) and then onto 70-80 foot Catamaran boat. A 90-minute ride delivered us to the shores of Magdalena Island, the upper star on the map

Magdalena Island is tiny, in the middle of the Strait of Magellan that is an inside passage between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, which becomes a pertinent point when talking about the penguins.

We were allowed about an hour ashore, following a roped path leading up to the Lighthouse and then down around the Eastern half of the island back to the ship.

Magellanic penguins are smaller than the King penguins, and dig burrows to shelter themselves and their eggs from the cold. This species does migrate, unlike the penguins on the Falkland Islands. Their migration in the Fall, around March/April is to the warmer north shores of either Brazil or Chile, depending which way they swim out of the Strait of Magellan. Apparently the male returns to the same burrow each year, and calls out to the same mate to reconnect.

Right now is their molting period, shedding old worn feathers with new ones with the oil needed to make them water-tight and warm for the migration swim. So the penguins are fairly idle at this time, again some occasional frolicking by the younger chicks (which are fully grown by now).

The hill sides are dotted with penguin nests, sharing the sloping hills with Kelp Gulls, and some sort of prey bird sized and shaped somewhere between a hawk and vulture. These birds prey on young gull chicks, but the penguins are too big and strong to be pursued.

Even with the ropes, we were able to get close to the penguins. They asked is to remain at least 2 meters away, and to let the penguins pass if they walk across the path.

The burrows are about 3 feet wide and 1 foot deep, with one or two tunnels dig into a side.

After returning to Punta Arenas, we checked out some craft booths and stores, walked around town to the town square that celebrates Magellan who has the Strait named after him.