The colony of Magellanic penguins on Magdalena IslandOur other life-vests-on excursion was to the penguin colony on Magdalena Island, near Punta Arenas. For once, we remembered our binoculars, although the penguins and other birds paid little mind to the stream of curious visitors as they occupied themselves with the rituals of nesting. We were extremely fortunate to have made all of our landings and Zodiac excursions, as only half of all sailings manage to achieve that due to the vagaries of Patagonian weather.
The island was almost entirely blanketed with nesting birds, primarily penguins and gulls, but also a smattering of other birds such as the upland goose, mostly in single species swathes, but invariably with the occasional other species intermixed. Many of the penguins were quite far from the water, making us wonder if there might be some sort of social hierarchy or pecking order involved within the colony.
