Long Beach's Aquarium of the Pacific hosting daily march of the penguins in June

A Magellanic penguin walks across the Northern Pacific Gallery at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach on Friday. During the month of June the Aquarium will hold a daily Penguin Walk at 10:00 a.m. in the Northern Pacific Gallery. The penguins will begin their walk by the sea otter exhibit and end it by the giant Pacific octopus.
 
 
 


BY JEFF GRITCHEN / STAFF WRITER

Published: May 30, 2014

All photos by Jeff Gritchen, Staff Photographer

 

Three Magellanic penguins waddled through an exhibit at Long Beach’s Aquarium of the Pacific on Friday, in preparation for a new morning ritual.

During the preview, bird handlers chased the penguins as they ran past giggling children and sea otters. The South American birds then doubled back and stared at the giant tank full of fish and otters.
Starting Sunday, the penguins will make a daily public trek across the Northern Pacific Gallery every morning at 10. The birds begin their walk by the sea otter exhibit and end it by the giant Pacific octopus.

The daily penguin walk is part of the aquarium’s “Summer of Wonder” program and is included with regular admission.

The summer program includes an opportunity to make and drive a mini underwater submarine and features new exhibits about the Southern California steelhead and the Guam kingfisher, as well as touch tanks with horseshoe crabs, corals and sponges.

source



 
 

Penguins of the Day

Northern Rockhopper Penguins

This Week's Pencognito!

	Please visit Jen and all the pengies by clicking this link!

Zoo penguins massacred by fox at Canberra zoo

• AAP
• May 30, 2014 1:25PM

PENGUINS have been massacred by a fox that found its way into the National Zoo and Aquarium. The Canberra zoo's director Trent Russell said the fox entered the zoo over the weekend and took several of the Little Penguins.

The penguin exhibit has been temporarily closed.

Visitors to the zoo have been asked not to question staff and volunteers about the attack, as they have found it very upsetting. "Many of them would find this difficult to talk about," Mr Russell said in a statement.

source 

Macaroni Penguin Hatchling Welcomed At Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium

By Jessica Nath

The first-ever macaroni penguin hatched at the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium will be on display at the end of the summer.

Jessica Nath 90.5 WESA

The parents, Zucca and Flurry, are protective of the chick and guard it from other curious penguins.
Jessica Nath 90.5 WESA

There’s a new bird in Pittsburgh, but instead of being giant and yellow, this one barely weighs two pounds and has a soft black coat of baby down fur. The Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium welcomed its first-ever macaroni penguin hatchling May 12. Though it isn’t even a month old, lead aquarist and penguin keeper Katy Wozniak said it has become quite vocal. “Just the sight of a chick is hilarious, you know with the huge feet, the huge belly, but the small wings, the small, little head and it’s peeping and peeping and chirping and chirping,” Wozniak said. “But it’s very cool to see that, because you can already see the communication between the chick and the parents start.”

The chick’s father, Zucca, is 15 years old, while his mother, Flurry, is 13. The baby itself has yet to be named. Wozniak said having a macaroni penguin hatchling is not rare for most facilities, but part of the Pittsburgh Zoo’s collection is past the age to breed, while the others, like Zucca and Flurry, have just hit breeding age within the past few years.

She said the zoo has a lighting cycle that the penguins use to determine when it’s breeding season. “I will bring in buckets and buckets full of rocks, we open up the back holding area,” Wozniak said. “I set up the platforms, just lay down the rocks and then they come in and they start doing their little breeding behaviors — picking up the rocks and bringing it and making their nest.”

Even though they are first-time parents, Wozniak described Zucca and Flurry as “naturals.” “They get very protective, very attentive of their chick, so we just wanted to give them a little bit more time to bond,” Wozniak said. “To make sure that we’re not there to do anything, we’re just there to take care of their chick just as much as they are, so we’ve been observing it a lot.”

Zucca and Flurry both take part in the parenting — one regurgitates food for the baby to eat and keeps it warm while the other stands guard. Wozniak said they will also unite to teach the chick how to swim. “Usually the dad will kind of stand beside the chick on the water’s edge and the mom jumps in,” Wozniak said. “She’s vocalizing and calling to the chick, the chick’s vocalizing and calling back to her and then you see the dad kind of give him a little nudge, he goes in, (and) learns to swim.”
According to Wozniak, the keepers will not know whether the baby is a boy or girl until they perform a blood test on it in a few years.

She said it will not be on display for the public until the end of summer, after it has fledged and grown in its waterproof, insulated feathers.

source

Penguins of the Day

White-flippered Little Blue Penguins

source & credit

More on the Baby penguins born at Newport Aquarium

Pair of chicks born over weekend

May 29, 2014

NEWPORT —Newport Aquarium announced Thursday that two king penguin chicks hatched inside the Kroger Penguin Palooza exhibit over the weekend. The two chicks, which are not related, simultaneously began to pip Friday evening before fully hatching Saturday morning. The newborns shared an April 4 egg-laying date.

Each chick weighed approximately one-half of a pound during their initial medical examinations, appearing roughly the size of a baseball. “These were some of the biggest king penguin chicks I’ve ever seen,” said Dan Clady, senior biologist who oversees the animal care at the cold-weather penguin exhibit, in a news release. “The chicks and parents are happy and healthy. We prefer the parents to raise the chicks on their own and they’ve taken those responsibilities seriously.”

Each king penguin chick has a father and a mother. The first chick’s parents are Bebe (father) and Wednesday (mother). Before it hatched, the second chick was moved to foster parents Bubba (father) and Valentine (mother), who are more seasoned parents compared to biological parents Kroger (father) and Dumas (mother).

Guests can catch a glimpse of the chicks inside the exhibit as the parents of the chicks share rearing duties.

One of the two newborn birds is a third-generation king penguin hatched at Newport Aquarium. Its mother, the aforementioned Wednesday, was the last king penguin hatched at the aquarium in 2010, before the cold penguin exhibit was renovated and reopened as Kroger Penguin Palooza in March 2011.

Newport Aquarium is one of only 16 institutions in the United States to exhibit king penguins, the second largest species of penguin in the world with adults growing to more than three feet in height.
The simultaneous births of two unrelated king penguins is a rarity, the aquarium said. Over the last 10 years at Association of Zoos and Aquariums institutions in the U.S., there has been an average of only 14 king penguin hatchings annually.

source

  

 

 

First Image of the Penguin Chick born at the Kansas City Zoo

May 28, 2014

By Matt Campbell

The Kansas City Zoo’s first baby penguin since the opening of the Helzberg Penguin Plaza has arrived.

The Kansas City Zoo A Humboldt penguin hatched Sunday at the Kansas City Zoo.

The Humboldt hatched Sunday and is being fed and kept warm by its parents, which may make it difficult for zoo visitors to see.

Officials say it will be several weeks before the chick will begin to explore. In the meantime, zookeepers are watching for a second Humboldt egg to hatch.

source

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2014/05/28/5052031/penguin-hatchling-at-the-kansas.html#storylink=cpy

Penguin chicks hatch at Newport Aquarium

 

Terry DeMio,  May 29, 2014

(Photo: The Enquirer/Patrick Reddy )

NEWPORT Two fuzzy, baseball-sized king penguins hatched at the Newport Aquarium, and parents and chicks are healthy and happy, biologists report.

The aquarium announced the news Thursday morning after observing the chicks and their interaction with their parents since Saturday morning. The two are the fifth and sixth penguins born at the aquarium since it opened 15 years ago.

The chicks, which aren't siblings, started to pip – or chip away –at their eggs Friday evening and poked out and fully hatched Saturday morning. "These were some of the biggest king penguin chicks I've ever seen," said Dan Clady, Newport Aquarium biologist in charge of the animal care at the cold penguin exhibit.

(All Photos: The Enquirer/Patrick Reddy)

Each chick weighed about one-half pound, according to records of their medical exam. Foster parents are caring for one of the chicks, because its parents weren't particularly good at caring for their egg after it was laid. The parents' main job is to keep their egg – and then, their chick – warm and safe by keeping it on their feet and tucked under their bellies.

 

The dads – including the foster dad – are most engaged with the chicks, Clady said. They took the lead in incubating the eggs on their feet and under their bellies about 90 percent of the time. Once the chicks began to pip, dads turned over the hatching to moms, but since then, the dads again have been at the forefront of care. "We're going to let the parents do everything, if possible," Clady said. The chicks let their parents know if they're hungry with a low, deep chirp. They'll poke their heads out from under the caregiver's belly and then, mom or dad will provide a little bit of regurgitated food, Clady said.

You can see the chicks now at the aquarium – if you're observant and a little lucky. "They're on exhibit all the time. If people come over they'll have to be patient," Clady said. The chicks chirp for food about every 20 to 30 minutes. The two share an April 4 egg-laying date, said Jeff Geiser, spokesman for the aquarium.

King penguins Valentine (the foster mom) and Bubba (foster dad), cared for their foster egg and are taking good care of the their little chick, Geiser said. The biological parents of this chick are Dumas (mom) and Kroger (dad).

The other chick is a third-generation king penguin hatched at the Newport Aquarium. Its parents are Wednesday (mom) and Bebe (dad). Wednesday is the last chick that hatched at the Newport Aquarium, in 2010, Geiser said.

If you want to help choose names for the pair, go to Facebook and search Newport Aquarium beginning Friday. The aquarium will have several choices – all of which are "famous duos," Geiser said.

The aquarium won't know the sex of the chicks until they lay eggs themselves – or don't.
The simultaneous hatching of two unrelated king penguins is a rarity, Geiser said. Over the last 10 years at Association of Zoos and Aquariums institutions in the United States, there have been an average of only 14 king penguin simultaneous hatchings annually.

The Newport chicks were in the Kroger Penguin Palooza exhibit when they hatched.

Newport Aquarium is one of 16 institutions in the United States to exhibit king penguins. Kroger Penguin Palooza has nine adult king penguins, as well as chinstrap, gentoo, macaroni and rockhopper penguins. A sixth penguin species, the African black-footed penguin, is also on exhibit at Newport Aquarium in the Penguin House.

King penguins at a glance

• With their fluffy brown appearance, king penguin chicks look so different from adult king penguins that early explorers described them as an entirely different species, the woolly penguin.
• King penguins are among very few birds that don't build nests. Instead, they incubate their eggs under the belly on top of their feet.
• King penguins are the second-largest species of penguin in the world, with adults growing to more than 3 feet tall.
• King penguins can be found in the waters of the sub-Antarctic. They breed on many of the sub-Antarctic islands, such as South Georgia, Crozet, the Falklands, and the islands southeast of Australia and southwest of New Zealand.

Source: Newport Aquarium husbandry team
story source

Penguin + Seal hug = 1 happy seal + 1 unhappy penguin

 

I don't think this penguin is enjoying the hug.

White-flippered penguins on Quail Island

The endangered white-flippered penguin (korora), a sub-species of the little blue penguin only found around Banks Peninsula (including Quail Island) and Motunau Island, breeds on Quail Island every year. Ten penguin boxes were constructed by scholars in the carpentry class at Cathedral College and placed on the island to encourage nesting in 2000.

Not long after that the Trust embarked on a pest eradication programme (using trap boxes supplied by the College) and the first penguin survey in 2001 after predator control measures were in place revealed eight active burrows (up from five in 1999). A second survey in November 2003 found 32 active burrows. The significant increase over a two-year period suggests that the pest eradication efforts led by Trustee, Mike Bowie of Lincoln University, has made a significant difference in providing a safe habit for breeding pairs of blue penguin.

A further 20 penguin boxes were placed on Quail Island in 2007 – the year the penguin population on the island reached a peak of 41 active burrows. Active burrows were down to 29 in 2010, following the first earthquake – although the low count could have been compounded by missing burrows in the long grass. The annual surveys have not been carried out since the February 2011 earthquake due to risk from rock fall.

A number of nest boxes were damaged or destroyed by rock falls during the recent earthquakes. The Trust is in the process of placing new nest boxes on the island. A number of nesting boxes are up for adoption.

Find out more here.

Click here for some other ways to help the Trust and further eco-restoration on Quail Island.

Nesting Season Going Swimmingly on Penguins’ Rock

Friday, May 30, 2014

There’s plenty of excitement in Ocean Journey. Five pairs of penguins spent the month of May building nests and laying eggs. Our aviculturists are currently monitoring the progress of six eggs. Right now, the count is split down the middle with three eggs from each species.

Macaroni penguins typically lay two eggs, but the first one is almost always smaller and quickly discarded by the parents. One scientific explanation for this behavior is that the first egg may serve to distract predators, giving the second egg a better chance at survival.

In contrast, Gentoo penguins may lay up to two viable eggs each year. With a couple of Gentoo pairs still building nests, there’s a chance for more eggs this season.

As much fun as egg watching is this time of year, we are always careful to remember that, “You never count your penguins before they hatch.” Inexperienced parents can be rough on eggs (and chicks) and sometimes they get damaged or neglected for unknown reasons. Our experts want the birds to develop their parental skills. Therefore, aviculturists carefully monitor each pair and their eggs. If all goes well, there may be some baby penguins to enjoy watching.

In the meantime, we look forward to keeping you updated throughout the season. You can also watch the penguins’ activity in real time with our Penguin Rock Cam.

Keep your flippers crossed for new chicks this summer!

*TN Aquarium--please keep us posted on all penguin developments!!*

From the TN Aquarium blog 

Penguin of the Day

King Penguin close-up

Penguins, doctors and their southern migration

28 May, 2014

By Nick Fogarty 

 

A Charles Sturt University bird expert who has just returned from her 12th Antarctic expedition says penguin species are being forced south due to ice melt.

Ornithology expert Dr Melanie Massaro has at least one thing in common with her main research subject, the Adelie penguin - they both keep moving south. The Charles Sturt University lecturer began her career in Canada, studying northern hemisphere sea birds, before moving to New Zealand and then Australia to focus on Antarctica.

She has just returned from her 12th trip to Antarctica, where her current focus is on the Adelie penguin, which is being forced south due to melting ice at the Antarctic Peninsula. Dr Massaro's first contact with Antarctica came in 1998, when she began working as a nature guide on a tourist boat.
Most of the two day journey, which began at Ushuaia on the southern tip of South America, was occupied by seasickness. "We hit the Drake Passage at midnight and it became really, really rough," she said. "The next morning I got up and literally looked out the windows and I saw my first albatross which was fantastic but I was ... so sick that entire day."

Upon realising that most sea birds resided in the southern hemisphere, Dr Massaro took a job at New Zealand's Otago University, before a meeting with some American researchers moved her focus to Antarctica. She's now part of a program looking broadly at the effect of climate change on Antarctica.

As part of the work, the group sleeps in tents similar to those used on Scott's expedition 100 years ago, and must walk 30 to 45 minutes to the penguin colony each morning. Dr Massaro said Adelie penguins were an indicator species, described by a colleague in a book as "the bellwether of climate change."

"All of the penguin species are actually declining," she said. "Overall, we should be concerned."

http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2014/05/27/4013229.htm?site=goulburnmurray

Baby penguin gets new name

Jonathan Jones, WBIR  May 27, 2014

What kind of name do you give a baby penguin? Well, at Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies, you might be surprised that the penguin names are very similar to people names.

Instead of "Snowball" or "Waddles", penguins have names like Joe and Bob. The reason is because new penguins are usually named after employees.

However, the latest addition is breaking the mold.

Ripley's Aquarium decided to have a contest and let the people decide the name of the newest little guy. After several entries, the winner was "Butch", named for Tennessee's own Butch Jones.

Hopefully Butch Jones and Butch from the aquarium have bright futures.

http://www.wbir.com/story/entertainment/2014/05/27/baby-penguin-gets-new-name/9637685/

Growth in penguin numbers cold comfort

Adelie penguins number are booming in the chilly western Ross Sea.  

Last updated  24/05/2014

KARL DRURY/FAIRFAX NZ 

BELLWEATHER: Adelie penguins number are booming in the chilly western Ross Sea.

Penguin numbers in Antarctica are plummeting, but in the western Ross Sea - part of New Zealand's territory - there are more adelie penguins than at any time in the past 30 years. Deidre Mussen explores the reasons - and why we need to care.
 
Freezing air bursts into the helicopter as Peter McCarthy leans out on its skid to photograph adelie penguins breeding below on Antarctica's Ross Island. "It gets pretty cold," admits a ruddy-checked McCarthy, Antarctica New Zealand's programme support supervisor, who is roped to the chopper for safety.

From the air, the birds appear as regularly spaced black blobs that dot the icy terrain, where they snuggle eggs on rocky nests. Over the course of a week, McCarthy aerially photographs 21 of the 22 adelie penguin breeding colonies in the western Ross Sea area, including along Victoria Land's remote coastline and some offshore islands, such as Ross Island, home to New Zealand's Scott Base.
Back in New Zealand, his shots are later fed into a computer, which has a specialised programme to count the black blobs, although human counters double-check penguin numbers visually.

The just-released final tally for last summer's census is a whopping 1.3 million adelie pairs, or 2.6m breeding birds, the most since the joint Antarctica New Zealand and Landcare Research penguin census project started 30 years ago. 

That includes the Cape Adare colony, home to the largest adelie colony in Antarctica, with 428,516 breeding pairs. "That's a real huge boost, considering continent-wide there are about 4 million breeding pairs," Landcare Research scientist Phil Lyver says.

Yet-to-be-published American research indicates the western Ross Sea has about a third of the world's adelies, based on a census across the entire Antarctic continent. The population has averaged about 855,000 breeding pairs over the past three decades.

Penguin research, says Lyver, isn't all about cute fluffy animals. "We're trying to use the penguins as what we call sort of a bellwether, an indicator species for the ecosystem, and so, to do that, we need to understand well how does the ecosystem or the changes in the ecosystem actually influence the birds here."

Scientists believe changes in penguin numbers can alert the world about Antarctica's health as global warming and fishing affect its icy environment.

New Zealand needs to worry about such changes because Antarctica drives our weather and directly affects our primary production-focused nation, Lyver says.

Fishing in Antarctica is also big business, and has been implicated in changes to penguin numbers elsewhere on the continent.

When New Zealand's adelie census began in the 1980s, population numbers were high in Ross Sea colonies but started declining in the 1990s.

In 2000, the world's largest iceberg, B-15, broke off the Ross Ice Shelf and part of it grounded to the north of Ross Island, near a large adelie colony at Cape Bird, where it stayed for several years.
It had a major impact on penguin breeding because it forced them to travel too far to find food for their chicks, causing breeding success to plummet.

However, population numbers started increasing again once the iceberg floated away.
The penguin story is vastly different on the more northerly Antarctic Peninsula and Scotia Sea, where populations have dramatically reduced during the same period, according to international research.
That has been blamed on a combination of reducing levels of sea ice because of rising temperatures and lower levels of krill, on which the penguins feed. These factors may be driving the surge in penguins in the Ross Sea area, Lyver says.

While sea ice extent and duration have decreased significantly around the peninsula over the past three decades, it covers a much larger area in the Ross Sea and lasts three months longer than 30 years ago. "Sea ice is important in food productions and also as a platform that allows the penguins to rest. It also gives security as the sea is calmer within sea ice areas," he says. It is also vital as a krill creche, where baby krill develop into penguin's favourite food. Studies clearly show krill abundance decreases in direct proportion to sea ice vanishing.

Ultimately, Lyver says, more research is needed to link biological sciences, such as New Zealand's adelie census, with physical studies of factors like sea ice and climate, to truly understand what is going on in the part of Antarctica nearest and dearest to New Zealand.

Scientists working at Cape Bird colony on Ross Island noted that early snowfall and high winds probably had an impact on the birds' breeding last summer, which had a success rate about half that of "normal" years.  Warmer weather means more snow will fall in Antarctica, and that directly affects the adelies' breeding success, he says.

They breed on land in nests made of rocks, unlike emperor penguins, which lay in midwinter then balance their eggs and chicks on their feet to keep them warm. More snow affects adelies' ability to keep their eggs warm. "It chills the embryo and kills the developing chick." Once the weather warms, snow melts and causes more problems for the colony as the freezing water also cools eggs and can wash away eggs and drown chicks.

Ironically, catching toothfish may help penguins because toothfish are the top predator and their decrease means fewer silverfish are eaten, which penguins also enjoy. However, krill fisheries may be impacting on penguin numbers in other parts of Antarctica because they remove an important penguin food.

Lyver warns that booming adelie numbers may be deceptive. "An ecosystem where adelie penguins are going well is not necessarily a healthy one. It's not wise to assume that increases in numbers means that it is healthy. "It's easy to think everyone is Happy Feet down there. OK, adelie penguins are a bellwether, but a bellwether of what?"

http://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/10079702/Growth-in-penguin-numbers-cold-comfort

Penguin of the Day

Rockhopper penguin at Saunders Island.

Toddy the King Penguin turning 26

Contributor:
Fuseworks Media

Monday, 26 May, 2014

 

It’s time to celebrate - one of Kelly Tarlton’s royal residents is having a birthday! Toddy the King Penguin is turning 26, and everyone’s invited to join the party at Kelly Tarlton’s SEA LIFE Aquarium.

Celebrations will be held on Saturday 31 May to Monday 2 June, from 2pm-3:30pm. There will be games, fun activities, birthday cake - including a special ice cake for Toddy - and a special prize each day for the best birthday card brought for Toddy!

So make sure you clear your calendars this coming Queen’s Birthday weekend, and head on down to Kelly Tarlton’s on Tamaki Drive to celebrate Toddy’s birthday.

For more information, visit www.kellytarltons.co.nz. Book online for the best prices.

source

Emperor Penguin (videos)

Penguin of the Day

Gentoo penguins at Volunteer Point.

Penguins of the Day

King meets Gentoo

Gentoos and chicks

Detroit, Toledo zoos get penguin reinforcements in battle for visitors

May 24, 2014

• Holly Fournier
• The Detroit News
  

An African penguin. (Todd McInturf / The Detroit News)

 

 It’s a good time to be a penguin near the Michigan-Ohio border.

 

The Toledo Zoo’s resident African penguins will spend Memorial Day weekend settling into their new home after Friday’s grand opening of Penguin Beach, the zoo’s new $3.5 million habitat for the birds.

Meanwhile, officials at the Detroit Zoo in Royal Oak are preparing to break ground June 17 for their own new penguinarium, called the Polk Penguin Conservation Center. The exhibit is projected to cost roughly $29 million, according to zoo officials, and about $24 million already has been raised. It is slated to open in late 2015. “This is not simply another zebra exhibit or bison exhibit,” said Ron Kagan, executive director of the zoo. “This is a standalone, huge facility that will significantly add to the zoo experience.”

Jeff Sailer, executive director of the Toledo Zoo, said the facility has twin motivations for giving its penguins a new home. “This was something we were happy to be able to add to the zoo to give a new experience to the public,” he said. “But it was equal parts about providing a new and better habitat for our birds.”

The exhibits up the ante in a friendly, cross-border rivalry between the zoos, which are just over 75 miles apart. Both have spent millions of dollars over the past several years upgrading facilities and adding amenities aimed at boosting attendance, which topped 2.1 million between the two zoos last year.

source 

Dolphin Juvenile meets Rockhopper Penguin

 

Image via Reutgers.

A Personal Experience with the Penguins at Phillip Island

By Savitha V

Published: 25th May 2014 

Penguins are cute enough as they are. But when I first heard ‘penguin parade’, I had even cuter images in mind—penguins in costume, tall hats, waddling down the road, waving and smiling. But of course, that wasn’t exactly how it panned out on Phillip Island, but it was as delightful as it could be.

Phillip Island is about 140 km from Melbourne, a two-hour drive. As we set out, it’s quite a race with the sun, because we have to be there by sunset. That’s when the tuxedoed fairy birds are expected back home.

The fairy penguins, also called little blue penguins, are found along the coasts of southern Australia and New Zealand. They are small with greyish blue plumage, and hence the name. These birds head out into the sea at daybreak and don’t return till sundown. They fish, hobnob with friends and even rest on the waves. And so amusing is their homecoming that tourists flock to the shores to watch them return home.

We drive through kilometers of grazing land without spotting a single human being, through little towns and past several ‘land for sale’ boards that remind you again and again how sparsely populated and vast Australia is. Isolated farm houses offer fresh scones and cream, while the towns typically seem to have only one diner, a convenience store, and a shop selling surfing equipment.

Summer days are long; the sun sets at around 8.30 pm, gloriously too at that. Darkness had set in at 9 pm when we arrived at the penguin viewing area on Summerland Beach. Rushing through the turnstile, past souvenir stores choking with penguin memorabilia, we come out on to a boardwalk that leads to the beach. On the sand, tiered wooden seating that runs down all the way to the beach is the place where you can sit and watch the birds come ashore.

Seagulls dot the beach, wanting their share of attention. Eventually, the stars of the evening start appearing in clusters, emerging from the dark waters in flashes of white and silver. They wait for a while by the seashore, take stock and slowly waddle along up the coast, home to their burrows.

We are fascinated by one little guy who is waiting alone by the shore, watching the waves. When a new group of penguins arrives, he rushes excitedly to them. They have a long discussion in penguin language, one presumes. The newcomers toddle on while our pal continues his wait. Another loner joins him. They exchange a couple of squawks, stand around awkwardly, and then part ways with the newcomer walking off. Concerned as we are about the lone watcher, we leave him on his vigil and go back up the boardwalk to get closer looks at the penguins.

The boardwalks are built along the paths that the penguins take to their burrows. Fascinated, we follow different groups. The birds obviously had a great day of fishing because they have returned with visibly full tummies. Some seem so tired that they resemble sleepwalkers. Others are so full that they struggle to clamber up those last few steps up the slope towards the burrows. Some are holding hands, or rather, flippers. The night is filled with their quiet chirruping and occasional squawks. The occasional hare and kangaroo can be spotted in the vicinity. The penguins are used to the lights, the crowds and the squeals of delight from children. They parade on oblivious to the people watching them. Visitors considerately speak in hushed tones, letting the silence of the night and the sounds of nature take over. Photography and videography are not allowed, though there will be that one pesky tourist who tries to sneak a selfie.

Apart from the penguins, Phillip Island has other attractions to spend a day on, like the koala conservation centre, bird watching, beaches and even a Grand Prix circuit. If you aren’t a penguin person, Phillip Island will surely understand.

source

This Week's Pencognito!

Please visit Jen and all the pengies by clicking this link

---