Dec. 9 - One last adventure with Enrique and Alvaro

Pleasantly full from our delicious lunch and now driving on a paved road (!), I dozed off for a bit. I awakened just before we, once again, turned onto another gravel road. This one led to Otway Sound near Punta Arenas and its famous, but controversial, Penguin colony. It's controversial because it's privately run, has used no biologists or other scientists for advice, has wire fences strung up along the beach to force the penguins to enter at the location the owners want them to, not necessarily where the penguins want to enter. Often the penguins try to enter elsewhere, but the ires are placed in such a way that they usually can't get through. We saw some penguins wandering along the fence, trying at various spots to get in, but unable to. In some places the wires have been bent down, probably by visitors disturbed by this impediment, and penguins who approach there can enter easily.
We walked around on the little boardwalk provided for the human visitors. Saw two nice birds other than penguins:

Two-banded Plover

OK, OK, so you've seen this tiny charmer before,
but who could get tired of seeing this Austral Negrito?
These little flycatchers were very busy devouring the plentiful flies and other bugs to be found here.

Then we saw the star attractions, Magellanic Penguins. These are also called Jackass Penguins because they bray just like a donkey. They are in the middle of their nesting season and, probably, have young in small underground burrows. We saw some yearlings, but no little ones from this year's breeding. These penguins dig nest burrows and are continuously cleaning them out. One had to be careful where one walked because heaps of dirt might come flying out of a burrow at any time! Here are some of Ivan's and my photos (mine are not as good as Ivan's and have the date and time imprinted on them):

Penguins are firm believers in stopping to smell the flowers.

The two on the left are yearlings, born last December.

This one seemed to be napping in, rather than smelling, the flowers.

Braying to declare property or call a spouse. 

Two in the water and two out.

These penguins share the duties in raising of the young. If there are eggs, one will go to the water in the morning, eat a bunch of fish, and deliver the fish once he or she returns to the burrow (didn't I put that nicely?). If the egg has hatched, both parents go to the water several times during the day and bring fish back (in their stomachs) to feed the baby. This goes on for a year, with the parents continuing to feed a demanding chick, until they have another baby. At that point, the parents abandon the yearling, forcing him or her to find food for themselves. The original tough love. These penguins were certainly very cute and endearing. I enjoyed seeing them in spite of the unfortunate restrictions this pingüinera places on them.