>
> The penguins have arrived back home in the colony after their winter
> migration. As usual the males arrived about 10 days before the females. The
> pairs split up during the winter migration because it is impossible for the
> couple to remain together out in the open ocean. The waves make it difficult
> to see very far, and the penguins all look much the same at a distance. The
> first time one of the penguins chased a fish they would loose contact with
> each other, so they don't even try. They just go their separate ways and
> meet up again back at the nest at the end of the winter migration.
>
> Magellanic penguins remain together for life, and the pairs meet up again
> back at the nest each October, ready for another season of egg-laying and
> chick-rearing. Like any gentleman, the males do not keep the ladies waiting
> for such an important date.
>
> After reuniting in mid October, the pair rebuilt the nest using a different
> part of 'their' bush for the new nest. The old nest lining becomes
> contaminated with guano and fleas that lie dormant over the winter, awaiting
> the return of their host, so moving the nest a couple of yards / metres is
> cleaner and healthier. There are now two eggs in the nest, and I attach a
> new photo of your penguin incubating the recently laid eggs.
>
> The eggs are about twice the size of chicken eggs, and they take about seven
> weeks to hatch, so your penguin has a lot of work to do between now and
> December. The pair take turns incubating the eggs so as to keep the eggs
> warm. A tiny baby penguin is growing inside each egg and the eggs have to be
> kept warm all the time for the eggs to hatch successfully..
>
> The Straits of Magellan is an important area for penguins and other
> wildlife. For that reason the whole of the Straits of Magellan has a ban on
> large scale commercial fishing, so the penguins' food supply is protected
> here and the penguins have increased over recent years..
>
> With about 130,000 penguins living here in the colony, it is very noisy. The
> penguins bray like donkeys, and Magellanic penguins are often called
> 'Jackass penguins' because of their strange call. It is a nickname shared by
> other closely related penguins that have a similar call, such as African
> penguins. The braying of the penguins continues day and night. Penguins are
> very sociable and like living close together.
>
> Whilst they are incubating the eggs the penguins have no access to food. The
> eggs have to be kept warm for about seven weeks, and the penguins cannot go
> without food for that long. That is why penguins always breed in pairs,
> because it is not possible for one penguin to do all the work alone.
>
> One penguin stays in the nest keeping the eggs warm, whilst the other goes
> out to sea to catch fish. They swap over every two or three days, so that
> both penguins take turns going out to sea to feed.
>
> Books and TV programs quote all kinds of numbers as to how long the penguins
> wait for their partner to return to the nest. The reality is that it changes
> between species, and also between colonies, depending on how close fish
> stocks are to the colony. What I can say for sure is that two to three days
> is the average here for our penguins.
>
> When we began our work here in 2003, one of the first factors that we
> studied was how frequently the pairs change over nesting duties. This
> information is important in understanding how changes in food availability
> can affect nesting failure, which in turn is important for understanding and
> protecting the colony as a whole.
>
> To gather this information we used large non-toxic crayons of the type sold
> to farmers for marking sheep and cattle. Being non-toxic they do not harm
> the penguins, even if swallowed, and they wash off when the penguins go out
> to sea. The crayons were mounted on the end of a pole so that we could make
> a small mark on the penguin's chest when the penguin was lying over the
> eggs.
>
> We always mark the upper chest area because this is easy to reach without
> disturbing the penguin, and also easy to view each day to check whether or
> not the penguins have changed over. In addition, the penguins cannot reach
> this area to preen, so the coloured mark remains throughout the time that
> the penguin is in the nest. By marking one of the pair with a spot of red,
> and the other with a spot of blue, we are able to see exactly how many days
> pass between the 'changing of the guard'.
>
> The coloured crayon system is simple but it works very well and does not
> disturb the penguins at all, which barely notice being touched by a thin
> pole. The results are also backed up by another less scientific observation.
> The penguins recently back in the nest are nice and white, but as the days
> pass by they gradually become grubbier in colour as a result of the dust
> blowing around the colony. After going out to sea they return nice and clean
> again.
>
> The average is about 2 to 3 days, but sometimes it is longer. If it gets to
> about 6 or 7 days without a partner returning, the penguin on the eggs
> abandons the nest. This does not happen very often, but clearly a week is
> about as long as Magellanic penguins can go without food at this time of
> year. This shows how important it is to protect fish stocks close to penguin
> colonies, for example from commercial fishing.
>
> Later in the year, these same penguins will go for three or four weeks
> without food when they moult their feathers, but the difference is that they
> prepare for that moult by feeding out at sea for almost a month, building up
> their body fat reserves in order to prepare for such a long period without
> food. At this time of year the penguins have not prepared for a long fast,
> and a week is about as long as they can go without food.
>
> In most cases the 'lost' partner does eventually return to the nest, usually
> to find the nest empty because the eggs have been stolen by gulls and the
> partner has gone to sea. It is not clear whether these 'lost' penguins have
> bad luck finding fish, or whether they simply loose track of time.
> Thankfully it does not happen very often, and seems to occur mainly with
> young inexperienced pairs. Whether their partner forgives them the following
> year is unclear.
>
> The weather here can be really horrible, with heavy rain and very strong
> winds. The day that we took the new photo of your penguin it was very sunny
> with no wind at all, but that is not normal for here. We are now in our
> spring and the weather is very changeable. Occasional there is no wind and
> the sun is really strong due to the lack of ozone this far south, other days
> there is snow, but most of the time it is just windy. Patagonia is famous
> for its strong wind.
>
> There are lots of seagulls here flying around the colony continually looking
> to steal eggs from the nests. Penguins are much larger and stronger than the
> seagulls, so the gulls never bother the penguins, but the gulls are sneaky.
> As long as the penguins are careful and keep the eggs covered, the gulls
> don't go near the nest, but if a penguin leaves the nest unattended for just
> a few minutes, a gull will swoop down and fly off with an egg in its beak.
>
> Although the penguins have to be careful with the eggs, so far the work is
> very easy. All they have to do at the moment is lie over the eggs and doze.
> The penguins don't even have to stay awake. Just lying over the eggs is
> enough, and when the weather is sunny, most of the penguins have their eyes
> closed. The real work begins in December when the eggs hatch and then they
> will have hungry chicks to feed. I will write to you again as soon as the
> eggs hatch.
>
> Best wishes, Mike
>
>
>
>
>
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