Penguin adoption - Promises

>
> Dear PenguinPromises
>
> The penguins have finally arrived back at the colony after their winter
> migration to Brazil. The weather is very mild for this time of year. Usually
> when the penguins arrive home in October it is still very cold, with snow on
> the hills. This year the snow disappeared weeks ago and it has been very
> pleasant working outside.
>
> This is the first time that the penguins have been ashore for months. During
> their winter migration the penguins stay out at sea all the time, eating and
> sleeping in the water. In the water the temperature barely changes from
> month to month. The ocean is so large that there are no sudden changes in
> the water temperature under normal circumstances.
>
> Antarctic currents running up the coast of Patagonia keep the seawater cool
> but stable. That current also brings nutrient rich water up the coast of
> Patagonia from Antarctica, which is why there are so many penguins and other
> marine species in this region, all feeding on the banquet of fish, krill and
> other marine life that the nutrient rich water supports.
>
> The Atlantic coast of South America does not suffer ocean current reversals
> such as those that occasionally occur along the Pacific coast during El Niño
> and La Niña years. However, El Niño and La Niña cause such severe climatic
> changes that they affect the entire southern half of the South American
> continent, bringing strange weather patterns across the region that do
> affect our penguins.
>
> Some scientists are predicting another La Niña year this coming season, and
> the warmer weather that we are experiencing at the moment is consistent with
> that, but it is still too early to tell for sure.
>
> The first thing that the penguins do after returning to the colony is
> reunite with their partners. The pairs are forced to separate during the
> migration because it is impossible for penguins to maintain visual contact
> with each other out at sea. The penguins keep together in large groups, but
> constant diving for fish makes it impossible for them to keep track of
> individual penguins. Remaining together as a pair for weeks would be
> impossible so they don't even try. The pairs just reunite back home at the
> nest in October.
>
> Penguins recognize each other on land by their calls, which is something we
> are unable to do. With 300,000 penguins in the colony, we are not able to
> identifying individual penguins amongst all the other penguins until they
> have returned to their nest. Once they have settled into their nest and
> begun laying eggs, we can then be sure of their identity and begin taking
> photos.
>
> Magellanic penguins are territorial about their home just like humans.
> Penguins consider their bush to be their home and return to the same bush
> each year. If a penguin is late returning to the colony, then another
> penguin might decide to make use of the bush, but since only young penguins
> breeding for the first time would be looking for new bushes, these
> inexperienced birds are quickly evicted when the genuine owner of the bush
> returns.
>
> Small bushes are like houses with one nest per bush. Larger bushes are more
> like apartment blocks with several penguins each occupying their 'apartment'
> within the bush. There are also semi-detached bushes with a medium sized
> bush being home to two nests.
>
> Each year the penguins like to move their nest to a clean spot that was not
> used the year before, limited of course by the size of their bush. Fleas lay
> eggs that over-winter in the soil below the old nest, so moving the nest
> even just half a meter can reduce the burden of fleas. One or two meters is
> better if the space around the bush allows.
>
> Magellanic penguins always lay two eggs, which then need to be kept warm for
> six to seven weeks in order to hatch. It would be impossible for one penguin
> to keep the eggs warm for that long on their own. They would not be able to
> go to sea to eat any fish if they had to keep the eggs warm on their own.
> That is why penguins work together as a couple.
>
> One penguin stays in the nest lying over the eggs to keep them warm, whilst
> the other goes to sea to catch food. Then they change over every two or
> three days so that both can spend time at sea catching food. If it goes
> beyond a week the partner left in the nest with the eggs is forced by hunger
> to abandon the nest and go to sea. If that happens the exposed eggs get cold
> and are quickly stolen by gulls, foxes or armadillos.
>
> That is quite common amongst young couples breeding for the first time, who
> are less familiar with where to find local fish shoals and easily become
> delayed finding food. That is the main cause of egg loss amongst young
> couples, and accounts for many of the egg losses in the colony as a whole.
> Experienced couples are more familiar with the area and rarely have problems
> finding sufficient food to feed themselves at this time of year. Nest
> abandonment by experienced couples is rare.
>
> This year is a very difficult year for us working with the penguins.
> Financial hardship around the world caused by lock-downs and loss of
> employment has caused a huge drop in new adoptions, so our revenue has been
> severely reduced. We also now have problems moving around due to the
> coronavirus restrictions imposed here. You may have heard on the news how
> Brazil, Chile and Argentina have all been very badly hit by COVID-19.
> Lock-downs and night-time curfews have been in place here since March.
>
> The penguin colony here is usually open to the public, but it has been
> closed since last March. The park wardens that usually work here to show
> tourists around have not worked here since March, and of course there are no
> tourists either. The colony is completely deserted except for the penguins,
> myself and one assistant.
>
> Not only do Chile and Argentina both have their borders closed to other
> countries, but they have also created internal 'sanitary borders' to prevent
> travel from town to town within the country. People that worked with us last
> season left the area to visit their families whilst the penguins were away
> in Brazil, and are now unable to return because of the regional travel bans.
> Nobody expected the lock-down in this region to last for seven months.
>
> My family live in Britain, so I was unable to visit them this year as I
> usually do. They are people of high risk because of being in their 80s, so I
> would not have been able to visit them in any case without putting them at
> risk. So I remained in Punta Arenas whilst the penguins were away, which is
> a choice that I don't regret. If I had gone to Britain I would have been
> unable to get back to work with the penguins.
>
> Despite the strange and difficult circumstances, our work with the penguins
> is going well. From Punta Arenas I am able to visit all our study colonies
> despite the restrictions, with the exception of the Falkland Islands, where
> we have local people who are taking care of the research for us.
>
> The colony here lies between the lighthouses of Cabo Virgenes in Argentina
> and Punta Dungeness in Chile. It can be reached from Punta Arenas along a
> 120 km gravel track that is not restricted because it leads to the Punta
> Dungeness lighthouse, owned by the Chilean Navy. The track has to be kept
> open to keep the lighthouse running and for the Navy to monitor shipping
> entering the Straits of Magellan. We have permission to use the track so we
> can reach the colony from Punta Arenas without any problems.
>
> We also have two other study colonies in Chile, both on islands in the
> Straits of Magellan, one on Magdalena Island and the other on Contramaestra
> Island. These colonies are 40km and 60km away from Punta Arenas. Getting to
> and from these islands is usually very easy because tourist boats provide
> day-trips around the islands, so we use these boats to come and go. However
> now that tourism is in lock-down there are no tourist boats operating this
> year. The only way we can get to and from the islands is by begging a lift
> from local kelp boats operating out of Punta Arenas.
>
> As is the case in many remote coastal communities, the long brown seaweed
> that floats on the surface just off the coast (called kelp) is used in local
> cuisine. It is actually a very nutritious and healthy food. Small fishing
> boats travel out to nearby islands and dive down to cut the long kelp fronds
> that are several meters long. The kelp is rolled into bundles and dried for
> sale to restaurants and local markets. This kind of activity has been
> practiced for centuries, and the kelp is an abundant renewable resource that
> re-grows very quickly, so it does not harm the environment. The kelp beds
> are like underwater forests and are so vast that the handful of boats
> gathering kelp make virtually no difference to the ecosystem.
>
> Crossing over to the island on these tiny wooden boats is quite an
> experience. They are about 10 to 15 meters long and when fully loaded with
> kelp, they barely float above the water. Most of the boats are decades old,
> with rotten wood and extremely old internal diesel engines that fill up the
> cabin with exhaust fumes. These boats would sink in rough weather, so they
> only make the crossing in perfectly calm conditions. They set off just
> before dawn because the wind usually drops during the night making
> conditions perfect at dawn.
>
> Crossing on these boats brings back old memories, because when I first began
> working with these colonies in 1998 I was also forced to beg lifts on these
> kelp boats. At that time tourism was in its infancy. There was just one
> tourist boat called the 'Melinka', and it did not begin operating until
> December each year, which was far too late to record the egg-laying,
> incubation and hatching of the penguins. So in those early years all my
> crossings from October to December were done by courtesy of these old wooden
> kelp boats. I attach a photo of one of these boats collecting kelp.
>
> Despite being in lock-down, these small kelp boats are still allowed to
> operate. Food producers are exempt, as are people working out at sea or in
> the countryside, where the public is not being put at risk. With nobody else
> around on these islands, we are able to continue our work with the penguins.
>
> The penguins have laid in Chile earlier than usual, maybe due to the warmer
> weather, and now the penguins have laid here too. I will write to you again
> when the eggs hatch and your penguin finally has little baby penguins in the
> nest. I expect that the hatching will occur during early December.
>
> I hope you and your family are all keeping well.
>
> Kind regards, Mike
>
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