We can now say we have viewed penguins in the wild in Australia, South Africa, and Chile. The birds were different across locations, but the latitudes would be similar.
Our visit was to the Island of Magdalena to see Magellan Penguins. This desolate island is a seasonal home to about 120,000 Magellan Penguins. These birds use this island from September through March as their breeding location. You can view chicks toward the end of this period. There are no birds and no tourists the rest of the year.
The island does very well attracting the birds and the tourists because a no-fishing zone of 30 kilometers has been declared around the island. The sea provides an abundance of sardines and without the competition from commercial fishing the penguins can find all of the seafood they need close to their nests. In other locations, the birds must venture up to 5 days away from their nests making them more vulnerable to predators and drastically increasing the mortality rate of the chicks as a parent may not make it home with food. This is not a problem on Magdalena.
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