How much time did you end up spending in Argentina? What was it like at the breeding site? The two males continue their battle over the female. NG: Members of the Boersma lab and volunteers spend approximately six months each year at Punta Tombo. I was fortunate enough to spend nearly four months at the colony between 2015 and 2017. It's an incredible, otherworldly place. Magellanic penguins nest in burrows or bushes, and some areas of the colony are so dense with burrows that you feel like you're on a different planet. The colony has declined by over 40\% since the study started...so I can't even imagine what it was like in the 1980s. My favorite time of the day is around 8PM, when (hopefully fat) penguins are returning to the colony en masse after a foraging trip. They are also most vocal in the morning and evening, making their characteristic braying sound— the related African penguin earned the name "" because they sound a bit like donkeys. The colony is also full of other beautiful and interesting creatures, including a -like species called the and an -like species called the . NG: The two main threats to the food sources of this colony are  , which cause shifts in primary productivity and fish stocks, and fisheries. Fisheries compete with penguins for fish species such as and .
How much time did you end up spending in Argentina? What was it like at the breeding site? The two males continue their battle over the female. NG: Members of the Boersma lab and volunteers spend approximately six months each year at Punta Tombo. I was fortunate enough to spend nearly four months at the colony between 2015 and 2017. It's an incredible, otherworldly place. Magellanic penguins nest in burrows or bushes, and some areas of the colony are so dense with burrows that you feel like you're on a different planet. The colony has declined by over 40\% since the study started...so I can't even imagine what it was like in the 1980s. My favorite time of the day is around 8PM, when (hopefully fat) penguins are returning to the colony en masse after a foraging trip. They are also most vocal in the morning and evening, making their characteristic braying sound— the related African penguin earned the name "" because they sound a bit like donkeys. The colony is also full of other beautiful and interesting creatures, including a -like species called the and an ostrich-like species called the . NG: The two main threats to the food sources of this colony are climate change , which cause shifts in primary productivity and fish stocks, and fisheries. Fisheries compete with penguins for fish species such as and .
R
-like
ostrich-like
A
climate change