Yesterday I went for penguin-watching. The Little Penguin, also called fairy penguin, is the smallest species of penguin, and breeds here. To watch them, you must wait until the night falls, when the chicks come out of their nests and the adults come out of the sea.
They are naturally shy, and you should not use flash photography, which is why I can't present you a better picture than this one. But you can imagine that they are very very cute, especially when they stretch: they take their little wings back as far as possible and then raise high up on their toes, until they lose balance. This youngster still has some baby feathers (the fluffy ones) on its back.
The best month for penguin-watching is January, whic
h is just after the young chicks have hatched and are fed by their parents. Now in mid-February there were only 2 or 3 chicks and about the same number of adult penguins on this spot.The colony is protected by a volunteer group who is doing a very good job, having built penguin protection fences between the beach and the road, prebuilt nest burrows, viewing platforms, information boards for the watchers, and who are present in person every night with red-light torches (Taschenlampen) to show and explain everything to the visitors. For free, by the way. This is Australia the way I like it!
And where is Wawa, Schusch, Wutz und das Uuurmeli? ;)
1 comment:
hallihallo aus auxburg! wieder mal ein vorschlag aus den weiten des internet für ne beschäftigung, die ich selber gern hätte aber mangels anwesenheit down under nicht ausüben kann: schau doch mal auf koalahospital.org.au, da kann man angeblich einen monat arbeiten (allerdings ehrenamtlich) aber es klingt irgendwie nett. ansonsten weiterhin gute fahrt und angenehme zeit!! gruß ziggy
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