09/16/2021 8:56 AM
Clarín.com
Travels
Updated 09/16/2021 8:56 AM
After two years without receiving visitors due to the pandemic, the
Punta Tombo
Protected Natural Area
, located 100 kilometers south of Rawson, capital of Chubut, was open
to the public
before the arrival of the first
Magellanic penguin
sleeves
of the season.
The Minister of Tourism and Protected Areas of Chubut, Néstor García, celebrated the
return to activity in the penguin colony
, "where the first specimens are arriving healthy, strong and without signs of oiling," he said.
The reserve shows for this season the "
Path of the Penguin
", which has three kilometers round trip, with different viewpoints to observe, photograph and enjoy the landscape in front of the sea and in the middle of the nests of these nice birds.
The path, with bridges and walkways, is three kilometers round trip.
Photo Daniel Feldman
"I had the opportunity to talk with
the first tourists
who arrived in this 2021 season, which are María and Hernán, from the City of Buenos Aires, who received free access as recognition," said García.
More than a million penguins
Regarding the trails and maintenance works, the official explained that the ministry developed actions "so that the public's experience is better every day in terms of tourism and
environmental awareness
, incorporating something every year, in this case
posters informative and
well-maintained
lookouts
. "
More than a million penguins come to populate the Punta Tombo colony.
Photo Daniel Feldman
At the moment, Punta Tombo will be open from
Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
and access does not require a prior reservation, they indicated from the tourism area.
It was also explained that the area has an
Interpretation Center
that will open in October and that invites you to be part of a journey from the bottom of the sea to the surface and its coexistence with the current fauna.
The penguins are arriving "by sleeves" to the reserve to start shortly the stage of mating, incubation and training of the new generations and, unlike what happened last year due to the pandemic, this time it will not be left out of the sight of tourists.
Penguins can be seen up close and photographed, they are very friendly.
Photo Daniel Feldman
The reserve has an area of 210 hectares that becomes the most populated on the continent with
more than a million penguins
when families are completed.
The specimens of "Spheniscus magellanicus", such its scientific name,
are very friendly
and allow them to be photographed, filmed or viewed from very close.
To the central attraction of the penguins is added the
coexistence with a varied fauna of seabirds
, such as cormorants, kelp gulls, southern gulls, terns, skuas and oystercatchers.
Punta Tombo is one of the main attractions of Chubut every summer.
Other
birds typical of the Patagonian steppe
also roam the reserve
, such as choiques, martinetas, chingolos and calandrias, and
the area's mammals, such
as guanacos, maras, foxes, piches and hairy and other scavengers
, complete the picture of the active ecological colony.
for the eggs.
The first specimens to arrive are the male penguins, who immediately begin to recondition their nests, and then the females begin their "landing", which in a few weeks will begin to lay two eggs and after 40 days of incubation shared with the male, they will monitor the
birth of the chicks
.
Both the females and the males preserve the nest and feed the young with anchovies and squid that they fish in the waters of the sea near the coast.
Penguins come to the area to mate and have young.
Photo Daniel Feldman.
These chicks are born covered in a dark gray down that in February they molt through a juvenile plumage that allows them to make their
first forays into the sea
to look for their own food, while waiting to acquire the adult plumage they will obtain -if they survive the harsh conditions. - just next year.
García, who was also an agent in the reserve in his first years of activity, recalled that "experience indicates that penguins arrive by sleeves, a small group appears and behind 10,000 or 20,000 specimens that come to immediately look for their nest,
generally the same that they occupied last year
".
Telam
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