Penguins, Albatross, and Tui oh my!

It's a penguin kind of day today and to maximize the opportunity for a siting, we booked a tour through The Penguin Place. But before Penguin place a hike to picturesque waterfall, where we encountered the call of the Tui. We did not actually see a Tui, but based on descriptions that I read, I know that we heard one.The Tui is a bird with two voice boxes. It sings two part harmony,and is capable of recreating other sounds that it hears. I suppose it is a bit like a mocking bird. This particular Tui had a repertoire of lovely songs which were punctuated by honks and buzzes. The honk had an old fashioned bicycle horn sound to it and was pretty funny. These birds are so loud and noisy that the locals often complain that the birds interrupt sleep. Barks and cell phone rings are some of the noises produced by these clever fellows. There are more birds on the tour so keep reading.

The Otago Penninsula is the home of Penguin Place, but near it is an albatross colony. By this time the Fella was about done with wild life but what the heck how many times are you going to have an opportunity to see an albatross? Lucky for us that it was a windy day, and the birds were flying. We were told the albatross tends to stay grounded on windless days. The colony is quite unusual in that it is rare to find them on the mainland. Most are on remote islands or rocks in the middle of the ocean far away from civilization. The big white bird resembles a sea gull only bigger much bigger. Rather than pay for a tour which would get us closer to the nests, we were content to watch these giants gliding on the air currents. Now on to the penguins.

Penguin Place is a reserve with a unique system of tunnels/bunkers built into the hillsides. The bunkers are for the nonpenguins - like us. Humans are confined and view the birds from peep holes, which allows them to be in their natural habitat free from intrusion. Predators include dogs, cats, stoats, and possums. All of the above are trapped and or killed in order to protect the birds. Since molting season had just started,we were told that the birds would not be active as molting zaps their energy.They just want to be left alone to molt. The youngsters maybe frisky though and we were not disappointed. Those nearing adulthood frolicked in the fresh water ponds of the reserve and are getting the hang of what it is to be a penguin. They were too funny. The climb out of the pond was a challenge for one young bird. Finally on dry land, he/she attempted to stand and did a face plant. The young bird slowly made it to an upright position then stretched and flapped his/her wings. I wanted to applaud and holler you did it! However we were to speak in whisper tones so clapping and attaboys were out of the question.

The older penguins have names such as Sam, who stood like a sentinel at the end of a pond. Initially, I thought Sam was a statue but was assured that he was molting and was conserving his strength. There was Howard who stood under a tree, which was his preferred molting place. Our guide explained that yellow eyed penguins stake out individual territory and defend it. Occasionally, some rearranging is done -not sure how penguins negotiate- but that's what the guide indicated. Once again I was surprised by how far they travel on foot to get from the ocean to the upland areas. It appeared to be about a half mile. In addition to penguins, brown fur seals make the reserve their home. On our walk from the bunkers to the seal area we spotted a penguin on the beach making its way -slowly- to the upland areas. The seals were sacked out on a grassy hill. Some lazily opened one eye or both as we passed by.

The wind blew so hard the Big Fella remarked that driving the motorhome was like trying to drive a kite. We retired to our campsite with fresh memories of Tuis, Albatross, and Yellow Eyed Penguins.