Chile is a South American country and famous for most active volcanos, street art, and The Andes mountains but there is a small island located in the Magallan Strait, and is 35 km away from Punta Arenas known as Magdalena island. The Magdalena island is just one square kilometre. The islanad is surround by fifteen-metre-high cliffs. The island is topped by a red lighthouse.
The island hosts up to 60,000 breeding pairs of Magellanic penguins. In October each year, the birds migrate here and find their mate. They are monogamous and remain faithful to one partner all their lives. The male penguins arrive at the island first and find their nest. Each year they come back to reclaim their nests from the previous year. The male penguins wait in their nests for their partners to arrive. The female penguins arrive at the island after 10-15 days.
Female penguins can identify their mates from their braying noise alone. When they arrive at the island they find them by their call. Each pair produces two chicks over November–March, bringing the population on the island to some 240,000 penguins.
When the chicks hatch, in November, both parents nurture the young, one adult remaining with the chicks, the other going fishing. The fishing penguins return to land with their bellies full of fish.The average hunting trip of Magellanic penguins around Magdalena Island lasts for about 18 hours as compared to 30 hours in Falk Islands.
In late January, the chicks shed their baby feathers and get ready for their first trips into the ocean. By the end of March the penguins have returned to sea again. Newly hatched chicks visited by tourists develop the stress response which decreases their muscle strength and growth. Commerical fishing around the island is prohibited so the population of Megallanic penguins is increasing.
Magdalena Island has been designated a national nature reserve because of its importance as a penguin breeding site. The island hosts several species of birds including the Austral Seagull. South American Tern birds also visit the island in the large numbers.
Magdalena Island is home to the largest penguin colony in Chile. Magellanic penguins grow to be 60–77 cm tall and weigh between 2.7 and 6.5 kg. Their weight drops when they are nurturing the chicks. Magellanic penguins can live up to a about 25 years in the wild. Magellanic penguins travel in large flocks when hunting for food.
