Faerie Penguins

Faerie lights.  Faerie cakes.  Faerie penguins.

Faerie here means‘small’.  Tiny lights, cupcakes, and adorable little penguins.  

 



As we approach Phillip Island, I expect to see penguins in a zoo-like setting, and to ooh and ahh over their cuteness.  This is no zoo-like setting.

Guests to the park sit on designated areas on the sand or in stadium seating.  Lights illuminate the dark water as night falls.  And we wait.

Faerie penguins (also called “little blue penguins”) are barely eighteen inches tall.  They roost on land and feed in the sea—in fact, they spend as much as 80% of their lives in the water.  Before sunrise, the penguins waddle to the ocean where they gather into groups and depart.  They swim hundreds of miles looking for the tiny fish that are penguins' staple. After sunset, they return to their homes on Phillip Island. 

An announcer keeps an eye on the dark water and explains that the penguins will form groups in the water, and when they are good and ready --and only then-- they will come ashore.

He spots the distinctive blue/black-and-white in the surf and tells us where to look.  We see indistinct bobbing and bouncing and suddenly, a little troop of tiny penguins comes out of the waters to waddle to their homes.  They parade by us, seeming oblivious as they march to their burrows.  We oooh.  We ahhh.  I lie down on the sand, set the camera and repeatedly focus, adjust, click, wait. 

One cluster in the water seems intimidated.  Repeatedly, they start to mass but do not emerge.

I begin to imagine little penguin conversations, little penguin directors, little penguin prima donnas.  

  “You call this a LINE??  This is not a straight line!”   

  “I’m supposed to be first, not third!”

  “Wait, there’s an anchovy…  I want that….”

Just in case the penguins are intimidated by the lights, the park officials dim them and we begin to make our way out of the stands to leave the penguins in peace. Those who came before are still marching to their burrows and we’re still ooohing and aaaahing.

This video is from a short news report on the penguins,  and has some great footage and information. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhDHOxl5X2g

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