Penguin Pictures! Penguin Pictures!

Well hello! A week and change later I'm back in DC after my amazing trip to Patagonia, and it is now time to share some more photos, including the highly anticipated photos from my visits to three penguin colonies.  While in Punta Arenas, Chile I visited the Seno Otway and the Monumento Natural los Pingüinos. At both of these colonies, I saw hundreds, if not thousands of Magellanic Penguin who were nested at the colonies for the summer mating season. Yes, that meant there were baby penguins.

In Ushuaia, Argentina I visited the colony located on Isla Martillo. At this colony I saw Magellanic Penguins as well as both Gentoo Penguins and breeding pair of King Penguins, which are the second largest species of penguin in the world. They are quite large!

Overall it was amazing to see these penguins in the wild, watching them swim, build nests, and stand at attention over their eggs. I was able at all the colonies to get extremely close to the penguins, so close that the photos I took are more amazing than I even expected them to be! Below is a sample of some of the photos I took of penguins during my trip. You can also view the full gallery in the Penguin Photos Gallery under MattPhotos.  Enjoy!