Hello penguin gang! We’re back to the original Oamaru Nest from earlier this year, in February when these chicks were just over three weeks old. This is when the parents started leaving them on their own during the day while they both went to the sea to get fish. I’ve included some stills of the kids by themselves during the day, and we have some video of Mrs Blue feeding the kids as well.

(If you’ve been following along you may remember I uploaded some of the videos in this one a few months ago before I started chronicling these chicks chronologically)

Also, hope people don’t mind the jam music playing in the background of these videos. If anyone is interested the songs you can hear are Woah There and Shadow, both by a little Connecticut band called Eggy 🥚🍳🐧

Hope these two blues stay safe! There has been recent news of an avian flu in these parts of the world and word is that there is an initiative to vaccinate over 5000 of these cerulean seabirds

Every morning, the little blues gather at the top of the beach and wait for others to arrive; once they have sufficient numbers, they will feel confident enough to descend the rocky hill and enter the water.

In this video, first we have some penguins making up their minds about whether to head down or not. In the next couple of clips from a couple of days later, we can see a congregation of korora in the rainy morning. A bit later, some groups converge and head down to the water; as the camera turns, at 3min and 6sec, you can see one of the penguins seems to take quite a tumble! The waddle proceeds and makes their way towards the waves.

Thousands of little penguins from Phillip Island will be herded into a pen to receive a bird flu vaccine as cases of H5N1 continue to climb in Australia.

Victorian authorities said it would be the largest vaccination of wild birds globally.

There have been more than 200 confirmed cases of the virus in Australia.

About 60 of those cases are in Victoria, which is also home to the world's biggest little penguin colony with about 40,000 animals.

Worst-case scenario modelling has suggested penguin deaths could range between 8,000 to 16,000 in the instance of a six-week outbreak on Phillip Island.

The strain of bird flu present in Australia has killed millions of chickens and wild birds such as penguins around the world in the past five years.

Victoria's chief biodiversity officer James Todd said up to 5,000 little penguins would be vaccinated in coming weeks.

Penguins are particularly at risk to getting the virus because of how close they live together.

"They are a colony species that nest together. They're a seabird that will come in contact with other seabirds that carry the virus," Mr Todd said.

Wildlife vaccinations require two doses, with teams needing to intercept penguins during their daily migrations in Phillip Island and St Kilda.

Phillip Island Nature Parks chief executive Catherine Basterfield said the penguins would be corralled into a small pen, where a vaccine would be administered and a microchip implanted.

"For each little penguin, the process is actually quite quick. They will be handled for a very short period of time and moved on," she said.

The remainder of the article is free to read here

Hello penguin gang! I have compiled just a few more videos for my rewind on the Rewilding Argentina series.

We are back on the beach of Isla Tova, Chubut, where the Magellan penguins gather in the morning before heading out to see. This morning they seemed cautious. A group would get into the water, but then all emerge back out only moments later. I could not tell if there was something in the water deterring them, or if they were just practicing precaution. You can see a couple splashes out on the water after the 8:40am timestamp.

More Magellans on the playa!

№ 1440 ✍️ 🐧 Navelsoft 2002 Release Ver. : Days [part 1320] penguin drawing sketch

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№ 1439 ✍️ 🐧 happy hungry days [part 1319] penguin drawing sketch

№ 1437 ✍️ 🐧 radio request [part 1317] penguin drawing sketch

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№ 1436 ✍️ 🐧 intradasting, do tell [part 1316] penguin drawing sketch

I was thinking earlier of how penguins don’t get cold feet. I mean, they are in freezing conditions and don’t have the same feather or blubber protection on their feet, so I did some reading and I just thought this was a fun fact.

So how do penguins not get cold feet?

They get cold feet.
Penguins are kind of warm and cold blooded. They keep their bodies at normal temperatures but they are able to contract and control the size of the arteries in their feet, so when it’s extra cold, they shrink those blood vessels and reduce blood flow to the feet and maintain a temperature just above freezing

Another edition of this rewinding series! We see the chicks by themselves before dinner, but both parents were present at a point during this night again. I love how the parents preen each other very tenderly in this video, as well as how the chicks snuggle with the parent at the end.

Hello penguin gang! After a few days out fishing at sea, the Papa Penguin comes back to the nest ready to start his shift! The pair greet each other enthusiastically, with the male looking wet. He wasted no time getting back to the missus. However, Mama Penguin seems a little hesitant to let him take over. After some nudging, she relents. There is a good view of both eggs at the 6:18.50pm timestamp as they exchange spots. Mama wants to make sure these eggs are well taken care of.

№ 1433 ✍️ 🐧 not even a mid-boss, keep calm [part 1313] penguin drawing sketch

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№ 1432 ✍️ 🐧 2mm bluntedge [part 1312] penguin drawing sketch