Patagonian Wildlife

We got lucky when we had a very personal penguin viewing experience! From Puerto Natales we headed north back into Argentina and Santa Cruz on the east coast. As luck would have it we found out about a colony of Magellan penguins not far away. We rode 15 km to Punta Quilla, through security at the port and parked up. From there we walked 2.5 km (access only at low tide) around a bay. We thought we were on a wild goose chase but around the headland we saw hundreds of penguins making the journey up the beach to feed their young in nests under bushes above high tide. We layed on the beach and watched......penguins are very cute and cool to watch splashing about in the sea and waddling across the shore!

We have seen lots of Guanaco, a large animal like a Llama but they are wild. They are nice to watch as are quite elegant animals. However, if the herd is split they do tend to run across the road in front of us!

Rhea are quite common to see and we have come across quite a few with about 10 babies. We have discovered that the adult in these families is the male, the female has long gone! They are difficult to get pics of as they scatter when we stop the bike and it's too cold to get the camera out!

We have seen a lot of Black necked swans and spotted some babies having a lift!

We have seen red and grey Foxs, one of which was getting seen off by an angry Guanaco.

We have seen lots of flamingos but not close enough for a good pic. So all we have so far is a feather!

Also seen but not managed to photograph - Armadillos, Andean Condors, loads of other birds of prey and Hares.