Penguins in the Desert

212 Pages·2018·16.064 MB·English

by  Eric Wagner

penguins in the desert

P E N G U I N S
IN THE DESERT
p
E R I C WAG N E R
Oregon State University Press Corvallis
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Wagner, Eric Loudon, author.
Title: Penguins in the desert / Eric Wagner.
Description: Corvallis : Oregon State University Press, 2018. | Includes index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017054219 (print) | LCCN 2018001632 (ebook) | ISBN
9780870719271 (ebook) | ISBN 9780870719240 (original trade pbk. : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Magellanic penguin—Argentina—Tombo Point. | Tombo Point
(Argentina)
Classification: LCC QL696.S473 (ebook) | LCC QL696.S473 W34 2018 (print) |
DDC 598.47—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017054219
∞ This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992
(Permanence of Paper)
© 2018 Eric Wagner
All rights reserved.
First published in 2018 by Oregon State University Press
Printed in the United States of America
Photos by Eric Wagner unless otherwise credited.
Oregon State University Press
121 The Valley Library
Corvallis OR 97331-4501
541-737-3166 • fax [phone]
www.osupress.oregonstate.edu
for El

Contents
Author’s Note ix
Prologue Penguins in the Desert 1
1 In Patagonia 5
2 The Point 23
3 Hurricane Dee 39
4 The Food Web 59
5 Hatch 75
6 Storm 83
7 Hunger 92
8 Watching Seabirds at Sea 105
9 Other People’s Penguins 121
10 The Penguin Coast 136
1 1 Passages 145
12 The Giant Petrel 159
13 Waiting for Turbo 171
Epilogue The Bleak Land 183
Acknowledgments 195
Index 197

Author’s Note
Of course, he worked from memory and memory is usually too
inventive.
Jorge Luis Borges
This book is an account of the time my wife, Eleanor (hereafter, El), and
I spent among the Magellanic penguins of Punta Tombo, Argentina, in
2008 and 2009 as volunteers with the University of Washington’s Penguin
Project. I kept a detailed journal and have since spoken at length with
the various principals, but I was no stenographer. What I mean is that
conversations and events are recounted as best as I can recollect them.
The views presented here are likewise my own, and not necessarily those
of the Penguin Project. No one is to blame for my opinions but me.
I have included research in the broader discussions of penguin be-
havior and ecology that was sometimes completed or published after my
time at Punta Tombo. In part, I wanted the science to be as current as
possible, but I also think one of the consolations of natural history is its
timelessness. Many if not most of the phenomena scientists are just now
beginning to understand have been in motion long before we got around
to describing them.
Finally, Turbo is real.
ix