Last week, a penguin completed an epic migration that lasted a couple years and thousands of miles. When measured in penguin distances, it encompassed more miles than Neil Armstrong traveled going to the moon and back in his celebrated “one step for mankind.” Which isn’t too surprising; Armstrong was not a penguin, and probably never thought of measuring distances from a penguin point of view.
This remarkable migratory feat was accomplished by Penguinus Taronga, a penguin of confused parentage. Tagged by the Taronga Conservation Society of Australia as a “Little Fairy Penguin” (Eudyptula minor, also called “Little blue penguins” due to their color), Penguinus has a yellow band around the throat, more in keeping with an Emperor or King penguin. But Penguinus is certainly about the size of a Fairy Penguin, and has a magical life story.
Ignoring the exact species for the moment, Penguinus is an extraordinary traveller:
- Conceived at the Taronga Zoo, Sidney, Australia ??
- Egg laid in China (exact location not revealed) ??
- Egg hatched at Taronga Zoo, Sidney, Australia ??
- Flew to Queenstown, New Zealand ??
- Flew to Singapore City, Singapore ??
- Flew to Istanbul, Turkey ??
- Flew to Tel Aviv, Israel ??
- Flew to Istanbul, Turkey ??
- Flew to Washington, DC, USA ??
- Flew to Tel Aviv, Israel ??
- Flew to San Francisco, California ??
- Flew to Seattle, Washington ??
- Swam to Dungeness, Washington ??
That’s an incredible amount of flying for an allegedly flightless bird.
There may have been other waypoints between conception and arrival on the Olympic Peninsula; penguins are not particularly detail oriented, except when it comes to fish. Fish is a subject they genuinely relish.
Though it isn’t obvious from the travel stops, Penguinus originally planned to travel from Australia to the Washington, DC, area. Penguins are not normally considered trans-continental migrators, and certainly not trans-oceanic migrators, and perhaps something distracted Penguinus along the way. But at some point, Penguinus changed course for the Pacific Northwest, which is about as far from DC as you can get within the traditional boundaries of the United States. This fails to account for all the other stops; clarification may have to wait.
Seattle initially appeared attractive: cool, moist, and surrounded by water. But the other noteworthy features — mountains, forests, volcanoes, Space Needles, coffee — failed to capture Penguinus’ heart.
Looking farther west, Penguinus came ashore at Sequim Bay, on the Olympic Peninsula. The water was properly brisk, and Protection Island serves as a refuge for some distant cousins, tufted puffins and rhinoceros auks. But it still didn’t seem quite right, so Penguinus went yet a few miles farther west and landed at the site of the former village of Dungeness, in the lee of Dungeness Spit. The rocky beach looked particularly penguin-friendly.
Climbing a pile of driftwood to get the lay of the land (no, this is also not typical penguin behavior), Penguinus saw mountains to the south, a vast, cold, deep strait to the north, and not nearly as many scary bald eagles as Sequim Bay.
Yes, this looked like a good home. Finally.
