Finally, we come to the entire reason that I drove four hours from Hobart to Burnie: fairy penguins!
Fairy penguins aka little penguins aka blue penguins aka korora aka Eudyptula minor are the smallest species of penguin. They weigh around 2 lbs and stand about a foot tall. Their backs are slate blue instead of black. They spend their days diving for food and then come back to land to hang out for the evening, meaning they’re the only nocturnal penguin species. And they live in little burrows. HOW COOL IS THAT?
In Burnie, there is an entire colony of fairy penguins that live right between the city boardwalk and the shore. Only a few feet from the footpath are little concrete igloos (made by the local college students) that serve as nesting boxes for the birds. About a half hour after sunset, they start coming out of their burrows to wander around and make noise in the dark.
Every night, Burnie’s Little Penguin Observation Centre sends out a small squad of volunteers in high-viz jackets, armed with flashlights covered in red cellophane. The volunteers amble along the boardwalk, guiding people to the penguins and telling them about the birds. A chain-link fence prevents people from bothering the birds, and anyone who wants to use a light to see them better is provided with red cellophane to prevent the birds from being blinded.
And that whole introduction is what made me put this on the top of my Tasmania bucket list, tied with “meet an actual Tasmanian devil” and perhaps also “find a live thylacine”.
Thus, shortly before sundown, I armed myself with a Sony mirrorless camera, my old Minolta lenses, and a pair of sweet Nikon binoculars. I walked from my hotel on the beach to the colony spot, only about ten minutes down the beach on foot. Even before sunset, I easily found the burrows and domes, with little penguin eyes peering out.
And just as the sun set, they started their little evening routine. A couple crept out of their burrows and preened. At this time of year, the baby penguins are fledglings and the adults are molting, so their feathers look a little rough, but MY GOD LOOK AT THESE LITTLE BEASTIES.
Soon, it was too dark to get anything decent for photos and video, but the birds were right there by my feet, only about three feet away. I hung out for about 45 minutes in one spot, with about a dozen fairy penguins within ten feet of me making penguin noises. I could hear many more to my left and right, all along the beach. A few feet behind me was a busy road and the town of Burnie. The stars were out in the sky, the ocean was calm, the breeze was cool, and everything was pretty much perfect.
The videos below are very poor to look at, but they do show how close the penguins live to the citizens of Burnie. Plus, they are also filled with many penguin noises, which are really something to hear.
