Living World Images: Boulders Beach Penguin Colony, South Africa

African or Jackass Penguin
Spheniscus demersus

Boulders Beach, south of Cape Town is home to a thriving colony of African penguins and it is quite a surprise to find what we think of as an Antarctic bird living quite successfully in the temperate climate of South Africa.

Boulders is a quiet seaside neighbourhood of Simon's Town on the Cape peninsula with some very desirable villas and bungalows overlooking the sea, many of whose gardens are now populated by pioneering penguins from the ever expanding colony on the beach. It is the only place where this endangered species is on the increase, though this is probably little consolation to the locals.

You can sense an uneasy relationship between the resident homeowners and the now protected colony. After all, how would you take to a bunch of penguins making nest scrapes in the lawns and borders of your garden? Added to that, the birds earned their former name of Jackass penguin from their call, which sounds very much like a braying donkey and because there are so many birds, goes on pretty much continuously, so imagine too living with a herd of agitated donkey impressionists at the bottom of the garden!

Having said all that, they are wonderfully cute and amusing, especially on their way to and from the sea and make great photographic subjects. And what's more important, they were here first!

At Boulders, there is a fenced reserve and a short series of wooden walkways over the rocks and dunes, so you get good access to the birds. It's a good idea, photographically, to get down to penguin level for the best shots and I found that lying flat out on the boards gave the best angle using the 100-400mm telephoto. This seemed to start a trend with some American visitors and before long we had a small gathering of prone penguin enthusiasts at the end of the walkway.

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Back from the sea. The second of the foursome shows signs of oiling.

They often seem surprisingly hesitant to enter the sea, paddling in the waves before taking the plunge just like we do, as if the water might be too cold for them; difficult to believe considering their efficient insulation. However, it was June (the equivalent of December in the Northern hemisphere) and the sea really was chilly. Looking at their comical antics on the beach it's hard to imagine that they turn into efficient fish hunting torpedos underwater.