Qualla: Pingüino de Humboldt National Reserve

Pingüino de Humboldt National Reserve: Introduction

Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Roberto Alfaro Salinas soy, CC BY-SA 4.0. Eighty percent of the world's Humboldt penguins live in Chile, and a remarkable share of them nest on three small islands tucked against this stretch of desert coast. Drift past in a fisherman's boat on a clear morning and the air fills with sound before you see anything: the bark of sea lions hauled out on the rocks, the squabble of cormorants, the occasional gust as a penguin porpoises across the swell. Behind it all stands the Atacama, the driest place on the planet. The contrast is the whole story. Where the desert meets the cold, nutrient-rich Humboldt Current, life arrives in staggering abundance.

Image: Roberto Alfaro Salinas soy | CC BY-SA 4.0

Pingüino de Humboldt National Reserve: Where the Desert Drinks the Sea

Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Roberto Alfaro Salinas soy, CC BY-SA 4.0. The reserve sits about 100 kilometers north of La Serena, spread across three islands: Chañaral in the Atacama Region, and Damas and Choros in Coquimbo. Together they cover roughly 860 hectares of guano-streaked rock and sparse scrub. Almost no rain falls here. The islands stay a...

Image: Roberto Alfaro Salinas soy | CC BY-SA 4.0

Pingüino de Humboldt National Reserve: A Census of the Living

Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Camila Fernanda Reyes Vera, CC BY-SA 4.0. The Humboldt penguin gives the reserve its name, but it shares these waters with an astonishing roster of neighbors. Bottlenose dolphins work the channels and are seen most days. Sea lions lounge year-round in noisy colonies. Chungungos, the small marine otters of the Pacific coa...

Image: Camila Fernanda Reyes Vera | CC BY-SA 4.0

Pingüino de Humboldt National Reserve: Bringing the Island Back

Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Rodreyes, CC BY-SA 4.0. Conservation here is not a static act of fencing nature off. It is active repair. For years, invasive rabbits introduced to Choros Island had stripped its vegetation, degrading the burrows and habitat that ground-nesting birds depend on. In 2013, Chile's national forest service, ...

Image: Rodreyes | CC BY-SA 4.0

Pingüino de Humboldt National Reserve: A Fragile Stronghold

Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Camila Fernanda Reyes Vera, CC BY-SA 4.0. Protected since January 1990 and managed by CONAF, the reserve is a stronghold for a species in trouble. The Humboldt penguin is listed as Endangered, with perhaps 23,800 mature birds left in the wild and roughly 13,000 breeding pairs in Chile. Their numbers are falling. Overfish...

Image: Camila Fernanda Reyes Vera | CC BY-SA 4.0