This is a short proposal to add the Little Penguin (=Little Blue
Penguin, Fairy Penguin, Blue Penguin) Eudyptula minor to the list of birds
that have occurred in Chile. There are three publications to consider.
First the species was reported in the III Region of Chile. Two or three
were reported by fishermen near the island of Pan de Azúcar during the
summers of 1990 and 1992. In January of 1995 an individual was sighted on
the beaches of Isla Chañaral de Aceituno where it was apparently
photographed (Valverde, V. and H. Oyarzo. 1996. Registros de Eudyptula
minor (Spheniscidae) en la costa de la region de Atacama, Chile. Bol.
Chileno de Ornitología 3: 42-43). The photos are noted to be held by the
first author of that paper. Then on March 16, 1997 a "juvenile" penguin was
found on the beaches of Santo Domingo in the V Region and brought to a bird rehabilitation center. The bird died after three weeks and was deposited in the collection of the Museo de San Antonio with number MMSA-AV-289.
Initially the bird was thought to be a chick of the Humboldt Penguin, but
photos were shown at the Penguin conference held in Olmué, Chile in 1998 to
various experts and they identified the bird as Eudyptula minor (Brito,
J.L. 1999. Segundo registro para Chile del pinguino azul Eudyptula minor
(Spheniscidae) en la costa de Santo Domingo. Bol. Chileno de Ornitología 6:
45-46.)

Then more recently the following was published:

Wilson, Rory P., A. Simeone, y P. McGill. 2000. Nota complementaria a la
observación de un pinguino azul Eudyptula minor en la costa de Santo
Domingo. Bol. Chileno de Ornitología 7: 30-31.

The important part of the note is that it mentions that the specimen held
at the Museo Municipal de Ciencias Naturales y Arqueologia de San Antonio
was examined. They affirmed the correct identification of the specimen as
Eudyptula and that it was an adult in moult, not a juvenile or chick as
noted in Brito 1999. There are other sightings of this species in Chile.
Wilson et al suggest that these birds are found on the coast of Chile
during their moult, as they cannot swim during these times. They do not
discard ship assisted passage, but given that other penguins have shown
patterns of vagrancy, I don't know why these cannot be wild individuals.
Given that a specimen is present, and has been studied by a penguin expert,
I suggest that we should list the species for South America. I could make
an effort to get a copy of the photo listed in Valverde and Oyarzo, or even
contact Rory Wilson for more information (perhaps a photo of the
specimen?). In any case, I feel that this is a good, solid addition to the
South American list.regards

Alvaro Jaramillo
Biologist
San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory

Additional comment from Alvaro:

"A photo has recently been posted on an Internet site dealing with
Chilean birds of one of the Little Penguins records from Chile.
Here is the link:

http://aveschilenas.tripod.com/265.htm "