Proposal
(#22) to South American Classification
Committee:
Add
Eudyptula minor to official SACC list
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 Azścar during the summers of 1990 and 1992. In
January of 1995 an individual was sighted on the beaches of Isla Cha–aral 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 Ornitolog’a 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 OlmuŽ, 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 Ornitolog’a 6: 45-46.)
Then more recently
the following was published:
Wilson, Rory P., A. Simeone, y P. McGill. 2000. Nota complementaria a la observaci—n de un pinguino azul Eudyptula minor
en la costa de Santo Domingo. Bol. Chileno de Ornitolog’a 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
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 "