Penguins in Sydney?

When Mercedes visited Australia a few years ago she lived in Sydney, and did a lot of touristic things. I wonder if she knows that Sydney Harbour, near Manly, is the home of a colony of Fairy Penguins. Maybe Mercedes actually visited Manly on the Ferry, and got to see some of these marvellous tiny birds.  You must ask her.

Did you know that wild Penguins live only in the southern hemisphere, with most being found in Antarctica where it is very cold all year round.  There are many different types, with the largest being the Emperor Penguin (remember the movie Happy Feet) and the smallest being the Fairy or Little Penguin. Adult Fairy Penguins weigh no more that 1 Kilogram, and are no more than 30cm high.

Follow this link to learn more about these little fellows:

http://users.tpg.com.au/users/battagli/Penguins/Fairy%20Penguin%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf

Fancy that, Australia is the home of Kangaroos and Koalas, but also of Penguins.  Do you think Australia might also be the home of Seals and Polar Bears?  I wonder??

Until next time, happy researching.

Alan

Migaloo

Welcome back from holidays.  While you were away I did some research for something different, and also Australian. This is what I found...Migaloo (aboriginal for ''white fella") the white Hump Back Whale.

Every Spanish Summer, which is the Australian Winter, thousands of whales from Antarctica (a part of which belongs to Australia) migrate to the warm waters of Northern Australia, near Cairns and Port Douglas, to have their babies.  One of them is an albino or white whale that Australians have named Migaloo.  That's him doing a "breach" in the photo above.  The youtube video below shows you more.

As a result of this annual whale migration up and down the eastern Australian coast there is now a rather popular tourist activity called "whale watching".

Whales migrate from cold to warm water is other parts of the world besides Australia.  See if you can use Google to find out where, and maybe what types of whales are involved.  In Australia the Hump Back is very common, so too is the smaller Minke whale.

Until next time, have great fun researching and learning.

Alan

Another Australian animal!

A big hello to all my friends at El Villar!

I know how you all love animals. I do!  and Australia has many different kinds, just as you do in Spain and Europe.

The picture below is of a bird that lives in my street, is very sleepy during the day, and hunts insects and small animals at night.  It even has special feathers on the leading edges of it's wings, so that it flies very quietly..isn't that special.  Finally, it has a mouth shaped very much like a frogs mouth.  It's not an owl, sooooo can you tell me what you think it is?

I wonder if your 'google skills' can find this bird, and it's other features.

Until next time,

Alan

Another interesting animal!

Hola again, from Australia!

Another wonderful animal from my travels.  Do you know what it is?  No helping Mercedes!

Every year about January/ February these animals return to a famous harbour and city in the United States of America.  I wonder if you can guess the name of the city?

These animals make their home on wood pontoons, built especially for them, and they are quite a tourist attraction.  See how they like "snoozing" on the pontoons.

Alan is looking forward to hearing your answers.

Until next time, study hard and be good.

Alan is back from his vacation!

Well a big hello to all my friends at El Villar.  My wife and I are finally back from our last "around the world" vacation.  We had a great time in London, visiting our son, and then on the cruiseship "Aurora", sailing from England to Australia via the Panama Canal.  A map of our travels is below...there are lots of interesting places to 'google' if you are interested.

Because of very rough seas, our first port of call was La Coruna (do you know where that is?). We then sailed past the Azores to Antigua in the Caribbean Sea, onto Aruba and then through the Panama Canal.  From here we sailed to San Juan del Sur in Nicaragua, to visit the oldes city in the Americas called Granada. We had a very long sail from here to San Francisco in the USA. From here we visited Honolulu, Pago Pago, Tonga, Auckland, Bay of Islands (top of New Zealand), and Sydney. We arrived home in Toowoomba on February 18.

In my travels I am always on the lookout for interesting animals, and this time I had an unexpected surprise in Aruba. While we have lots of lizards in Australia, I had never seen such interesting animals as the Green Iguana...and they are not afraid of humans either.

I wonder what you can find out about these interesting creatures?  What do they eat? Where do they live? Can they swim? What colours are they? and so on.

I hope that I have not given you too much to read and investigate? But you are good students, Si!

Until next time,

Alan