A return to the site of the great migration

The great penguin migration, that is. 

In January 2003, the San Francisco Zoo's flock of Magellanic penguins got it into their heads that it was time on swim around their small pool as if on a long ocean migration along the coast of South America.

Brainwashed by six newcomers from Ohio, 46 penguins at the San Francisco Zoo have abandoned their burrows and embarked on a great migration -- except their pool is not exactly the coast of South America and there's really nowhere for them to go.

... Within two hours, the three males and three females from Ohio -- smaller and more docile than their mean and hefty San Francisco counterparts -- had convinced the 46 to jump in the pool with them. Now they swim most of the day and stagger out only at dusk.

"We've lost complete control," said Jane Tollini, their mystified keeper. "It's a free-for-all in here. After 18 years of doing this job, these birds are making mincemeat of me."

They've all been swimming since Christmas Eve, whirling around the pool like tuxedos in a washing machine. No one knows why they started or when they'll stop. All they know is that the zoo's Penguin Island has turned into a very chaotic place.

"Round and round they go," Tollini said. "They almost make me dizzy."

Like thousands of other San Franciscans, I remember making the pilgrimage to the zoo to watch the frantic swimming birds.

Nothing like that on this Monday.

Most of the current flock sunned themselves on their island.

 

A few frolicked in the water.

I wonder whether there's a penguin historian who recalls the monster migration?