Spheniscus humboldti
Silhouette: Juan Carlos Jerí · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~80% in a week >90%
The Humboldt penguin (Spheniscus humboldti) is a medium-sized penguin. It resides in South America, along the Pacific coast of Peru and Chile. Its nearest relatives are the African penguin, the Magellanic penguin and the Galápagos penguin. The Humboldt penguin and the cold water current it swims in are both named after the explorer Alexander von Humboldt. The species is listed as vulnerable by the IUCN with no population recovery plan in place. The current wild population is composed of roughly 23,800 mature individuals and is declining. It is a migrant species.
Humboldt penguins nest on islands and rocky coasts, burrowing holes in guano and sometimes using scrapes or caves. In South America the Humboldt penguin is found only along the Pacific coast, and the range of the Humboldt penguin overlaps that of the Magellanic penguin on the central Chilean coast. It is vagrant in Ecuador and Colombia. The Humboldt penguin has been known to live in mixed species colonies with the Magellanic penguin in at least two different locations at the south of Chile.
The Humboldt penguin has become a focus of ecotourism over the last decades. Both the Humboldt penguin and the Humboldt...
Alarm call0:39
Chile · 2020
© Cristian Pinto · XC520292 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Paracas National Reserve | 🇵🇪 Peru | |
| 2 | Pan de Azúcar National Park | 🇨🇱 Chile |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lima | 🇵🇪 Peru |
No species of the same family or order lives in Paracas National Reserve, so these are its closest relatives here: other birds.
Likely
About 40% of wildlife watchers report a Humboldt Penguin sighting in Paracas National Reserve on a given day, based on 706 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 20th most-seen of the 84 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 80%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June
In that month about 60% of wildlife watchers report a Humboldt Penguin in Paracas National Reserve on a given day, against about 30% in January and February, the lowest months.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Humboldt Penguin sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Yes
Of the 2 parks where we can rate Humboldt Penguin sightings, Paracas National Reserve has the highest daily chance: about 40%. Next come Pan de Azúcar National Park (Chile, about 30%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Humboldt Penguin is recorded against all the birds logged in Paracas National Reserve (706 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
