Rockhopper penguin

Rockhopper and little blue penguin

Buller's Birds of New Zealand, 1st ed., Rockhopper penguin (l), Little Blue penguin (r).

Rockhopper penguin

Rockhopper penguins are the smallest of the crested penguins and the most widespread. They are found on islands near the Antarctic polar front to those near the subtropical convergence in the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans.

There are three sub species, all recorded in the New Zealand region; western rockhopper, chrysocome and Moseley’s rockhopper moseleyi; the eastern rockhoppers, filholi, breed on the Antipodes, Auckland and Campbell Islands.

rockhopper penguins

Rockhopper penguins from Gould's Birds of Australia, 1840-48.

Taxonomy  
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Sphenisciformes
Family: Spheniscidae
Genera: Eudyptes
Species: chrysocome
Sub Species:  
Other common names:  —
Description:  — 

Native bird

55 cm., 2.8kg., black with white belly, red eyes, orange beak, pink webbed feet, and spiky yellow and black feathers on their head

Where to find:  — 

Breed on the Antipodes, Auckland and Campbell Islands.

More Information:  — 

»»»  Penguin photos
Australian Antarctic Program

Illustration description: — 

Buller, Walter Lawry, Birds of New Zealand, 1st ed., 1873.

Gould, John, Birds of Australia, 1840-48.

Reference(s): — 

Heather, B., & Robertson, H., Field Guide to the Birds of New Zealand, 2000.

Oliver, W.R.B., New Zealand Birds, 1955.

Australian Antarctic Program

Page date & version: — 

Saturday, 24 September, 2023; ver2023v1