Fairy Penguin
Like all penguins, the Little Penguin is highly adapted for life in the sea. Its body is streamlined, its wings are modified as flippers and its feathers are densely distributed over its body. The upper parts, including the back of the Little Penguin are distinctly blue, which explains one of its alternative names (Blue Penguin) and the underbelly is white. Its bill is grey-black with a pinkish lower base, and its iris pale grey to white. One New Zealand population has broad white borders to the flippers, and considered by some as a separate species. Young penguins are bluer than adults. The Little Penguin is also known as the Fairy Penguin because of its small size.
The Little Penguin is the only species of penguin that breeds in Australia. Although the most famously occurring on Phillip Island in Victoria, dozens of colonies are scattered on islands from the NSW North Coast, south to Tasmania, and west to Carnac Island, off Fremantle. On land penguins are eaten by introduced predators and their burrows are trampled, and at sea they are susceptible to oil pollution, fish die-offs and entanglement in fishing nets. Despite this, the total population in Australia is stable at perhaps a million birds.
Fairy Penguin
Like all penguins, the Little Penguin is highly adapted for life in the sea. Its body is streamlined, its wings are modified as flippers and its feathers are densely distributed over its body. The upper parts, including the back of the Little Penguin are distinctly blue, which explains one of its alternative names (Blue Penguin) and the underbelly is white. Its bill is grey-black with a pinkish lower base, and its iris pale grey to white. One New Zealand population has broad white borders to the flippers, and considered by some as a separate species. Young penguins are bluer than adults. The Little Penguin is also known as the Fairy Penguin because of its small size.
The Little Penguin is the only species of penguin that breeds in Australia. Although the most famously occurring on Phillip Island in Victoria, dozens of colonies are scattered on islands from the NSW North Coast, south to Tasmania, and west to Carnac Island, off Fremantle. On land penguins are eaten by introduced predators and their burrows are trampled, and at sea they are susceptible to oil pollution, fish die-offs and entanglement in fishing nets. Despite this, the total population in Australia is stable at perhaps a million birds.