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The Yellow-Eyed Penguin Height: 26 inches Weight: 10 lbs Range: Southern New Zealand and nearby islands Breeding Season: August to May Nesting: 2 eggs incubated by both parents, 40 to 50 days. Fledgling stage: 3 1/2 months

The Yellow-Eyed Penguin is named for its yellow, cat-like eyes. It also has a pale yellow band of feathers around its head, like a crown. Unlike other penguins it is not very colonial, and does not form large rookeries, nor does it migrate. It is a very timid bird and will move away when approached. It is also endangered; the population is estimated at less than 10,000 birds.

The breeding season for Yellow-Eyed Penguin is August to May. The eggs are laid in late September or early October. It has a long fledgling period, about 16 weeks. The nesting sites are scattered and vary greatly, sometimes located in tall grass, under a rock, or in a borrow. Females first breed when 2 or 3 years old, but males don't breed until 3 or 4 years. Unlike other penguins, the pair bonding in Yellow-Eyed Penguins is not very strong. Some Yellow-Eyed Penguins keep the same mate year after year, but most of them do not.

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The Fairy Penguin Height: 14 inches Weight: 2 1/2 lbs. Range: Southern Australia and New Zealand Breeding Season: July to Nov, may breed twice a season. Nesting: 2 eggs incubated by both parents, 36 to 42 days. Fledgling stage: 8 weeks

The Fairy penguin is also known as the Little Blue penguin. It is the smallest of all the penguins. The Fairy penguin is slate blue in color, with a white under side. The Fairy penguin is a very vocal bird, with a wide range of unusual sounds:barking, bleating, braying, cackling, growling, hissing, mooing, quacking, screaming, sneezing, trumpeting, and even meowing like a cat. (Occasionally they nest under houses, and this nocturnal serenade makes them very unwelcome guests.) There are 4 sub species (one is the White Flippered penguin).

The Fairy penguin spends its days at sea, fishing; it comes to shore in the evenings, and is the most nocturnal of all the penguins. It is not miratory. The Fairy penguin is very agile on land, and is a good climber, using its bill, flippers, and feet to scramble up steep cliffs.

The nesting sites vary widely. Some nests are as close to the sea, as the high tide mark. Others as far as a mile inland. If the ground is soft the Fairy penguins will dig their own burrows, sometimes as long as 5 feet. Sometimes they will take over and enlarge a petrel burrow. Occasionally they nest in rock crevices or under thick vegetation. Sometimes they form colonies, but isolated pairs are not uncommon. Although they do nest on the mainland, they prefer offshore islands. (The islands offer more protection from predators and human distribance.)

At Phillips Island, near the city of Melbourne, Australia, crowds of people gather in the evenings to watch the Fairy penguins come ashore. It has become a famous attraction. Flood lights have even been set up, to allow better viewing. The penguins have gotten so use to the attention that they carry on as if no one was there. Since the Fairy penguin's life is spent living closer to people than any other of the penguin species, they face hazards unknown to other penguins. They are sometimes run over by cars, as they cross roads. Others are killed by fishermen and used as bait in lobster traps (even though the Fairy penguin is a protected species). Preditors include dogs, cats, rats, ferrets, large lizards, and snakes.

Both parents incubate the eggs and at least one parent is always with the chicks until they are about 3 weeks old. Then the chicks are left alone in the burrow during the day. The parents return at night to feed them. When they are about a month old the chicks begin to come out of the burrows to wait for their parents and their meal. At 8 weeks the chicks are fully fledged. The parents then abandon them and the juveniles are on their own. Sometimes the parents will nest again and raise another set of chicks.

The White-flippered penguin is only found in the Canterbury region of New Zealand. They are an endangered species and a conservation program has been started to try to save them. (Thanks to Mak Thorpe of New Zealand for this info.)