About the Eastern Rockhopper Penguin
The eastern rockhopper penguin, also known as the tawaki kaipiki toka, is a crested penguin with yellow crest feathers. It was formerly treated as conspecific with the western rockhopper penguin with the name "southern rockhopper penguin" for the combined species. It is one of the smallest crested penguins and has distinctive pink margins around its bill. It breeds on islands in the Southern Indian and Pacific Oceans.
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The eastern rockhopper penguin is a small, crested penguin with a black back and throat, a white belly, and pink feet. This seabird measures approximately 45–55 cm in length, and weighs 2.2–4.3 kg. It has a thin yellow stripe that stretches from its lower forehead, over its red eye and splits into crest feathers at the back of its head. The crest feathers are composed of long, thin, spiky yellow feathers on either side of the penguin's head, and shorter black feathers join them. Voice: Eastern rockhopper penguins use calls for parent-chick recognition when returning to the colony with food. They also use a song for courtship that can be described as a short repeated rhythmic ascending song. The song of an adult rockhopper penguin can have 5-30 syllables, with the first syllable the longest. Their contact call used by chicks and adults is a very short, shrill bark.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
When to see the Eastern Rockhopper Penguin
Peak activity in January · a variable species across most of its range
Easily confused with
Northern Rockhopper PenguinEudyptes moseleyiThe northern rockhopper penguin, also known as Moseley's rockhopper penguin, Moseley's penguin, or Tristan penguin, is a penguin species native to the southern Indian and Atlantic Oceans.
Erect-crested PenguinEudyptes sclateriThis is a small-to-medium-sized, yellow-crested, black-and-white penguin, at 50–70 cm (20–28 in) and weighing 2.5–6 kg (5.5–13.2 lb).
Snares PenguinEudyptes robustusThe Snares penguin is often compared to the Fiordland penguin (Eudyptes pachyrhynchus), which is related by the genus of crested penguins (Eudyptes).
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