A medium-sized penguin (55 cm and 3.2-4.5 kg). Head, throat and upperparts blue-black. Breast and abdomen are silky white. Feet and legs pinkish white above and blackish brown behind tarsi, soles and at the front of webs. Yellow crest starting near the nostril, extending back horizontally and drooping behind the eyes. The crest feathers are shorter than in Rockhopper penguins and than in Snares penguins. Brownish-red eyes. Orange-brown bill separated from the feathers by a thin strip of black skin.
Marine. Fiordland penguins prefer to breed in areas where the marine habitat features a wider continental shelf. Nesting habitat ranging from temperate rain forest or dense shrub, to sea caves and rocky shorelines. Nests are often sited in hollows at the bases, or underneath roots of trees, beneath boulders or in rock crevices.
Colonies poorly delineated and at some locations nests are dispersed over considerable stretches of coast line. Penguins arrive at their breeding colonies from mid-June onwards, most nests are established by mid-July. Two eggs layed in late July -early August. Incubation by both sexes, around 33 days. Chicks fledge around mid- to late November, about 75 days after hatching.
“Vulnerable” (IUCN Red List 2018) based on the suspected ongoing population decline (assumed to be ≥ 30% over the course of 10 years), probably as a result of introduced terrestrial predators. Main threats are introduced terrestrial predators, human disturbance, commercial and recreational fisheries.
Mattern, T. 2013. Fiordland Penguin (Eudyptes pachyrhynchus). In PENGUINS: NATURAL HISTORY AND CONSERVATION (García Borboroglu, P.G. and Boersma P.D. eds.) University of Washington Press, Seattle U.S.A. 328 pp.
