Yellow-eyed Penguin / Hoiho

tony
November 21, 2021
birds / New Zealand / Subantarctic

A group of Yellow-eyed Penguins / Hoiho (Megadyptes antipodes) pause before crossing the beach at Sandy Bay, Enderby Island — A group of Yellow-eyed Penguins / Hoiho (*Megadyptes antipodes*) pause before crossing the beach at Sandy Bay, Enderby Island

Enderby Island is the place that I have had the best opportunities to photograph Yellow-eyed Penguin / Hoiho. Good numbers and areas of relatively open vegetation make it easy to see them as they move between land and sea.

Photo of Yellow-eyed Penguins / Hoiho entering the sea to forage — Yellow-eyed Penguins / Hoiho entering the sea to forage

The image I got of an adult and chick in the Southern Rata forest in 2016 was going to be hard to improve on but I was hopeful for some new images showing these attractive birds.

Photo of a Yellow-eyed Penguin / Hoiho strolling through daisies — Yellow-eyed Penguin / Hoiho strolling through daisies

As always we avoid approaching birds directly but when standing still the birds have little hesitation to approach us as they continue their journey to or from the beach.

Photo of a Yellow-eyed Penguin / Hoiho adult — Yellow-eyed Penguin / Hoiho adult

Most of the birds encountered on the move between forest and shore are adults leaving or returning on foraging trips but there are also plenty of juvenile birds resting up around the island.

Photo of a Yellow-eyed Penguin / Hoiho juvenile — Yellow-eyed Penguin / Hoiho juvenile

This final image was at the north east of Enderby Island when it had started raining fairly solidly. It shows a young penguin resting in the rain among the gentians and megaherbs. This gave an opportunity to include the pink blooms of Anisotome latifolia as out of focus foreground elements echoing the pink of the gentians and penguin bill.