Page 58 - 2008 NZ Subantarctic Islands

comical Snare’s Island Crested Penguins. There were many rocky

and slick slides barren of plants that the penguins use to go from
sea to their nests up on the island. These slippery spots seemed

impossible for the little awkward birds to climb, but climb them
they did and really quite niftily too.

This penguin is fairly small
reaching 25 to 28 inches in

height and weighing from 5 to
8 lbs. The males are slightly

larger than the females and
their robust red bills are

heavier than those of the
females. Both sexes sport the

characteristic sulphur-yellow
feathers starting over the eyes like a brow and culminating in a
droopy, bushy crest. They are blue black on their upperparts and

white on the underparts. They are quite comical in these formal
feathers as they waddle about—really just like all the other

penguins.

It is interesting to learn that
all the crested penguin

species populations in the
world are faring much better
than the other types. Their

numbers are large and
stable. They regularly breed,

nest and fledge their chicks
successfully. At this point,

the ornithologists who study penguins have no generally
acceptable explanation for this phenomenon. The cresteds live in

most of the same places that other penguins occupy so it would
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