Little Penguin

The little penguin, also called the fairy penguin, is the smallest species of penguin, standing only about 30 to 33 centimeters tall and weighing roughly one kilogram. It is found along the coastlines of southern Australia and New Zealand, where it nests in burrows, rock crevices, or under vegetation and comes ashore mainly after dark to avoid predators, a habit that has made its nightly return from the sea a popular wildlife-viewing spectacle at sites such as Phillip Island. Its plumage is slate blue on the back rather than the black seen in most other penguin species. It feeds on small fish, squid, and krill caught during short dives near shore.