Curious Rockhopper

Rockhopper Penguin

This little chap was incredibly curious, he is only about 5-6 cm away from the lense of my camera. He got much closer after having had his portrait taken and came and sat on my knee to have his tummy stroked and peck my fingers.

This curiosity is unique to this one colony on Pebble Island. On arrival at the colony perched high on the cliffs, our Land Rover was totally surrounded by penguins who seemed to want to check out everything that came near their colony pecking at the wheels of the vehicle and making a full inspection of the underside of the Land Rover!

At about 45cm tall they are the smallest of the crested penguins and they get their name from the way that they jump over obstacles in their path rather than sliding over them on their belly like most other penguins.