Huge Wave Worn Volcanic Boulders Little Erect Crested Penguin Remote Antipodes Islands New Zealand

            Erect-crested penguin
Eudyptes sclateri Buller, 1888
The erect-crested penguin is one of three similar-looking crested penguins endemic to southern New Zealand. Its main breeding grounds are on the remote Bounty and Antipodes Islands. Individual birds are found moulting on the east coast of the South Island most summers.

This species has one of the most bizarre breeding systems of any bird, yet the details are poorly known due to its remote and inhospitable breeding locations. It has the most extreme egg size dimorphism of any bird, with the second egg of the clutch averaging 81% larger than the first egg. The purpose (if any) of the first egg remains unclear, with nearly all pairs losing the smaller first egg around the time the second egg is laid. Much of this egg loss is deliberate, with incubating birds lifting eggs out of the nest bowl, or pushing them out with their bills.
Erect-crested penguins only come to land to breed and moult. Almost all the birds breed on three islands in the Antipodes Island group and eight islands in the Bounty Islands. There are no recent breeding records away from the Antipodes and Bounty Islands.
Colonies on Antipodes Island are on the rocky coastal margin. The Bounty Islands are almost completely devoid of vegetation, and the penguins nest anywhere they can reach that is not claimed by fur seals or Salvin’s mollymawks.
In 2013 the population was officially in decline, for reasons unknown but perhaps to shifting in ocean currents resulting in parent birds unable to reach productive feeding areas.
   

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Taken on: March 11, 2014

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Sets appears in: • Antipodes Islands Subantarctic New Zealand • Antipodes Islands Remote New Zealand 2 more » • New Zealand's Remote Islands • Penguins « less

Groups appears in: • The David Attenborough group

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark III, f/14.0, 1/1000 sec, 400mm, ISO 12800 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Lens:	Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS
Aperture:	f/14.0
Exposure Time:	0.001 sec (1/1000)
Focal Length:	400mm
ISO:	12800
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Manual
Exposure Mode:	Manual
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Manual
Color Space:	sRGB
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