Busy busy

List of things to do when you are a Yellow-eyed penguin at the start of breeding season: "gone fishing - tick; got mate - tick; got eggs - tick; now must rush home and sit on them". This guy was all business coming across the beach and heading to his nest. His mate will be pleased to see him and it will be her turn to go fishing tomorrow after they spend the night together at the nest with him on the eggs. He will be keen to get started on the incubation.

If you look hard enough you can see that he has a black feather more or less in the middle of his chest - it is an individual marking that stays year after year. These black feather are rarer in Yellow-eyeds than in other species and can be used for id if they should loose their chip!