Photo: Yellow Eyed Penguin Picture

The Yellow Eyed Penguin is a protected endemic bird species found in the South Island of New Zealand.

Found only in New Zealand, the Yellow Eyed Penguin is the rarest of all penguin species and inhabits locations along the lower east coast of the South Island between Banks Peninsula and Campbell Island.

The penguins tend to remain near their coastal roosting and nesting sites all year, fishing at sea and coming ashore late in the day to roost. When it's time for the penguins to come ashore, they keep a very sharp-eye on the shoreline, scanning for predators.

Recovery and management programmes are now in place to protect the rare Yellow Eyed Penguin and their natural habitat. Observation platforms have been erected in certain locations along the east coast of the South Island which allow easy viewing of the penguins' activities as they go about their daily lives.

Yellow Eyed Penguin, Megadyptes antipodes in the Catlins Forest at the Petrified Forest at Porpoise Bay and Curio Bay, Southland, South Island, New Zealand.