THE FIORDLAND CRESTED PENGUIN EUDYPTES PACHYRHYNCHUS

Abstract

SummaryAspects of the biology of Eudyptes paclzyrhynchus nesting on the west coast of the South Island of New Zealand were studied over six seasons. Nests occur in small scattered groups on steep slopes covered with heavy rainforest, beneath which the birds are protected from temperature extremes.After about four months at sea, the breeding birds return to land at the height of the southern winter. They aggregate in small, loosely organized groups, breed annually and tend to retain the same nest‐site and mate from year to year. They are ashore to breed for about 20 weeks before their chick departs. Incubation lasts for 31–36 days, and is undertaken in long shifts by both sexes in turn. It does not begin until the second and larger of the two eggs has been laid. The hatchling is guarded by the male for about three weeks, during which time it is fed almost daily by the female parent. The chick then joins a crèche and from then is fed by both parents until, at about 75 days old, it leaves for the sea. The parents also leave thereafter.Details are given of egg dimensions and weights, of egg loss, rates of chick‐growth, the fate of twins and of the food brought to the chicks. Egg and chick losses are high. The heavy rainfall and frequent storms seem major causes of loss. The birds seem incapable of rearing more than one chick, and when two are hatched a size disparity soon appears leading to the death of the smaller, apparently through starvation.The adults moult annually in the forest, often on their nests, after some 60 to 80 days spent at sea fattening up for this event. They fast for about 25 days before their new plumage is sufficiently well grown to permit their return to feed. Their whereabouts out of the breeding season are unknown.Display and associated behaviour are complex. They involve many dramatic attitudes in which the flippers and crests feature prominently accompanied by loud vocalizations.In an Appendix figures are given for dimensions of breeding pairs and details of other morphological differences between the sexes and between members of the present species and its closely related congener E. robustus.