It occured to me that these cute, endangered penguins deserved a blog all of their own! They are called blue penguins, or fairy penguins.
The divorce rate among these "little blues" is low and they usually mate for life. Being the smallest of the penguins, they only grow to between 35-40cm (that's small!) and weigh in at only 1kg.
They make a soft crooning sound and are very shy of humans and rarely seen because of their nocturnal nature.
They actually sleep in the ocean.
They look like miniature Charlie Chaplins when they waddle along the beach..it's quite something to see.
The best time to see them ashore is between November and March in New Zealand, but only on selected sites.
On Tiritiri Matangi island, where we went last month, the wardens had built them nesting boxes, to protect them from predators..
Collective noun of the day: so, what's a group on land called - a 'waddle' of penguins of course, but at sea, they are called a 'raft' of penguins!
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