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Erect Crested Penguins
 | An Erect Crested Penguin
CHARACTERISTICS
The erect crested penguins are one of several crested penguins living in the sub-Antarctic islands south of the South Island of New Zealand. They are also called Sclaters Penguins. The largest colonies are seen on the Antipodes Islands and Bounty Island. (Bounty Island was discovered on 9 Sept 1788 by the infamous Captain Bligh and named by him for his ship the Bounty). There are smaller colonies on Oakland Island and Campbell Island and they are also seen on Stewart Island. A few find their way to the shores of the South Island itself and I saw one lost soul recuperating in the penguin Hospital near Dunedin. They have two yellow plumes, 3-4 inches long, straight and narrow starting from the base of the beak. They can raise and lower the crests which apparently the other crested penguins do not do. They are about 50 cm tall and weigh about 4 kg. They have pink feet.
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Stewart Island Erect Crested Penguin
 Picture: Erect Crested Penguins n Stewart Island. This Picture was Taken from a Zodiac so is not Very Good.
Estimates of numbers are in the region of 200,000 pairs but numbers seem to be decreasing.
They often breed near Rockhoppers to which they are similar. However they are more similar to the Fiordland Erect Crested and Snares Island Crested Penguins. They are distinguished from these by the strip of bare skin at the base of the beak and the more erect crests. Also in the case of the Snares and Fiordland the crests begin at the top part of the beak.
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Erect Crested Penguin At the Hoi-ho Project
 | Picture:rescued Erect Crested Penguin at the Hoi-ho Project, Near Dunedin, New Zealand. 2 Feb 1993.
The males return to the nest sites in September and the females appear a couple of weeks later. The birds stick to the same nest site and partner.
The nests are bowls in the ground lined with bits of vegetation. Sometimes the nests consist of just a ring of stones on the ground. They nest in large colonies, sometimes high up on steep cliffs quite close together and often fights break out. Like other crested penguins they lay two different sized eggs but only one, the second egg to be laid, hatches. This egg is about 40 to 100% bigger than the first one. The birds only show true incubation behaviour after the second egg is laid. The smaller first egg seems to be neglected and ignored. The males spend about 45 days at the nest site then go back to sea to feed. The chicks fledge in February after which go to sea to fend for themselves. After this the adults moult and then go back to sea in around March. They are surface feeders and live on krill and small fish. They can swim up to 100 miles to feed.
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