Fairy Penguins of Australia

With its natural habitat along the coast of New Zealand and southern Australia, these tiny penguins provide hours of pleasurable viewing for visitors. These cute, little penguins have a number of names that they are known as. Among those names are Little Penguins, Blue Penguins, and the Māori name of Kororā. The Penguin Parade at Phillip Island Nature Park is a wildly popular tourist attraction. The location of the Sydney colony is a well-kept secret in order to help it as the colony struggles for survival.

Standing at about 17 inches tall, these tiny, indigo and white fairies are avidly protected by conservationists. Vulnerable to seals in the water and foxes, cats and dogs on land; 11 Fairy Penguins were mauled in July 2009 by a land predator. With only 60 mating pairs remaining in the colony at Manly and North Head, the death of this many penguins is a devastating blow. Snipers have been utilized by the National Parks and Wildlife Service to protect the Fairy Penguins from further predator attacks during the night. In the past, sheepdogs were deployed to act as penguin guardians on Middle Island when foxes depleted the colony there by about 90%. With a life expectancy of 6 – 7 years, breeding starting at about 3 years of age, and usually one chick per season; it is easy to see why the colonies are at risk and must be lent a bit of human support to protect them.

Phillip Island Nature Park is an incredible conservation park that offers the only commercial viewing of penguins in their own element, the wild. An area has been set up with concrete stands and lighting to allow visitors the opportunity of watching a natural penguin ritual, the penguin parade. Dusk brings with it the return of the penguins to their colony. After a day of ranging some 50 km through the water searching for fish, hundreds of Fairy Penguins waddle ashore and march across the sand of Phillip Island to their burrows. These penguins tend to use the same burrows for years.

The viewing area at Phillip Island is designed to allow spectators a memorable experience without disturbing the penguins or their burrows. For their part, the Fairy Penguins seem oblivious to the humans in their proximity. The steady stream of penguins heading for their homes for the night is quite the scene and one that will remain with you for years to come.