There are 17 different kinds of penguins. This one is the littlest, standing about 13 inches tall. Hence, its name is the Little Penguin. In addition to being the smallest of the penguin species, it has the shortest life span—about six years.
Little penguins spend 80% of their lives at sea swimming and foraging for food, and return to their nesting burrows to breed, raise chicks, molt and to take a break after days or weeks spent at sea. It is when little penguins return to land, at sunset each day, that you can see them tumbling from the waves, waddling across the beach and into their colony along the coastline. Little penguins only move around on land after sunset when their land predators are sleeping. Flying predators include large seabirds like petrels, swimming predators can include certain species of seals in other area's of Australia and New Zealand.
A great place to see this penguin parade is on Phillip Island, about an hour and a half from Melbourne. A conservancy has special seating built near the penguins’ nesting area. You not only get to see them, you also get to hear the babies calling for their moms and dads as they come ashore. It’s just adorable.
But you can’t take pictures. The flash from your camera would disorient and possibly blind the penguins. If they’;re blind, they can’t find food, so they and their babies would starve. That’s why I didn’t take my camera gear from the parking area to where the penguins are. But some of the baby penguins were up and about right outside their burrows before dusk, and if I had brought my camera, I could have gotten a much better picture of this little guy than I was able to get with my phone’s camera.
Adult little penguins are the only penguins in the world with blue and white feathers instead of black and white feathers. They are 'countershaded', the dark blue back of penguins blends in with the water to camouflage against any predators flying or swimming overhead, and the light stomach blends in with the sky to camouflage against any predators swimming underneath.