Australia - a land of diverse
and often extreme habitats.
From wild open country...
to deep forests...
..to grassy plains.
(Caws)
Its vast expanses
have produced an immense
array of birdlife...
..and many species found
nowhere else in the world.
Waddling over the beaches of
southern Australia
is one of the country's most
comical and charming
creatures -
the penguin.
And this is the most
delightful of them all -
the little or fairy penguin.
These are flightless,
flippered birds
who create some of the
noisiest neighborhoods
in nature.
(Chorus of cooing)
Theirs is a family saga of
faithful relationships,
committed homemaking
and vigorous nightlife.
This is the story of
the Little Penguin.
Phillip Island.
An area of 40 square miles
just off the coast of
south Australia,
not far from the large city
of Melbourne.
The waters of the Bass Strait
beat the shores of
this idyllic spot,
bringing a source of rich
nutrients and marine life.
It's good fishing here
and it's an ideal home
for many birds -
the pied cormorant...
..the tern...
..and the oystercatcher.
All thrive
in this island seclusion.
Along these breezy,
wave-brushed shores
there's also a different
kind of bird.
But this one flies through
water rather than air.
The little or fairy penguin,
smallest of all the penguins.
With an average height
of 13 inches,
and weighing around
three pounds,
these silver-eyed little
penguins are small
but perfectly formed.
A colony of up to
32,000 breeding pairs
make their burrows
on this small island
in an area protected by
government conservationists.
(Squeaking and hooting)
Little penguins are diurnal.
They spend most of their days
fishing out at sea
in the cool waters
off the Bass Strait,
and only return to land
at nightfall.
They can stay out at sea
for months at a time.
But this penguin
we've named Harry
has just returned to the
colony to wait for his mate.
It's July - winter
in Australia -
and the start of penguin
breeding season.
(Low braying)
Harry's just one of
the thousands of penguins
which make their burrows
in the dunes
around Summerlands Beach,
known as Penguin Parade.
It's here that they'll rest,
breed, lay their eggs
and raise chicks.
Their burrows can be
rocky shelters...
..or tunnels the penguins
dig to build nests
under the dense vegetation.
These burrows have been here
for many generations,
with penguins returning to
the same colony
to breed year after year.
At this time, many penguins
who've been away at sea
for months
come back to the colony
to nest.
The males often return first
to get started on
burrow renovations.
Harry's got some burrow
maintenance to do...
..so he can have things ready
for when his mate, Sally,
shows up.
Sally may still be far away.
Little penguins can travel
up to 30 miles a day.
Little penguins are suited
to life on the ocean wave.
To move through water,
37 times denser than air,
their wings have adapted
to become strong muscled
flippers.
Little penguins use their
pectoral muscles to flap,
generating forward thrust on
both the up and down stroke.
This gives the impression
that they're flying
underwater.
But time at sea is fraught
with potential dangers
for these tiny birds.
Somewhere out here is Sally.
Although her blue-black
feathers serve as camouflage
while moving through water,
she can easily be
a prey item for larger birds.
A white-bellied sea eagle
can pick her off the water.
She also has to contend with
sharks, seals and sea lions
that patrol the waters
around southern Australia.
Her white underbelly
blends with the light
when viewed from below,
helping to obscure her
from would-be predators.
This little penguin is one of
many that didn't make it.
It's estimated that up to
20% die at sea each year.
He may have been attacked
by a predator
or got caught up
in fishing lines,
an all-too-common occurrence.
Oil spills can also kill
many penguins.
But little penguins don't
only have to contend with
marine threats.
As soon as they return to
land, feral dogs and cats,
foxes and even snakes
can attack.
So they wait to return
to shore
under the cover of darkness
when it's safest
to come up the beach.
As night falls
at Summerlands Beach,
one by one, little figures
quietly emerge
from the waves.
They prefer to return to the
same landing site each time.
But so do their enemies,
the gulls.
The gulls might not
be predators,
but they are incredible
scavengers.
They'll try to scare
the penguins into dropping
morsels of fish
caught whilst at sea.
The gulls gather on the shore
in large numbers...
..and place themselves
between the penguins
and their homes.
Each night, gangs of gulls
patrol the beach like thugs
picking on the little guys,
hoping to menace the penguins
into giving up their dinner.
So the little guys have
their own strategy
for avoiding trouble -
safety in numbers.
While out at sea,
they call to each other,
trying to muster as large
a group as possible,
called a raft.
But still they have to get
their courage up,
and it can take a long time.
Once they have
a big enough gang,
they can muscle their way
through the barrage
of intimidating gulls
and form a protective block.
The first group
makes it to safety.
The next batch gathers,
getting ready to run
the gauntlet.
But then one member of
the group loses his nerve...
..and the others scurry back
into the water.
They marshal their forces
and try again.
This time there's strength
in numbers.
Waddling awkwardly
on their hind legs
can give the penguins'
movement a comedic look.
But research shows the waddle
is the most effective way
for them to move on land,
as it raises
their center of mass
and allows them to swing
their bodies forward.
This plucky penguin is not
going to be bullied.
He heads back down the beach
to try and shepherd
other penguins in.
But they hurry past him
and the gulls close in.
Suddenly he's surrounded.
As another batch makes it up
the beach, he's left alone.
He goes back to the relative
safety of the water,
and waits for others
to join him.
But no one comes.
The only thing he can do
is make a run for it.
Keeping his body low as
a less conspicuous target,
he runs as fast as his
little legs can carry him
towards the protective
vegetation around the
sand dunes.
Once they're up
from the beach,
the penguins use
the narrow pathways
through the vegetation
to make their way back
to their burrows,
calling to each other
in greeting as they go.
(Trilling and cooing)
Harry waits eagerly
for his mate.
And there she is!
Sally's made it back to
the beach safely,
just one of many searching
for friends and family.
(Trilling and calling)
She could have as far as
half a mile to travel
along these labyrinthine
tracks to get to her burrow,
where she hopes
Harry will be waiting.
(Exchange of calls)
As well as calling,
Sally looks for landmarks
to guide her.
It's most likely she uses
visual cues to navigate,
but it's unknown exactly how
a little penguin's internal
mapping system works.
Finding a way through a maze
of pathways
seems harder for some
than for others.
(Calls exchanged)
At this time of year,
with so many penguins coming
home for breeding season,
the colony is alive
with chatter.
(Noisy trilling)
Penguins en masse can be
extremely noisy.
They love to socialize
and have up to nine different
calls ranging from short
barks
and sharp, snorting yelps
when they're angry
or disturbed.
(Mewls)
(Trills)
While penguins will swap
burrows during the year,
at breeding time they like
to return to their old nests,
as well as their old mates.
Sally has found Harry, and
they are finally reunited.
Little penguins have a high
rate of mate fidelity
and may stay together
for life,
especially if they're
successful breeders.
But they don't stay together
out at sea,
and there's no guarantee that
couples like Harry and Sally
will both make it back safely
year after year.
This male is renovating
last year's burrow,
using his powerful feet
to dig.
He wants to make sure
everything's perfect
for his mate upon her return.
But it looks like
he's left waiting.
His partner hasn't appeared.
She may have died at sea
or been taken by a predator.
Sometimes a male is unwilling
to wait too long
for his old mate.
If he wants to have a chance
of breeding this year,
he'll have to attract
another female.
But for now he stays
faithful, and waits.
Little penguins prefer to
swim in water temperatures
no warmer than
40 degrees Fahrenheit.
So they only live along the
southern coastline of
Australia
and among the islands of
New Zealand,
where the seas are cooler.
They also often choose to
nest on offshore islands,
where there are fewer
land-based predators.
So the island of Tasmania,
the most southerly state
in Australia,
should be perfect
little penguin habitat.
There are fewer introduced
species such as foxes
to predate them here.
But even in this idyllic
location,
the penguin population
is threatened.
Growing numbers of
penguin-loving tourists
can easily disturb
their nests,
and an increase in feral cats
and dogs has affected
their breeding numbers.
On a beach not far from
the state capital Hobart,
conservationists are
attempting to reverse
this decline.
There's a tiny colony here
made up of several breeding
pairs,
living in specially created
burrows.
The beach is kept free of
dogs and feral cats
in order to make a safe haven
for the birds,
and humans are discouraged
from getting too close.
The little penguins seem
happy to adapt to life
in the igloos
placed on the hillside
for them to breed in.
This penguin has opted
to spend the day
resting in a drain pipe,
which provides cave-like
protection from the sun.
Conservationists are hopeful
that without intrusion
the penguins will be able
to lay eggs
and increase their numbers
this year.
Meanwhile the population of
little penguins
on Phillip Island
is now well protected
from intruders.
From the 1940s,
over-enthusiastic visitors
trampling on burrows,
and a surge in cats and dogs,
led to the penguins
becoming endangered.
So during the 1980s,
the government took
radical steps.
They introduced
a penguin protection plan.
Then repossessed the land
and demolished housing
around Summerlands Beach.
Since then, the landscape
has been transformed
and the penguin numbers
have soared.
The penguin population here
is the largest in Australia.
Breeding pairs like
Harry and Sally
can safely spend time
together here.
The pair has most likely had
no contact during their time
at sea,
but now, as breeding season
begins again,
it's important for them
to re-establish
their special bond.
They groom and preen
each other.
It helps them get rid of
parasites they can't reach
themselves,
and reinforces their bond.
Little penguins are
meticulous with their
preening,
which is essential for
feather maintenance.
They have around
10,000 feathers,
three times more than
many flying birds,
which insulate them
against chilly water.
The base of each feather is
soft and downy,
trapping air and providing
insulation under water,
while the tip is stiffer
to prevent it being squashed
by the water pressure.
The penguins constantly push
their beaks through
the feathers
to keep them coated with
waterproof oil,
which is secreted by a gland
at the base of their spines.
And mutual grooming is not
only limited to partners.
As Harry and Sally
clean themselves up,
other penguins step in
to help with those
hard-to-reach places
in a social ritual
known as allopreening.
As the sun sets,
Harry and Sally begin
a night-time serenade.
(Purring and cooing)
They start their wooing
by calling,
and then join in
with each other's song.
(Mimicking each other's call)
And then...they dance...
..waggle their flippers...
..dip their beaks...
...stamp on the spot
and circle around.
It's all part of
their courtship.
Noisy breeding couples up and
down the colony follow suit.
(Cooing)
(Mewling)
This song and dance
is a prelude
to the most important act of
bond reinforcement - mating.
For many animals, copulation
is the work of seconds,
but the little penguins
get intimate for over
two minutes.
And they'll do this
up to 30 times a night!
Afterwards, Sally disappears
into the burrow,
while Harry stands guard
outside.
He'll do this to ward off
other males
who may want to steal
his mate.
But while some partners
are getting reacquainted,
others are left waiting.
The single male penguin's
mate hasn't appeared.
He now faces a choice.
If he wants to breed
this year, he either needs
to find a female penguin
who's lost her partner...
..or try to persuade
an already paired-up female
to leave her mate.
This does sometimes happen.
There's a separation rate
between living partners
of around 15%.
Come nightfall,
he's out looking for love.
He tries his luck
at a few burrows,
but he has to be careful.
Other males will defend
their nests against
would-be intruders.
(Mewls)
(Mewling and cooing)
(Mewls)
(Exchange of calls)
(Yelps)
Wherever he goes, he can't
seem to find a warm welcome.
But he keeps going.
He tries Harry and Sally's
burrow.
But Harry stands guard.
Things quickly escalate.
(Braying)
Harry brays angrily at
the visitor,
and waves his flippers
to tell him to go.
(Brays)
The single male
has to take a walk.
The next night, Harry's busy.
He pops out of his burrow
in search of more nesting
material.
Over the days
that follow mating,
the couple collects material
together,
including grasses
and bits of seaweed
to line the sides and bottom
of the nest.
They need to select
the right bits of vegetation,
and can be picky.
All over the colony,
other little penguins work
on their nests too.
In Tasmania, the little
penguin colony is growing.
They've dragged twigs
and vegetation
inside their
man-made burrows.
And the conservation strategy
is showing signs of
paying off.
This female has just produced
a perfect clutch.
It's roughly two weeks
after mating
and she now has two eggs,
which were laid
two days apart.
Now the hard work begins.
The male and female will take
turns to incubate the eggs.
One will stay on the nest
for up to ten days at a time,
while the other parent
forages for both of them
out at sea.
Little penguins spend
their time in the water
trawling for small fish
such as anchovies,
pilchards and sprats
in a series of shallow dives.
They're well adapted
for marine life.
Their webbed feet,
which give them good grip
on uneven rocky land,
also help them to steer
in the water.
Like some fish,
little penguins' eyes
have flattened corneas
so they can see clearly
both under and above water.
And they have excellent
night vision.
And the penguins have a neat
way of getting rid of
any excess salt
from the seawater,
which could be harmful
to their health.
They have supraorbital glands
above their eyes
which sieve out any salty
water they've ingested
before it gets into
their bloodstream,
so it's safely excreted
as brine
to trickle down their beaks.
The foraging penguin needs
to find enough food for two
which it will then regurgitate
for the waiting partner.
It's a stressful period.
With all the risks of
life out at sea,
there's always a chance
that one partner
may not make it back.
If this happens,
the eggs may be abandoned.
Back on Phillip Island,
it's August,
and Harry and Sally are also
set to be parents.
Sally's laid two eggs.
She and Harry share
sitting duty.
There's no guarantee
that both eggs will hatch.
The success rate for
hatching is only about 60%.
They have more than a month
to wait and see if both
their chicks will emerge.
As hatching time draws near,
the couple need to time
their foraging trips
extremely carefully.
If the eggs hatch while
one parent is away fishing,
the clock starts running on
the chicks' survival
straightaway.
Penguins can spend
several days at a time
looking for food at sea.
But if the hatchlings
aren't fed within three days
of emerging,
they'll starve to death.
So the foraging parent
must return
within a tight timeframe.
36 days later,
there's activity in
Harry and Sally's burrow.
(Twittering)
From the noise
level, it seems both
chicks have made it,
but their parents keep them
hidden from view.
This early stage is known
as the guard period.
While one parent stays
to keep the chicks warm,
the other fishes.
While Sally keeps watch,
Harry scurries off
to get some food.
(Chattering)
Elsewhere in the colony,
other baby penguins
are starting to emerge
from their burrows to take
a first look at the world.
Meanwhile, on the other side
of the colony,
the would-be Casanova
has had a stroke of luck.
After his long search, he's
found a female of his own.
The pair has settled down
in a burrow
and already has a couple of
hungry chicks.
(Twittering)
After five weeks of being
cared for in their burrow,
Harry and Sally's two chicks
finally emerge.
They have soft downy feathers
that aren't yet waterproof
enough for them to swim.
They may waddle around a bit,
but they are still entirely
dependent on their parents
for providing food.
And the bigger the chicks,
the more food they need.
There's no time
for baby-sitting.
This level of feeding
requires both parents
to be out at sea full-time.
They leave the chicks alone
to wait for the next meal.
With the hungry chicks
needing food,
it's even more important
that the parents make it
past the sea predators
and the gulls
to transport
their cargo of fish home.
Waiting alone at the nest,
Harry and Sally's chicks are
hungry and getting impatient.
They keep a constant eye out
for the arrival of their
parents.
Finally Sally arrives
at the beach alone.
She doesn't have time to wait
for the safety of the raft
and strikes out on her own
across the beach,
a potentially risky strategy.
She appears exhausted
after a long day's fishing
and can barely make it
up the bank.
The chicks are becoming
increasingly agitated.
(Twittering)
They call to their mother.
As she appears...
..they pounce on her
in excitement.
(Excited chattering)
The baby penguins harass
their mum
to produce the goods
by tickling her throat
to stimulate regurgitation.
Sally needs to take a break.
Little penguins sporadically
sleep in short bursts
of around four minutes,
known as micro-sleeps.
They can even do this
while at sea,
floating on the surface
of the ocean.
Once the chicks are fed, she
can grab a few minutes' rest.
However wearing it is
for Harry and Sally,
they need to ensure
that their chicks are
as strong as possible
by the time they leave
the burrow.
As they begin to make their
own way in the world,
the youngsters will be
at their most vulnerable.
Only 15% of hatchlings
survive their first
two years.
Many are eaten by predators.
But if their parents
can't keep up the feeding,
starvation can also
kill them.
Their chance of survival
in their first year
correlates with
their body weight.
The bigger they are,
the lower
their mortality rates
while learning to fish
at sea.
After eight to ten weeks,
the chicks will be
as big as their parents,
and they'll have to learn
to fend for themselves.
As soon as they have
their waterproof feathers,
they'll be out on their own.
The chicks are getting older,
and it's time for Sally
to nudge them
towards independence.
(Calls)
This time, when she brings
them their food,
she doesn't approach
the chicks too closely.
Instead she stands
a little way off.
They must come to her.
By encouraging the chicks
to walk further,
they'll grow a little bit
stronger every day.
While little penguins
face numerous hazards
in raising their young,
they have a secret weapon.
Unlike most penguin species,
a breeding pair of little
penguins can raise more than
one family a year.
Once the first lot of chicks
have gone,
if it's early enough
in the season
and food is still plentiful,
they can go on to breed again
and raise
a second set of chicks.
It's February, and Sally and
Harry's chicks have departed.
Now it's the parents' turn
to head out to sea.
They'll only have a few
months to restore
lost strength
and fatten up
in time for breeding again.
Whether swimming
in the cool ocean seas...
..or battling up the beach
at sundown...
..or living
in a drainpipe...
..little penguins are vocal,
sociable and determined.
Skilled fishers,
noisy singers...
(Cooing)
(Twittering)
..and devoted parents.
They're a charming feature
of coastal life
on the shores of
south Australia.
♪♪
