tiabunna's photos with the keyword: Rockhopper penguin

Wherever there are penguins, Southern (Great) Skua gulls are never far away: there's one up there in the note! It may seem unkind, nasty, brutal and all that, but skuas live largely on penguin chicks and eggs. They do have to eat too, after all! And when they aren't harassing penguins they (and Giant Petrels) do a good job of clearing the beaches of carrion such as dead seals. Photo taken from a bobbing zodiac, offshore at Macquarie Island. :)

Best viewed on black. Small groups of Rockhopper penguins (think "Happy Feet") inhabit rocky outcrops around Macquarie Island. Unfortunately the stringent movement controls imposed on tourists by Parks Tasmania mean that they cannot be reached by land: but those controls do not extend offshore, so it is possible to float by the Rockhoppers in a zodiac. :) I also should note that Macquarie Island was accorded World Heritage listing in 1997 for its unique geology. It is the only place where an active mid-ocean ridge is currently rising above the surface. To quote from the website of the Australian Environment Department: "Macquarie Island is the only island in the world composed entirely of oceanic crust and rocks from the mantle, deep below the earth's surface. Macquarie Island provides evidence of the rock types found at great depths in the earth's crust and of plate tectonics and continental drift, the geological processes that have dominated the earth's surface for many millions of years. It is an island of unique natural diversity, a site of major geoconservation significance and one of the truly remarkable places on earth."