Yellow-eyed penguin

Megadyptes antipodes

The Yellow-eyed penguin (Megadyptes antipodes) is a bird found in New Zealand. Coastal forests and grassy cliffs in southern New Zealand. It eats fish and insects and other small invertebrates. The IUCN Red List lists it as Endangered.

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Scientific name	Megadyptes antipodes
Region	Australia & Oceania
Found in	New Zealand

🏡 Where the Yellow-eyed penguin lives

Coastal forests and grassy cliffs in southern New Zealand.

🍽️ What it eats

🐟 Fish80%
🐛 Insects & bugs20%

A rough guide to its diet over a year. Source: EltonTraits (Wilman et al. 2014).

Conservation status

LCNTVUENCREWEX

EndangeredVery few are left in the wild.

💡 It is one of the rarest penguins. It nests in forest, not on ice.

Hear the Yellow-eyed penguin

Recorded by Raphaël SANE (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0), xeno-canto XC973957. Trimmed to a few seconds.

Questions about the Yellow-eyed penguin

Where does the Yellow-eyed penguin live?

The Yellow-eyed penguin lives in New Zealand. Coastal forests and grassy cliffs in southern New Zealand.

What does the Yellow-eyed penguin eat?

fish (about 80%), insects and other small invertebrates (about 20%). These are rough shares of its diet over a year, from the EltonTraits database.

Is the Yellow-eyed penguin endangered?

Very few are left in the wild. Its IUCN Red List category is Endangered.

More birds from Australia & Oceania

Sources: IUCN Red List (via Wikidata), EltonTraits 1.0 (Wilman et al. 2014), GBIF sightings for countries, Wikipedia. Last updated 2026-10-19.