By Julie

The penguin I will tell you about next is the Snares Island, or Snares Crested penguin. Splishing and splashing, braying and bickering, you probably want to go watch up close! Sorry, but Snares Island penguins live on Snares Island, New Zealand. This island is a marine sanctuary, and humans are prohibited. You can catch views of these penguins from boats, though. Snares Island is completely free of introduced land animals! These animals are big threats to many kinds of penguins, so this gives Snares Island penguins a better place to live! Luckily, Snares Island penguins don’t migrate from this wonderful home. These penguins come together in huge rookeries! The rookeries can hold millions of these penguins in just one crowded rookery! They make their nests on forested beaches or high rocky hills. They scrape out a little nest and line it with twigs and branches. When their egg hatches, it stays in a créche with other chicks, waiting for its parents to bring it some fish, squid, and krill. When they grow a little bit older, they hang around and sometimes get in the way at the rookery. These penguins are called “hoodlums”. Snares Island penguins are black and white, like all penguins. They have a thick, heavy orange bill. They also have red eyes. They have bright yellow crests on their heads. They are difficult to tell from other crested penguins, especially while they’re swimming. Unfortunately, these penguins are considered “very vulnerable” because of their low numbers and limited breeding areas. There are only 25,000 pairs! No matter how rare, these Snares Crested penguins are sure to win your heart.
NOTE: This nonfiction paragraph I researched and wrote on my own time.