Parade of the Penguins

This is what Phillip Island is most famous for. Every night hundreds/thousands of penguins return to their nests on the island after spending the day feeding at sea. The return is so predictable that there is a theater where you can watch it happen and every day bus loads of tourists make the two hour trek from Melbourne to do just that. It happens around 8:30 PM this time of year and as soon as it's over they get on the bus and drive back. These are also tiny birds, no more than about 8-10 inces tall. We happened to be here near the end of the breeding sason so you don't see as many birds. Now they start to molt. These two little guys are molting and during this period they stay on land all day for almost three weeks, that means no food for three weeks, so they fatten themselves up to get ready. Although we saw lots of them at night, cameras of any kind are prohibited at the "parade" so this was the only picture we were able to get.