The yellow-eyed penguin, also known by its Maori name, hoiho, is the third largest of all penguin species, averaging around 24 pounds (lb) (11 kilograms (kg)) in weight. It is the only species in the monotypic genus Megadyptes. Yellow-eyed penguins breed on the southeast coast of New Zealand's South Island, from Banks Peninsula to Bluff at the southern tip; in Fouveaux Strait, and on Stewart and adjacent islands just 18.75 mi (30 km) from the southern tip of the New Zealand mainland; and at the sub-Antarctic Auckland and Campbell Islands, 300
mi (480 km) and 380 mi (608 km), respectively, south of the southern tip of the South Island. The distribution is thought to have moved north since the 1950s (McKinlay 2001, p. 8). The species is confined to the seas of the New Zealand region and forages over the continental shelf (Taylor 2000, p. 93).
Unlike more strongly colonial breeding penguin species, yellow-eyed penguins nest in relative seclusion, out of sight of humans and one another (Wright, 1998, pp. 9-10; Ratz and Thompson 1999, p. 205). Current terrestrial habitats range from native forest to grazed pasture (McKinlay 2001, p. 10). In some places, they nest in restored areas and, in other places, they nest in areas where livestock are still
present (McKinlay 2001, p. 10). Prior to land clearing for agriculture by European settlers, historic habitat was in coastal forests and shrub margins (Marchant and Higgins 1990, p. 237).