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Macaroni Penguins are medium-sized penguins, with an all-white front and an all-black back. The only deviation from this is that they have a black chin. Their most outstanding features are bright orange-yellow whiskers on the forehead and a huge orange-pink bill. The irises are brown. Their legs and feet are skin-pink.

The Macaroni Penguin has now been given full species status, as Eudyptes chrysolophus. They have been separated from the Royal Penguin, Eudyptes schlegeli.

The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org .

The global distribution of the Macaroni Penguin is available HERE .

Macaroni Penguins are found at sub-Antarctic latitudes, primarily south of South America to south of South Africa.

Some Macaroni Penguins breed on Macquarie Island and associated islands in the Macquarie Group. There are only very few reports of Macaroni Penguins being seen along the southern coastline of the Australian continent, in SW VIC and SE NSW, respectively.

Macaroni Penguins are non-flying pelagic birds that spend most of their time out in the open ocean and in coastal waters. Penguins can also spend much of their time on ice.

We have not seen a Macaroni Penguin in Australian territory or Australian territorial waters yet. The photos shown below were taken by C. Pears between South America and the Antarctic Peninsula in December 2024. All photographic information presented on this page has kindly been contributed by C. Pears.