Southern rockhopper penguin eye. The rockhopper penguin complex is confusing. Many taxonomists consider all three rockhopper penguin forms subspecies. Some split the northern subspecies ("moseleyi") from the southern forms ("chrysocome" and "filholi"). Still others consider all three distinct. The subspecies recognized for the southern rockhopper penguin complex are: The northern rockhopper penguin lives in a different water mass than the western and eastern rockhopper penguin, separated by the Subtropical Front, and they are genetically different. Therefore, northern birds are sometimes separated as "E. moseleyi". The rockhopper penguins are closely related to the macaroni penguin ("E. chrysolophus") and the royal penguin ("E. schlegeli"), which
What Bird is That? author Nick Earls' 1999 young adult novel "48 Shades of Brown". The 48 shades refers to the number of distinct browns used by Cayley to describe bird plumage colours. What Bird is That? What Bird is That? A Guide to the Birds of Australia is a book first published in 1931 by Angus & Robertson in Sydney. Authored and illustrated by Neville William Cayley, it was Australia’s first fully illustrated national field guide to birds, a function it served alone for nearly 40 years. In 1960 it was rated the all-time best seller in Australian natural history. "What Bird Is