The total population is estimated to be about 500,000 breeding pairs. The Little penguins prefer the warm waters off southern Australia and New Zealand. They hunt small fish and squid in the shallow waters close to the shore during the day. At night they come onshore after dark to sleep and return to the waters before dawn each morning. Since they feed in the shallow waters close to shore they are easy to see from land.
Little penguins use rock crevices or caves for their nests.
Where these are not available they dig a long burrow to use.