Warming sparks penguin breeding boom but experts sound note of caution Weâre sorry, this service is currently unavailable. Please try again later. Dismiss 4.00am Normal text size Advertisement At this time of year, the rocky burrows that honeycomb the dunes on Phillip Island are usually home to moulting juvenile little penguins, who will grow adult feathers and follow their steel-blue parents into the waters of the Bass Strait. But this week, when oceanographer and penguin specialist Andre Chiaradia was checking burrows, he found one with two balls of black fluff inside; little penguin hatchlings that had emerged from their eggs in mid-autumn.