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Penguin Place

Spent last night at Penguin Place, a Yellow Eyed Penguin Preserve on the tip of the Otago Peninsula. We headed out a dusk into the preserve with a guide to watch the penguins on their nightly return from the ocean to their nests. It’s the start of moulting season so the birds are fattening up to begin their 3 week moult, during which they stand in one place and don’t eat or move. They can be stressed very easily during this time, using up valuable energy, sometimes dying before finishing the moult. They can also be started by seeing humans and will not return to their nests that evening, which is when they feed their young (all the young had already left the nest this year). This means that we had to sneak through tunnels and peek out at them through hides in the brush. It’s kind of a weird way to see wildlife but since these penguins are endangered it is the safest and least stressful way for the little guys to be seen. They have an infant mortality rate of 80%! We saw 4 riding the waves up onto the beach, a penguin couple cuddled together in the grass, one heading home, one in the middle of the moult and one at the end of the moult. They are really cute and quirky and it was well worth the price. All proceeds raised go towards rebuilding their habitat and funds the little penguin hospital for injured birds.

From South Island

A little yellow-eye penguin on her way home, passing a moulting penguin in his nest (see background- brown fluff). Click on photo for more…