Welcome to the NZPI December Newsletter. Wow, it has been an eventful and productive year for us and we are grateful for all the people out there that care about our penguins! Without you, they simply wouldn’t survive, so THANK YOU! We have put together our first annual review report and have included features of all our wonderful groups that are active on the ground and kindly sharing their data with us so we can help them, to help more colonies! Earlier this month the NZPI team headed to Wellington and Wairarapa to catch up with groups and meet up with the Environmental Law Initiative (ELI) team (our umbrella organisation) for our annual get together. Hiltrun provides an update about the first scat DNA results for the diet study and a visit with her local colony. The weather is warming up and marine heatwaves are forecast, which generally leads to seeing an increased number of penguins washing ashore starving and dehydrated, or dead over the summer/autumn months. These birds are particularly vulnerable to off-leash dogs and disturbance. They need our help, so please keep your eyes peeled and contact your local rescue/rehabber, penguin group and notify 0800 DOC HOT. Penguin senses is one of the topics that keeps popping up in our monthly online meetings, so we’ve attached some information for further reading and a document about down percentages as chicks grow and develop. 

"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks."

- John Muir

If you have missed our previous newsletter editions, you can read them here

It’s been super exciting to get the go ahead to do a nationwide study on kororā diet this year. It’s just the start but we have results for two areas so far: Otago Peninsula and South Island West Coast. Scat – aka pooh – was collected in October and sent to Wilderlab for analyses of the DNA. These are then compared with known fish, crustaceans, molluscs etc. DNA and a list of species was sent back for the exciting bit of working out what the kororā have been eating. 

While the results were not unexpected, they were surprising!

There were other species present in both samples, but they were not important: Tarakihi, Squid, Hoki, Lightfish, Stargazers, Warehou, various species of Kopupu (Whitebait), Octopus, Greenbone, Gurnard and Thornfish. These species were likely taken as pelagic youngsters. There are four more samples being processed from the North Island and we are looking forward to finding out how the diet there is different to the pilot study from the South Island colonies. And then we are doing it all again in a couple of months to find out what kororā are eating during summer – and then autumn and winter.

Watch this space!

Our database is being redesigned to handle more types and variation of data, as more groups and monitoring is undertaken around the country. Our new penguin monitoring app is progressing well and thanks to groups that provided feedback about features that would be useful. We look forward to it being implemented in the 2025 season. Huge thanks to our IT guys Thomas and Adam for delving into the complexities of kororā biology & behaviour and understanding what it takes to monitor different colonies.

North Island Visits

PlacesforPenguins

PlacesforPenguins monitor a number of sites around urban Wellington, and their current volunteer number is over 90! Incredible conservation inputs going into their colonies. As you can imagine, living life amongst lots of humans comes with lots of challenges and there is a lot of behind the scenes work that goes into helping understand key threats needed to drive change. We are very fortunate to have this passionate and devoted group in the capital standing up for kororā.

Learn more about PlacesforPenguins here: PlacesforPenguins Facebook Page

Penguin on the lap! “This is so cool!” The chick was so chill!

From past records of marine heatwaves, kororā often show up along beaches, harbours, estuaries starving and dehydrated with little energy, particularly recent fledglings and young juveniles. They are often found in the scorching hot sun and vulnerable to dog attacks, being pecked at by Black Backed Gulls and disturbance from people. More dead penguins are often observed too. Nesting penguins that are struggling to find enough food and still incubating/rearing chicks, may be forced to abandon their young.

Rescue and rehab organisations should be prepared and help advocate their services. If there are no penguin people around your area- try to engage with your local vets on board to help any penguins in distress. You will most likely find that many penguin people are also willing to travel a distance to help birds in need. Spread the word to your wider community that penguins may have a microchip and to report any found ashore to your local penguin group so they can assess it and check for an ID.

NOTE: Please be aware of Avian Influenza and report unusual signs of sick birds or mass bird deaths to MPI’s exotic pest and disease hotline immediately 0800 80 99 66

The NZPI team will be taking a break over the main Christmas and New Year period.

Wishing you all a wonderful holiday season and happy new year.

Let’s all work together to make 2025 a success for the penguins of Aotearoa!