Penguin breeding programme a success

There are 16 yellow-eyed penguins nesting at Sandfly Bay

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 5:29p.m.

By Samantha Hayes
Conservationists in Dunedin are claiming victory in their bid to increase the numbers of the endangered yellow-eyed penguin.
They have introduced strict new rules for human visitors, who were probably just as much to blame for the penguins’ decline as marauding cats and dogs. For the Department of Conservation and the Yellow-Eyed Penguin Trust, Sandfly Bay is a key breeding location – but not everyone keeps their distance. “People following penguin tracks up into the sand dunes to try and take photos of them on their nests, interfering with them when they were coming in from the sea,” says DoC Community Relations Manager Dave Mules.
There are 16 yellow-eyed penguins nesting at Sandfly Bay.

Research carried out into why the chicks were underweight and dying found that they were easily panicked by people. “If approached by just one person the penguin’s heart rate doubles and it may take up to half an hour for it to drop back to a previously measured resting heart rate,” says penguin researcher Ursula Ellenburg.
If tourists scare the adult penguins on the beach when they’re returning with fish in their croups for their chicks, they’ll head back out to sea and digest the foot – leading to underweight chicks.

DoC volunteers are urging sightseers to keep their distance, which seems to be working. “This season has been particularly pleasing – we’ve had 13 chicks at very healthy weights,” says Mr Mules. A few beaches across from Sandfly Bay, DoC discovered a dead penguin. “It’s banded so we’ll find out if it’s one of a pair and go from there, but it’s a huge problem,” says Yellow-Eyed Penguin Trust Ranger, Leith Thomson.
Only one or two wash up a year, but hopefully this death will be balanced out by the success at Sandfly Bay.

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