Cosy abodes for Little Blue Penguins in Muriwai

RANI TIMOTI

December 3 2015

Rani Timoti

Little Blue Penguins in Muriwai will have purpose-built nesting boxes thanks to Western ITM Kumeu, Sea Shepherd New Zealand and the Muriwai Environmental Action Community Trust.

Little Blue Penguins are going to have a comfy place to nestle along Muriwai Beach.

Sea Shepherd New Zealand has been working with the Muriwai Environmental Action Community Trust to have penguin nesting boxes built for the area.

This follows increasing numbers of the Korora, including a sighting of two of the birds nesting close to the gannet colony.

Rani Timoti

Nesting boxes for Little Blue Penguins.

Pest control work by Muriwai-based Auckland Council rangers has been helping the species and the group hopes to imitate the Oamaru blue penguin colony.

Western ITM Kumeu donated the timber for 30 boxes and MeACT volunteers built them to place in Maori Bay/Maukatia and southern bays.

Michael Lawry, Director of Sea Shepherd New Zealand, will be help the group over the coming months.

John Bisset

A Little Blue Penguin takes cover in a sheltered spot.

"Their conservation status is decreasing so it's good to have new abodes for the penguins to live in."
Lawry says the species tend to find them really quickly- he's heard reports of some in a southern colony taking just two hours.

"They've got lots of time at night to get in there- hopefully they'll gravitate towards them."
Penguin boxes, which are also used in places like Tiritiri Matangi, are known to protect them from dogs and possibly cats.

MeACT volunteer John Stanford says any bird that survives and breeds on the mainland is tough. He hopes that in the future people will visit Muriwai to see the penguins come ashore in the evening.
Since 2013, MeACT's coastal pest control programme has been aiming to encourage the species back to the area.

The group is also working on becoming Predator Free Muriwai- to extend the area of regular pest control currently undertaken by the rangers and their volunteers.

Contact Gerry Henley on email gerry@muriwai-environment.org for support for the project or help with follow-up predator control.

 Tough blue species

The world's smallest penguin is found on most of New Zealand's coastline and in southern Australia.
They only come ashore under the cover of darkness and live underground in burrows, natural holes, or under human structures or buildings.

They forage for food up to 25 km offshore and 70 km from the colony and can reach speeds of up to 6kmh underwater.

They stand just over 25cm and weigh about 1kg and spend much of their time at sea hunting small fish, crustaceans and squid.

 - Stuff

 

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