Despite being feisty at the top, a little blue penguin that was found in Hokitika on Monday had a damaged bottom half and looked unlikely to survive the night.
It looked as if he had been hit by a car, though there were no visible marks. But with tender care from local avian enthusiast, Sonya Hughes, who nursed him back to health, the penguin gained its full feistiness and was released back to the beach on Wednesday. It was wonderful to watch. He looked around, then headed straight for the water’s edge, using his wings to help propel him forward, looking back a couple of times to check that he was really free to go.
When he was in the water, he dived beneath the waves, popped up, looked back once more and was gone.
A miracle penguin returned to his home.
On the census a couple of days later, a couple of the penguin tracks showed that the wings were being used, so perhaps he’s safe and sound, back in his colony. We like to think so.
