News

It's the West Coast Annual Blue Penguin Count time again folks

It's the West Coast Annual Blue Penguin Count time again folks, so grab your gummies and your penguin tracks form or better still, your phone with the i-Naturalist app downloaded onto it and start counting tracks! An early morning walk in the spring, the week of Monday 12th - Saturday 17th September, will help you rediscover the beauty of your local coastline, discover whether penguins are using the beach and help us build a clearer picture of where blue penguins are on the West Coast. We have selected these dates when the tide will be low early in the morning to keep you safe and to offer the best chance of seeing penguin tracks crossing the freshly washed sand.  You can add your observations any time, but always pay special attention to tide times and conditions. Read the details here.   A little history behind the Great Annual West Coast Blue Penguin Count: Little Penguin populations on the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand were surveyed and partially counted for the first time in late 2005/early 2006. Motivated by anecdotal information suggesting a decline in Little Penguin populations along the West Coast. this on-foot survey has been the foundation for Little Penguin research and the establishment of regular monitoring schemes. The West Coast Penguin Trust undertook the survey in its first year and has since been documenting factors that influence Little Penguin population growth such as threats, breeding habitat, breeding biology and foraging distance at sea during breeding seasons on the West Coast. Your help is extremely valuable, thank you.

Mena the penguin detection dog returns.

Mena and Alistair are returning to the West Coast for another visit this month. She is the only penguin detection conservation dog in the South Island, her handler is Alastair Judkins. They are joining the West Coast Penguin Trust for two weeks to survey penguin nest sites and visit schools. Mena’s key function is to sniff out penguin sites and the Trust would like to confirm the penguin presence and ideally numbers in several areas including north of Hokitika, along the penguin protection fence north of Punakaiki, Wanganui River and around Tauranga Bay/Cape Foulwind and Carters Beach.  She knows, when her muzzle is on, that she’s on duty.  She’ll seek out a whiff of penguin and then track it down.  When she has found the source, she’ll sit down and await further instructions.  Alastair will get her to sit and stay on a small blanket while he investigates further and records the finding. Knowing where penguins are nesting is invaluable when development is planned and we are also keen to have a measure of penguins protected by the penguin fences we currently have in Hokitika and Punakaiki, which we are confident are increasing in number, but doing surveys like this will give us greater certainty. We are also lucky enough to be able to take Alastair and Mena into some schools we have worked with to show the students what she does and how she is very useful to the Trust. She will do a demonstration for the students of her amazing skills detecting penguins and signaling to Alistair. Many of these students have been spending their time learning about penguins and how to help protect them, so this is a wonderful treat for them. There are many excited classrooms awaiting her arrival out there!

Ranger, Linden reports back on the latest from the colonies...

Although we saw some early pairing up from our penguins in June, Ranger, Linden reports back on a late start for laying of eggs in the colonies: "Over the past fortnight we have seen the first eggs laid at both of our monitored little penguin/ kororā colonies at Charleston. We generally see the first eggs laid around early August, so it seems as if this season they have started 2-3 weeks later than normal, and a similar trend is playing out at numerous other kororā colonies around the country. The exact reason for the late start is unclear, but food availability is the most likely cause. During the egg incubating phase, adults take turns incubating the eggs, swapping over every 2-3 days. The eggs take a little over a month to hatch, so we will hopefully begin to see chicks by the end of September!"  

  Trustee, Jill also reported a 'party' in her nest box last week, in preparation for the breeding season. She explained that right before breeding begins, there is often a lot of noise and hustle and bustle in the nest box, so she has taken this as a sign that things are finally starting. Watch this space!

Volunteer Fung Lai responded to a call for a volunteer to translate location descriptions into map coordinates and then maps.

Earlier this year, New Coasters joined BeCollective.com, a "digital gateway to helping your community and realising your positive social impact".  The idea is to link volunteers to volunteer opportunities and the Trust took up the offer. Understanding where penguins might be is critical for the advocacy role of the Trust.  When councils are developing or updating plans or considering resource consents in the coastal area, we are able to advise whether there is a potential risk to penguins and seek conditions or rules that will protect them. Penguins could appear anywhere on our coasts.  Main locations will of course be their breeding colonies and their nest sites, but if they have been injured or are ill, they may stop on a beach away from their nest.  We also know that they may travel inland, perhaps for up to a kilometre, sometimes following rivers upstream.  And of course we know that they end up on roads that have been created through their nesting habitat to make our lives easier. Together with DOC, the Trust established a mortality database in 2006 to record all dead penguins that were reported.  Reports were added to a spreadsheet and facts, as far as they could be determined, were included for each record, such as juvenile or adult, cause of death, when and where found. This is where we needed some help and volunteer Fung Lai responded to the call on BeCollective for a volunteer to translate location descriptions into map coordinates and then maps. When using maps in the past, the Trust has identified penguin sign and sometimes been able to confirm nest sites.  For example, the maps below are from a surveys in 2007 and 2012.

Kerry-Jayne Wilson, working with Richard Seed from the New Zealand Penguin Initiative at the time, focussed on known breeding sites in a project to map blue penguin breeding locations around New Zealand.

However, it is not easy to confirm breeding sites, particularly over a stretch of coast around 600km long. So why not refer to a map where we have evidence of penguins being found dead, plus the evidence from annual penguin counts over the years? Fung Lai came to the rescue and gradually worked through the spreadsheet records, doing an absolutely brilliant job of finding often obscure and local location descriptions on a map and translating records to map coordinates that can be viewed in any map program including Google Earth. Before we get to the maps that Fung has created for the Trust, let's introduce her. Fung and her husband set sail from the UK on a two year journey across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans to Aotearoa New Zealand, their final destination.  Although they didn't see many penguins on their travels, Fung has found an interest in seabirds and enjoys photographing shags when out and about in her home city of Auckland, observing their behaviour.  She enjoys looking out for penguins too when exploring the islands and coast up in that part of the country. Fung has worked in software development for over a decade and was able to apply her many skills to our challenge. With some of the more obscure descriptions of locations still to identify, we have already got an excellent picture of penguin locations for the region.

Yes, you are correct - that is the sad picture of where dead penguins have found, with around 2/3 killed on coast roads - significantly reduced since we installed penguin protection fences - and 1/5 killed by dogs. The mortality database has been invaluable in determining where we need to invest time and resources - including the fences and awareness around the threat posed by loose dogs, especially at night.  If you find a dead penguin, please let us know using our simple form on our contact page: https://www.westcoastpenguintrust.org.nz/contact/ Back to the maps, and if we combine all three datasets, we have a complete map of our current understanding of where penguins have been recorded across the West Coast.

We will continue to work on the missing data, but this is a huge leap forward in our understanding and representation of where there is or has been penguin activity over the past 15 years or so.  It will be enormously useful in our work and we will be sharing it with district and regional planners once it is complete. Our very grateful thanks go to Fung and here are some of her shag photos - pied shag I believe - that she kindly shared with us.

And this is a perfect time to be thanking Fung and in face all volunteers - National Volunteer Week!          

Blue penguins pairing up for the new new season
June 2022

Trust Ranger, Linden Brown, has checked in on some blue penguin / korora burrows in Charleston and found penguins paired up and preparing for the breeding season. As the days get shorter and we dive into winter, penguins are coming ashore more often in preparation for the breeding season.  Linden has been for a look through one of the Charleston kororā colonies and found a few pairs home.  Over the next couple of months we will begin to see more and more pairs mating up and some eggs in the not too distant future. Photos show pairs in a burrow using a burrowscope and in a nest box.

 

Tawaki monitoring reveals steady breeding during seasons 2019-2021

Tawaki monitoring has revealed steady breeding during seasons 2019-2021. This is despite a major mast event with massive seedfall in autumn 2019.  Mast events with abundant seeds available support mouse plagues, followed by rat plagues feeding on mice, followed by stoat plagues feeding on rats.  As seeds gradually rot or germinate, rodent numbers fall and stoats seek prey elsewhere, commonly native birds. The Trust feared that stoats would overrun colonies of tawaki, or Fiordland crested penguins, in either the 2019 or 2020 season, a lag between rat and then stoat plague numbers being common.  Stoats will prey on tawaki eggs or chicks and, in 2016, stoats were abundant in the Jackson Head area, virtually wiping out all chicks that year.  Fortunately for the penguins, over the past three years, presence of and predation by stoats has remained low. When the Trust first started monitoring tawaki nests in 2014, the aim was to establish which predator, if any, was responsible for an apparent decline in the number of penguins.  The link of a mast event to a stoat plague in 2016 appeared to be the main risk to breeding success, but with evidence in only one year of four for the study, further evidence would be useful. In 2019, the Trust switched focus to monitoring breeding success with fortnightly checks as well as monitoring stoat numbers.  The aim was to determine if there were any trends year to year, or between the colonies; and to better understand the link between mast events and stoat populations and predation as well as to methods of predator control. Key conclusions for three year study to date are as follows:

1. Breeding success was high at all three colonies for all three years, with no obvious differences or trends between years or between colonies.
2. Stoats were present at all three colonies at different times, however at low numbers, and are likely responsible for a few tawaki nest failures.
3. The mast event of 2018-19 did not result in any observable increase in stoat numbers in the colonies in either the 2019 or 2020 seasons.
4. Lack of food did not appear to be an issue for breeding tawaki during the study period.

The latter point relating to food supply relates to the 2015 year when most chicks failed to survive due to starvation.  Adults were foraging over long distances and unable to provide sufficient or timely nutrition.  The lack of prey food was linked to El Niño conditions off the West Coast and cold water feeding grounds being out of reach. The review of the three season study is available as a pdf ( 7 pages): WCPT Tawaki monitoring programme report - 2019-2021 seasons Videos from some of the monitoring cameras will be added to our Vimeo page, including this one showing chicks gathering or crèching.

Kerry-Jayne Wilson, conservationist, seabird ecologist, adventurer, scientist and all round extraordinary human being, has died. She leaves a gaping hole but a superb legacy.

Kerry-Jayne Wilson, conservationist, seabird ecologist, adventurer, scientist and all round extraordinary human being, has died. She leaves a gaping hole but a superb legacy. Kerry-Jayne was a founding Trustee of the West Coast Penguin Trust in 2006 and Chair for most of the years since then. She has been our inspiration, scientist, guide and leader. As Dr Euan Kennedy, one of her closest friends, told me, she slipped away just before dawn on Tuesday morning, adding "How appropriate - that's when the shearwaters depart for the ocean." Kerry-Jayne has been a wonderful inspiration, mentor, and friend to so many.  We all know she has been at the forefront of seabird conservation for decades and our guide and leader at the West Coast Penguin Trust since we started out in 2006. Her absence is filling our thoughts but also inspiring us to be and do better, and to maintain her legacy and maintain the effort to protect and conserve threatened seabirds. Rest in lasting peace Kerry-Jayne, soaring forever with your beloved albatrosses, petrels and shearwaters on the wild ocean winds.

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As a tribute to Kerry-Jayne’s memory and her enduring love for the West Coast and all seabirds, her family have chosen the West Coast Penguin Trust for memorial contributions. A very generous donor has offered to match any donations made in her memory up to $5,000. Donations can be made via the Trust’s website westcoastpenguintrust.org.nz/donate. A memorial service will be some way off and details will be announced when they are known.

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Those who have known Kerry-Jayne have been sharing comments and memories. First this from Dr Thomas Mattern of The Tawaki Project: https://www.tawaki-project.org/2022/03/29/glide-on-forever-kerry-jayne/ This from Dr Pablo Garcia Borboroglu (Popi) of the Global Penguin Society: "We are the energy and the memories we leave behind. It was always an inspiration to meet and interact with Kerry Jane. We will continue working tirelessly to honor her magnificent conservation legacy. Thank you so much Kerry Jane for everything you have left behind." And some more: "Kerry-Jayne was a true legend in so many ways and we all know how much her legacy will continue to live on." "I can never forget Kerry-Jayne, and have the fondest memories of her as a most exceptional being." "What a great loss to the seabird/penguin community." "She was such an inspiration, mentor, friend and work-mate (my boss) to me. And I am forever grateful for the opportunities she has given me." "Kerry-Jayne was a special person and a wonderful wildlife biologist." "It is an honour to have known her and to be a part of the circle around her." And more are on our facebook announcement.

The West Coast Penguin Trust is delighted that Suzanne Hills has become a Trustee.

The West Coast Penguin Trust is delighted that Suzanne Hills has become a Trustee.  Suzanne brings a passion for the West Coast and its biodiversity as well as considerable conservation and sustainability knowledge and experience. Suzanne describes a conventional start in life growing up in Tauranga, completing a degree in biotechnology at Massey University and a subsequent career in the food industry before leaving NZ for an extended working OE in Scotland. After 7 years on the West Coast of Scotland, NZ’s West Coast called, and together with her partner now husband, she took to sea for many years sailing (very slowly, many detours) back to NZ.  The voyage gave her a window into the mysterious lives of seabirds out on the high seas, and her highlight was the time spent sailing the penguin and seabird metropolis of the Falkland Islands (see some photos below).

Now a sensible landlubber again, Suzanne lives in a tiny house with a large vegetable garden on the Barrytown Flats where she enjoys growing food, the wonders of solar cooking, tramping and involvement in local environmental action and advocacy. Find out more in her own words below and find out more about the whole Trust team here. One of the joys of living on the West Coast is being surrounded by nature, and that's certainly the case where I live on the Barrytown Flats with the Paparoa range rising to the east and the expansive Tasman sea to the west. Added to that is the overhead dimension of a deep dark night sky. Truly impressive and having spent many weeks gazing at starry skies while on watch crossing oceans, there's little perceivable difference between a clear Barrytown Flat's night sky and the striking quality of a mid-ocean one. A treasure to hold onto, particularly for the Westland petrel with its susceptibility to light disorientation. From a sailor's perspective, approaching a coastline at night with multiple lights ashore can be mind-bending, especially after a long sleep deprived ocean passage. Even with all the navigation aids, it's very easy to become disorientated. Add in mist, drizzle or low cloud and what looks right often is not, and what looks wrong may well be right! Next month, as Westland petrels start returning to their breeding ground after an 11,000km flight from Chilean waters, some birds may experience similar disorientation. And while switching off the Punakaiki street lights during the summer appears to have lessened the problem for petrel fledglings in that area, the nocturnal environment of the whole Barrytown Flats/Punakaiki area could be protected and even further enhanced year round under an International Dark Sky Park designation. Together with the support of local people, iwi and councils, this could be achieved for the wellbeing of people and all the taonga wildlife we share the area with. Having had the privilege of sailing some of world's oceans, it's wonderful to be a part of the Trust with it's dedication to protecting West Coast seabirds.

 

Conservation of Westland petrels and other wildlife considered essential

The West Coast Penguin Trust's vision is that all West Coast seabirds and their habitat are healthy and thriving. A recent decision not to allow mining at Barrytown partly over fears for Westland petrels or tāiko illustrates that advocacy is both critical and effective in protecting coastal wildlife. Read the Stuff story here, including a short video of a rescued Westland petrel being released.  Barrytown JV Ltd have not appealed the decision.

Although the Trust's primary focus is penguins, we advocate for the protection of other seabirds and their habitat as opportunities or issues arise.  For example, the Trust recently provided feedback on the new regional District plan, Te Tai o Poutini Plan, with penguins, Westland petrels, other seabirds and their habitat in mind.  We also keep an eye on new resource consents as they are received by the regional council in case any activities are proposed that could adversely affect seabirds.  We can then raise concerns and provide useful information as new consents are processed. When mining was proposed at Barrytown flat, our major concern was for the Westland petrel.  The only breeding site in the world for these birds is in the forest clad slopes south of Punakaiki.  Although the resource consent application was 'limited notified' by Grey District and West Coast Regional Councils, and only immediate neighbours and other affected parties were able to submit formally and be heard at the Resource Management Act commissioner hearing, any information that is useful and pertinent to the processing of an application may be accepted by the council planning staff.

The West Coast Penguin Trust shared its extreme concerns that mining would create yet another threat to Westland petrels.  We have been fortunate to have eminent seabird ecologist, Kerry-Jayne Wilson MNZM, as our Scientist and founding Trustee, and we provided her comments to both councils.  You can read those comments here:  2021 06 02 Barrytown JV proposal - Westland petrels - West Coast Penguin Trust - Kerry-Jayne Wilson comments It subsequently became clear that mining was proposed even closer to the Westland petrel colony than first thought and we provided additional comments noting the increased potential risk to the petrels.  2021 09 01 WCPT - KJW - further notes re Westland petrels and Barrytown JV Ltd mining application Dr Susan Waugh of the the Australasian Seabird Group, of which Kerry-Jayne has been a committee member, also submitted a letter to relevant ministers and copied to the two councils and others expressing their concern about the risk to Westland petrels. Kate Simister, DOC Biodiversity Ranger based in Westport, is leading conservation efforts for Westland petrels and spoke brilliantly at the hearing. In their Final Decision - Barrytown JV Ltd -10 Feb 2022, the hearing commissioners note their concerns about the adverse effects of night time vehicle movements that  could result in unacceptable cumulative effects on taiko. If you would like to find out more about Westland petrels / tāiko, Kerry-Jayne has provided information and some great photos for the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels: https://www.acap.aq/latest-news/4154-featuring-acap-listed-species-and-their-photographers-the-westland-petrel-by-kerry-jayne-wilson   

Plans and material to build a nest box for a blue penguin

As we drift into Autumn and Kororā/ Blue Penguins have headed out to sea for a while, taking a break before the next breeding season, it is time to start thinking about what we can do to help penguins when they return. Our Trust Ranger, Linden has been busy making penguin nest boxes to give penguins a safe place to breed as well as to moult once the breeding season is over.  It is thought that penguins may actually prefer nest boxes to natural burrows, and have a higher chance of breeding success when using them.  So building nest boxes is a great way you can help blue penguins thrive in your area! If you do have Kororā nesting in your area (either in nest boxes or in natural burrows), we’d love to hear from you (info@westcoastpenguintrust.org.nz)!  Knowing all the breeding locations of penguins on the West Coast gives us a clearer picture of the distribution, threats and challenges faced by West Coast penguins so that we can help.

Former Trust Chair and Ranger, Reuben Lane, has prepared a nest box plan that we hope will keep penguins more secure and will be easier to transport to potential nest sites. Traditional nest box designs have a tunnel attached to the main nesting box and we have encouraged those building new boxes to extend the length of the tunnel to provide additional protection from weka.  Weka are known to enter penguin nest boxes and would predate chicks if they could. The new design includes an internal wall to form a tunnel and to provide more of a barrier to any intruders.

Materials Needed:

• 1.9m 250x25mm timber
• 1.6m 200x25mm timber
• 0.5m 150x25mm timber
• ~30 75mm galvanised nails

Notes

• Use H4 treated timber
• Box can be flat-packed for assembly on site- handy if placing multiple boxes in an area.
• Pre-drilling holes for the nails will make it easier to assemble
• Ensure the two roof pieces are sitting snugly together to stop rain entering the box
• Alternatively replace the two roof sections with a 520x450mm piece of 19mm treated plywood- this will provide greater rain protection for the box (and the penguins inside!) Nail this down

When placing your nest boxes, there are a few important things to consider. Firstly, boxes need to be placed in an area which is used by penguins.  If you’re unsure of whether there are penguins in your area, looking on the beach for penguin tracks over several days is a great place to start!  See our handy guide to identify penguin tracks.  Penguins are most likely to be coming ashore from June – March so during this period is the best time to look.  They are busiest around September and October as both parents will be coming and going to feed chicks. Secondly, place boxes in areas which are going to be free of disturbance - dogs and humans as well as storms and erosion.  The less disturbance a penguin is subject to, the better chance of breeding success.  Make sure boxes are well out of the swell/ erosion zone, in a secluded, sheltered area (ideally with some shade/ vegetation cover), and never on the landward side of any roads. Thirdly, dig the box into the site slightly and ensure that the entrance faces downhill - this will ensure any water which enters the box can drain out easily, but do all you can to find a site where water will not enter the box as chicks sitting in water will die. Lastly, if you do have penguins in your area, please let them be - breeding and moulting are the two most stressful periods for a penguin, so any disturbance can lead to nest failure or penguin mortality.