News

The Great Annual Blue Penguin Count, 10-15 October this year, is fun, hugely useful and a great way to get involved!

The Great Annual Blue Penguin Count, 10-15 October this year, is fun, hugely useful and a great way to get involved! What could be better than an early morning walk on the beach on a glorious West Coast day!  Combine that with discovering whether penguins are using your beach and adding valuable information for the Trust and you're onto a winner! We are encouraging the use of the iNaturalist app, as it's easy, fun and it makes life a whole lot easier for us! Once you've created a logon and got the hang of it, it really is easy.  I have to admit it took me a little while, and we learned how to make it easier after the Annual Count last year, so we've ironed out some challenges and we'd love you to take part! All the information you need to get involved is on our webpage here: http://www.bluepenguin.org.nz/blue-penguin-count/ We plan to be out on the beach close to Hokitika and you'd be welcome to join us - more details to follow soon.

We are celebrating with The Tawaki Project the release of a research paper reporting the marathon swims made by Fiordland crested penguins (tawaki) after raising chicks and before returning to moult.

The tawaki is one of the least studied and rarest penguin species in the world.  17 tawaki were tracked over 8-10 weeks and they travelled up to 2,500km from their breeding colony, some travelling up to 7000 km in total.  This is an extraordinary feat bearing in mind that penguins generally use this time to recover and put on weight after rearing chicks and before the moult, when they can lose up to half of their body weight.   The project is led by Dr Thomas Mattern, and our own Trustee and Tawaki Ranger, Robin Long, was part of his team and a co-author on the paper.

Dr Mattern said: “One would think that the birds try to conserve as much energy on this trip as possible. But what we found is, simply put, crazy.”

Study co-author Dr Klemens Pütz, of the Antarctic Research Trust, said it was an incredible achievement for a flightless seabird. “The question is why the penguins leave on such an epic journey, at a time when the ocean productivity along their coastal breeding sites reaches its peak. There should be more than enough food for them just on their doorstep,” Dr Pütz said. The authors believe tawaki make their trek because of instinct rather than necessity. You can read more here:

• Summary on RadioNZ website
• Research article published on PLS One
• The Tawaki Project summary with illustrations by Giselle Clarkson

West Coast Penguin Trust Ranger, Lucy Waller, makes the case for penguins, loving them, conserving them and presenting them to children as a gateway to more conservation conversations.

West Coast Penguin Trust Ranger, Lucy Waller, makes the case for penguins, loving them, conserving them and presenting them to children as a gateway to more conservation conversations. Lucy explains that kids love penguins - penguins are the perfect advocate to present an environmental/conservation message to all ages.  From one child, to a class of children, a school and from there to parents and their community, whole community shifts can happen and with that genuine environmental change.  The local connection to nature makes conservation real and actions to make a difference more manageable. Over the past year or so, Lucy has worked with St Patrick's School in Greymouth as they have followed the Trust's education resource, learned about local penguins and started taking actions to help them. Read Lucy's article for a UK environmental education journal here: Environmental Education journal article May 2018

Here's our Annual Report to update supporters and sponsors about all the work we do, from penguins to petrels and trapping to tamariki.

The Trust produces an Annual Report to update supporters and sponsors about all the work we do.  From penguins to petrels and trapping to tamariki, in the year to 31st March 2018 we have been busy! Our projects include studies to better understand the ecology of and threats to blue penguins, Fiordland crested penguins and Westland petrels, and we undertake predator control for seabirds.  We also have a wide ranging awareness and outreach project, including some excellent education work with an increasing number of schools. Read our annual report here: West Coast Penguin Trust - Annual Report 2018