Rare crested penguin washes up on Farewell Spit
Chris Pomeroy holds the Fiordland Crested Penguin that he found washed up on Farewell Spit. Photo: Gerard Hindmarsh.
Chris Pomeroy was taking tourists out on a Farewell Spit Nature Tour last month when they spotted a dead penguin washed ashore half way along the outer beach.
“We routinely stop to look at anything like this, but as soon as we got close I could tell it was quite a different species from the little blue ones we normally see out here,” said Chris.
Back at the Department of Conservation, the 600mm-long penguin with pale yellow crests above its eyes was positively identified as a Fiordland Crested Penguin, out of its usual range for sure, but not entirely unheard of in these parts. Several years ago, one turned up in a sea cave at Wharariki and was identified from photographs taken by several passing tourists.
Historically, records of the species’ unsuccessful attempts to nest have come from as far north as Cook Strait, but the more common range of this bird is the coasts of Otago, western Stewart Island, the Solander Islands and from Western Southland through all the fiords north to Okarito and South Westland up to Jackson’s Bay.
Normally they nest in caves or deep cavities beneath the roots of trees in coastal forests, and are rarely seen standing in the open during daylight hours. The only conspicuous nesting groups are on Big Solander Island. Two eggs are laid around July, the first slightly smaller than the second, but under normal breeding conditions both are hatched in August and two chicks frequently reared. Outside the breeding season, these penguins become birds of the open ocean, hence their occasional appearances further north.
Unfortunately, over the last 20 years, the number of Fiordland Crested Penguins has declined drastically; in the 1980s, their global population was estimated at 10,000 breeding pairs, but this is now down to 2,500 to 3,000 pairs. Cats and stoats are thought to be the main predators, although weka are known to take around one third of the penguin eggs on Solander Island.
Autopsy results on the Farewell Spit bird have been delayed and are due back shortly, but several days of heavy weather preceding its discovery may have been a contributing factor in its demise.
Gerard Hindmarsh
