Penguin Place

I have a soft spot for penguins, and we got to see many different types on this trip. Well, okay, it was mainly four types. Regardless, this was definitely the best setup. Sometimes I have mixed feelings about animals in captivity, but these were free. In the wild, you often can't see them very well. We had excellent views. Getting too close to wildlife can be bad for the animals and the humans, but this was really low impact.

It is all possible due to an elaborate network of bunkers. Actually, I asked one of the guides if the owner was former military, and he wasn't, but the blinds do have military origins. I think they were bought as surplus. Anyway, the blinds are linked by covered trenches, so you are always underground. I don't think the penguins are necessarily unaware that they are being watched, but they are never touched or approached, and they seem to feel pretty comfortable.

The land was a sheep farm, of course, much like Hobbiton. However, it is also coastal, and Yellow-eyed Penguins would come ashore and breed. If I understood correctly, the sheep are still there, but routed away from that part of the property, and the shelters and tunnels went up. The breeding population has more than doubled since they started.

That is not a huge increase, but considering all of the issues that native birds have had in New Zealand, it is not bad. They are solitary breeders, so each pair wants a certain amount of space. Also, as the newly hatched birds mature, they may not all choose to come back to the same area to breed. Once they pick a breeding spot they will be very consistent, but I think they said that does not happen until the birds are three years old, and they can end up somewhere else. However, if one bird has been coming back regularly, and then stops, that probably means it is dead. The crew there keeps track of the breeding pairs, and hatchlings. (We also learned that the same pairs come together season after season, but "divorces" do happen.)

This is a great place to support. Not only do you see penguins, but they can use the money. Even though they are very much helping with conservation, it is a private endeavor, and so there is no government funding. They just love the penguins, and have a chance to do something about it. They will sometimes get an injured bird shipped to them for rehabilitation, and the government may do some compensation for that, but really, no one is turning a large profit here.

That is one thing, in that although generally it is hands off, if there is a sick or injured bird they will try to help, which is how they have some ability to treat penguins from other areas. It is very much wildlife rehabilitation though, with the goal of re-release. There are no zoo connections because there are none in captivity. Usually the penguins you see in zoos are more social varieties.

Even if they don't wind up in huge mob scenes like the Emperor Penguins, they can co-exist with another species. You may notice that one of the pictures is of a mother duck and duckling. The father and other ducklings were around too, getting some swimming in. One penguin approached the pond, and you could see he wanted to go in, but the father was eyeing him suspiciously, and he hesitated. Eventually he did go in, but not too close, and there were no confrontations. And, what surprised me greatly was that in this situation, the penguin swam like a duck. Usually I see them launching like mini-torpedoes, so it was interesting to see a different mode.

There is also a picture of how the landscape plays out, so you kind of get an idea of what you were walking through, and how far it extends, and yet it still doesn't stick out that much.

The other manmade intervention you will notice is that the birds are in nesting boxes. Some did just set up under bushes, but in general they seemed to be very comfortable using these wooden a-frames for shelter. Anything to make it easier, I guess. They are considered threatened.

http://www.penguinplace.co.nz/
http://www.penguin.net.nz/species/yep/index.html