Find of early penguin eggs ‘really good news'
A little penguin has laid eggs in April at the Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony for the first time. PHOTO: NIC DUFF
A record has been set at the Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony.
Two little penguin eggs were found on Wednesday.
It was the first time the penguins had laid eggs in April at the colony and just the second time in New Zealand.
Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony science and environmental manager Dr Philippa Agnew said the entire team was buzzing with excitement.
"It's really good news because it means that, hopefully, it's going to be a really good season."
Because there were two eggs and it typically took three or four days between laying, Dr Agnew estimated the first lay date was April 18.
They typically laid eggs in the first week of July and the earliest the penguin colony had previously seen eggs laid was early May, she said.
"To have eggs two weeks earlier than that is just really great."
Laying eggs early means the penguins can have more later in the season.
It was a stark contrast to last season, in which the penguins laid eggs later than usual, Dr Agnew said.
"In the winter time, there was this continuously stormy weather that created a really poor marine environment, so there was lots of sediment and it was really murky."
This contributed to the early laying this year.
"That meant the penguins finished up the season quite early and they went in to the moult relatively early as well, so they were all in really good condition in autumn compared to last year."
However, it was not all good news for the penguin colony as the team had needed to euthanise a penguin just before Easter after it was caught up in discarded fishing line.
"It was picked up from Holmes Wharf and it had some fishing line tied quite high on its leg for a long time.
"There was definitely infection in the flipper and infection in the other foot. He would've been in a really awful lot of pain.
"We collectively agreed that the humane thing to do was to euthanise it, because they can't survive at sea with only one leg."
It was important people took all rubbish with them as it tended to end up in the marine environment and cause damage to the penguins, she said.
nic duff@odt.co.nz
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