Korora or the Little Blue Penguin

Little Blue Penguins or Korora are a key species around the coast of NZ, and over the years we have witnessed the road deaths of alarming numbers on the highway.

From 2002 to 2012 the road deaths we recorded on one 2km stretch of road alone amounted to 100 penguins or 10 deaths a year. It seemed quite obvious that no penguin colony would survive that kind of impact so something needed to be done. As we were the only people living near this beach at the time and nobody else was really realising the extent of the deaths, it was up to us to bring awareness to their plight.

During this time, we met only one survivor we named him Pedro. He had been hit by a vehicle and blinded in one eye. We worked with the vet to care for Pedro and the little blue spent 3 weeks living in our bathroom (and on the lawn and in paddling pools) recovering from the head injury. In the end the sight had not returned in one eye, and it was decided Pedro would not survive in the wild as without biopic vision he wouldn’t be able to range find and catch fish.

So with much reluctance and consulting, it was decided to take him over the hill to the Antarctic centre in Christchurch. I will never forget driving down the coast on that beautiful morning talking to my penguin passenger, in total despair that I was taking this little blue away from the ocean where he belonged. But travel we did a penguin in the mountains! Over the hill and to the Antarctic centre where he was to live with other inured penguins.

Once there, we discovered Pedro was not a “he” but in fact was Pedreta! Pedreta settled in well and had starring roles both moving in on other penguins boyfriends/girlfriends and in her current role as disability assist to a penguin that was fully blinded. Pedro os still alive at the Antarctic Centre today and is the oldest surviving penguin in residence.

As a result of the staggering amount of penguin deaths on the Coast road, we worked with the West Coast Blue Penguin Trust, to come up with a plan for a fence alongside the road to stop the little blues crossing. This seemed to be the lesser of two evils. The penguins would really rather cross the road and go and nest higher away from the ocean, but by crossing the road the local species was getting wiped out, so the decision was made to trial a fence. The fence has been installed over a couple of kilometres, and is a simple fix. There is still room for the penguins to nest on the sea side of the fence, and we do hope to help put in extra burrow space .

The fence was installed in 2014, and it runs 2.6kms along the highway. From installation until earlier this year 2022, there has not been a single recorded death by vehicle on this stretch. Unfortunately there do remain some gaps in the fence where Bach owners have been reluctant to agree to the fence in front of their property! This is a delicate work in progress to get people to agree willingly to keep the team effort on the side of looking after the Korora without any other problems arising. Sadly earlier this year, the first one was killed that had made it through a gap at one of the holiday houses, now we have evidence these gaps need to be closed.

We continue to volunteer our time protecting these darling little creatures. We regularly walk the fence and fix up holes that may have appeared. Cut greenery back and perform maintenance tasks on the fence. We keep and eye out on burrows and discourage activities which may have an effect. As the little blues are so hard to spot, it is easy to do things which may interfere without realising it.

One of these things might be having a beach fire right where the penguin will be walking in to its burrow, therefore after a long and tiring day out at sea the Korora may be too afraid to come up and may be put under extra stress in these situations. Dogs are another problem as they sniff out the burrow and may disturb or stress breeding birds. Stoats and rats have been thought to be a problem, but not so much as the threat from cars and dogs.

Here is a link to the West Coast Blue Penguin Trust who do all the hard work in advocating and protecting this delicate species. There is a lot of information on their site if you wish to learn more.

I have a collection box for the WCBPT and accept donations on their behalf. I also have periods of donating to the trust from sales I make.

https://www.westcoastpenguintrust.org.nz/projects/pahautane-penguin-fence/

A great deal of my work is influenced by the birds in our environment. There are stories behind many of my etchings and paintings, some wonderful and some a bit sad. But the opportunity for learning and caring for our immediate environment is there, and the connectedness to actual occurrences and events is frequent.