Pohatu Penguins

‘Footlooseinme’ welcomes you to the land of ‘kororā’. Yes! The land of ‘kororā’, the Maori name for the little Penguins. The Little Penguin, the Little Blue Penguin, or the Fairy Penguin is the smallest penguin species in the world. The Australian Little Penguin species differs slightly from those in New Zealand. ‘Pohatu’ refers to the location of the largest Little Penguin (Eudyptula minor) colony in mainland New Zealand. So let’s visit the Pohatu Penguins of New Zealand and know their incredible conservation story.

Little Penguins are generally 30 – 33 cm tall with a blue head and slaty-grey ear coverts fading to white underparts. As I mentioned earlier, the Australian Little Penguins (Eudyptula novaehollandiae) differ from the New Zealand Little Penguins (Eudyptula minor). Eudyptula minor does not have the bright blue colouration of the feathers. A subspecies of the Eudyptula minor known as white-flippered penguins (Eudyptula minor albosignata) is found only in the Banks Peninsula in New Zealand. 

In this post, I will take you to the Little Penguins colony that was on the verge of extinction. The prolonged conservation effort of the ‘Help’ family has helped this colony to survive and thrive in this region of New Zealand. Terrestrial threats were in the form of introduced species like cats, dogs, rats, ferrets and stoats. Fire has also been an important part of the threat on land. While at sea gill net fishing and oil spills were the major threats.

Let us learn a little about the behavioural aspect of the Little Penguins before we get to know the conservation effort done by this family. Eudyptula minor bread along the coastline of New Zealand. The nests are in the form of burrows along the coastline, either dug by them or by some other animals. These little penguins do not travel very far to forage and always return back to their nest. Both the parents take responsibility for feeding and rearing the chick. They feed on small schooling fish, cephalopods, krill, and microzooplankton.

Being flightless and ground dwellers, they are susceptible to all types of threats on the land. The Pohatu Penguins were pushed to the brink of extinction and the colony was supposed to be erased from the map when the local farm owner’s family stepped into the conservation effort. The ‘Help’ family had their sheep farm in the southeastern corner of Banks Peninsula. Shireen and her husband Francis were used to see Penguins nesting by the shoreline within their farm.

Gradually their numbers started decreasing. The introduced predators hunted these little birds rampantly. Human disturbances affected the nesting sites while increased gill netting gave them a slow trapped death in the waters. In this way, the number of Pohatu Penguins reduced drastically. Shiren and Francis were seriously concerned and wanted to act on the conservation process of the Pohatu Penguins.

With no initial help from the DoC (Department of Conservation), they took the matter into their own hands. They decided to work on the conservation and rehabilitation of the Pohatu Penguins starting from their farm on the hill. They began by trapping the predators, creating safe barriers for the Pohatu Penguins to nest and providing them with readymade nesting sites. Gradually educating themselves, their neighbours and the locals about the Little Penguins they managed to create a safe place for the Pohatu Penguins to breed.

The help family took all possible measures to ensure the proper rehabilitation of the Penguins. With years of effort, the number of little penguins started to increase. The Department of Conservation finally recognised their positive conservation process. Other conservationists, family and friends joined them. Together, they have been working for three decades for the conservation of the Pohatu Penguins. They now run the certified family-owned business of ethical eco-tours to the Pohatu Bay or the Pohatu Marine Reserve.

Their family business has been a completely self-funded conservation process through the Pohatu Penguin Tour. They have been the leaders in conservation for thirty-plus years in Pohatu Bay. Apart from the conservation process of the Pohatu Penguins the Help family also works to protect the native forest and the other endemic species in the area. 

There are various Pohatu Penguins tours available and you can check them here: https://www.pohatu.co.nz/ . We took the evening Pohatu Penguin tour to see the cute little penguins in their nest. With our tickets booked, we arrived at Akaroa from Christchurch. (Read my previous post on Christchurch.) Our tour was supposed to start at 6.30 PM from Akaroa. We reached the meeting point in front of their office beside the Anglican Church in Akaroa on time. 

After the initial formalities, they took the small batch of the day on two 4WD vans through the scenic landscapes of Akaroa. The expert guide cum conservationist, through her constant commentary, introduced us to Akaroa, the Pohatu Penguin Conservation Project along with the history and geography of the Banks Peninsula. She also narrated in detail how the endemic plant and animal life was destroyed by the introduction of foreign species by the colonisers.

She educated us with Maori names (the language of the native Maori people) of the endemic species. We came across the bright yellow coloured bush that coated every hill and slope. We were highly delighted to see nature in its glory. Later during her commentary, we came to know about the harsh reality of these pretty yellow shrubs that covered all available unattended space in the wild.

They are the highly invasive weed called Gorse. Gorse was introduced by the European settlers to be used as hedges or windbreakers. It found the favourable temperate climate here and began to thrive before the colonisers even realised the threat. Gorse spread rapidly and covered every available space. It used up the ground resources and space killing the native plants.

Gorse is immensely resilient. After being recognised as a threat controlling it became an arduous job. Gorse are thorny bushes, removing them by hand was not possible. Cutting them from the shoot did not solve the problem as the roots spread even further. Fire has not helped either. Every possible way of Gorse removal resulted in further growth and spread of the weed. The tough seeds can lie dormant on the ground even for more than 50 years. 

A relatively new process of controlling the growth of Gorse has shown promising results. While many processes to eradicate the Gorse are in use these days bombing gorse with seed balls has been very effective along the slopes where other methods do not work. In this process, seed balls of native species are bombed on the Gorse fields. When young the Gorse is very thick and bushy but as it grows older it becomes leggy and the native seed bombs that have been dispersed take this opportunity to germinate. The native trees outgrow the gorse and cut the available sunlight. In the absence of adequate sunlight, the Gorse dies out. 

Listening to this commentary and winding through the scenic turns of the Bank’s Peninsula we reached the Help’s farm at Pohatu Bay. It is a sheep farm and as we entered the fenced farm area, three little cossets came running to us. Three bottles of milk were handed to those interested in feeding these little ones. After feeding the lambkins, we then entered another fenced grassland. We were given camouflage ponchos to put on before we entered the Pohatu Penguin nesting area. 

Two 4WD had two designated guides and thus we were divided into two groups. We followed our respective guides and their orders. They took us to the small boxes scattered around the slope by the bay. These boxes are designed with small openings and are covered with heavy stones. They serve as the little Penguins’ readymade predator-proof nests. 

There are numerous such nests scattered around the area. Every nests are under constant monitoring in a non-invasive way. One nest can only be opened once in 15 days in order not to threaten the Penguins nesting in the boxes. The conservationists and the guides note the observation in the surveillance App on their cell phones. Once the top of the box is closed it cannot be opened in the next 15 days. The heavy lid on a couple of boxes was cautiously removed for a few minutes for viewing and gently closed back.

In both the boxes that were shown to us, resided the white-flippered Penguins and their single chicks. We were asked not to use flash for photography, not to speak loudly, and not to do any activity that would intimidate the little penguins. We followed every instruction by the book. Then we were shown the traps that are laid to capture the predators. And finally, we were taken through the walking trail by the sea where we could see the Fur seals lazing on the rocks.

We reached a point from where we could see the Pohatu Penguin colony swimming in the waters. It was already dusk and they were quite far so visibility was reduced and the photos were not as per the expectations. After this wonderful sighting, we returned back to the starting point. We returned the Binoculars and Ponchos and took our seats in the 4WD vans to get back to Akaroa. 

Pohatu Penguin Tours also provides farm stay options here. There are pretty cottages within the farm for those who are interested in staying. All the income generated in this process is used in the conservation of the Pohatu Penguins. What a noble initiative with a fruitful outcome. Today, this is the largest Little Penguin Colony on mainland New Zealand with over 2000 penguins breeding here. With great respect and admiration for the good work of the family and the team, we left the Little Penguins in their haven of Pohatu Bay or the Fle Bay to return to Akaroa.