Description: The world’s smallest penguin, little penguin (also known as little blue penguin) stand just over 25 cm and weigh around 1 kg. The plumage is slate-blue with a bright white belly. They are found on most of New Zealand's coastline and in southern Australia. They spend much of their time at sea hunting small fish, crustaceans and squid. Like all penguins they cannot fly, but their paddle-like flippers are excellent for ‘flying’ through the water. Little penguins forage for food up to 25 km offshore and 70 km from the colony. They can reach speeds of up to 6 kph underwater. Little penguins only come ashore under the cover of darkness and live underground in burrows, natural holes, or under human structures or buildings. The population and range of little penguin has been declining in areas not protected from predators. Where predator control is in place, populations have been stable or increasing. Adult birds come ashore between May and June to prepare nests. This small bird may waddle up to 1.5 kilometres from the sea, and climb 300 metres to find the perfect nest site. Traditional nests are in underground burrows, under vegetation, in crevices, between rocks or in caves. Since people came onto the coastal scene, little penguins have also taken to nesting under houses and boat sheds, in stormwater pipes, and stacks of timber. Usually two eggs are laid from August to November. Young chicks are generally not left alone until three weeks old, and then both parents are kept busy bringing in food. After about eight weeks the chicks are ready to fledge and fend for themselves. Independent once again, parents stock up on food before coming ashore to shed their feathers and grow a new waterproof coat. The moult lasts about two weeks and can happen any time between November and March. The penguins are especially vulnerable at this time as they cannot swim. (source: DOC website).This dataset is the result of a kernel density home range analysis performed on locations collected using archival GPS data loggers attached to blue penguins residing in the Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony. These locations were collected during the incubation and chick rearing stages of the 2010 breeding season which lasted between July and January that year. The home range analysis was created using the statistical software package R.
Copyright Text: Department of Conservation - Te Papa Atawhai Based on data collected by Philippa Agnew of the Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony.