A Field Day with the Penguin Professor

The day threatened squally rain but undeterred we packed our lunch and headed out on our field trip with Professor John Cockrem from Massey University. John had come to look around the Kaiteriteri bays to familiarize himself with the environment and penguin habitat.

John uses the golden sand as a whiteboard.

We covered several beaches, identifying natural burrows as well as sites where little blues had made themselves at home under decks and garden sheds. Man-made structures can be very accommodating from a little blue point of view!

Hiding a nest box under foliage helps to give it a more “natural” look.

John’s vast experience at other little penguin/korora colonies came to the fore when he demonstrated how nest boxes can be made more appealing by camouflaging them to blend in better with their environment. Nest boxes provide little blues with a higher degree of security from predators and can be more easily monitored to ensure their well being.