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White Flippered Penguins

The White Flippered Penguin (Eudyptula albosignata)

Occurrence
The White-flippered penguin is often thought to be a subspecies of the Little Blue penguin. However recent mitochondrial DNA studies seem to imply that New Zealand’s North Island and the Chatham Island little penguins are a separate species of little penguins, distinct from the Australian little penguins and the New Zealand South Island Little Penguins birds and the white flippered penguin may be a sub-species of the former. It is very similar to the little blue penguin except that it has extensive white areas on each ridge of its flippers, giving it its name. It also is a slightly larger size and a lighter plumage. The penguin is about 30cm tall and weighs about 1.5kg.

White Flippered Penguins - Nesting

Nesting &Breeding
It nests only on Banks Peninsula and Motunau Island and the North Canterbury coast in New Zealand.

It likes to nest in burrows but also nests in caves or under rocks. It lays 2 white eggs and both parents incubate the eggs for about 35 days. The chicks are a fluffy dark grey and are guarded and fed by parents taking turns for 20 days after which they need more food so both parents go to sea to forage returning at night to feed them. The chicks are fully fledged at about 55 days old when they go to sea to feed themselves. It has a shorter breeding season than Little Blue Penguins and only rarely raises two chicks. For the first 2 years the young birds spend most of the time at sea returning occasionally during the summer to their nesting site. At 2 or 3 years old they mate and have their first brood, pairing up each summer afterwards usually with the same mate They live to around 15-17 years old with the oldest bird recorded being 23 years and 8 months old when last seen alive.

White Flippered Penguins - Threats

Threats
It is very severely in decline and has endangered status with only about 3750 breeding pairs in existence and rapidly decreasing.Of these about 2100 nest on Banks peninsula and 1650 on Motunau Island.
They are predated on by stoats, ferrets, weasels (the mustelid family), dogs, cats, etc on land. Predation is very severe in mainland locations, mostly by ferrets. However conservationists have been trapping the predators with some success.

Its diet is similar to that of the Little Blue Penguin, feeding on small fish, small squid, krill and other crustaceans,

The penguins can be seen in the Akaroa harbour.

White Flippered Penguins - Conservation

Conservation
In attempts to help these penguins 46 chicks were transferred by helicopter from Motunau Island to an existing colony in Harris bay, Godley Head, which is protected by steep cliffs and predator proof fencing. It was hoped that the penguins would return to the beach whence they first went to sea even though they had been there in nesting boxes only over night. The 55 day old fledglings headed off to sea at night and spent the next 10 months swimming up and down the east coast of New Zealand South Island without going ashore. Indications are that the penguins returned to Harris Bay where they were released.

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