Environment – Long walks for little penguins

I was recently reminded of the ancient joke which starts ‘Why did the chicken cross the road?’ although my prompt was from a visitor who asked, ‘Why did the penguin climb the hill – it seems a huge effort just to rest up for a few hours at night?’.

And it’s true that our kororā/little penguins do sometimes walk a long way inland and uphill. The Department of Conservation’s website suggests they may walk as much as 1.5km and climb to 300 metres above sea level. 

Trail cameras at Shakespear Regional Park and on nearby Tiritiri Matangi Island have recorded kororā coming ashore just after dark and walking and climbing far inland. The misconception in the visitor’s question was that they do so, just to rest up. What they are doing is searching for, and finding, their chosen nest site and then guarding it from other penguins. 

On Tiritiri Matangi there are records of nests underneath the buildings near the lighthouse, under the boardwalks, in drainage pipes under roads, in holes under flax clumps, among tree roots, under the wharf, in crevices and holes in rocks, from cliff tops right down to just above the high tide level, and even in wooden nest boxes provided so we can monitor their progress. 

So, while some birds select sites right on the coast, others choose to walk far inland, so far indeed that it is a sensible question – surely they could find a suitable site closer to the shore? But, while I might judge that some birds walk far beyond what appear to be perfectly acceptable sites, the kororā clearly have different ideas about what makes a good site and are prepared to work a bit harder to get there.

Having chosen their site, they then put quite an effort into keeping it. Anyone who has spent a night trying to sleep while nearby duelling kororā fight over land rights will know what I mean. Disputes are very loud, can last for many minutes and sometimes come to blows as the residents fight to repel invaders. Struggles can continue over many nights. 

Last season on Tiritiri Matangi we found two eggs pushed out of a nest box (no adults were present). We put the eggs back in the box, but next day they had been pushed out again. This was likely a dispute between pairs over ownership of the box. There didn’t seem to be a winner, as the box was then abandoned.

Mainland kororā populations are believed to be declining, mainly due to attacks by dogs and other predators, by road kills, loss of their nest sites to developments and, at sea, to set nets. They do much better at places like Tiritiri Matangi and Shakespear Park.