A Taranaki family has paused work on the replacement of its coastal bach after a pair of nesting little blue penguins/kororā took up residence beneath their floorboards.
The Vile family, who live in Waitara and have had the classic two-bedroom fibreboard bach at Urenui for about five years, are now watching as the nesting pair of birds raise a chick.
"The previous owners told us penguins nested here, and we've been quite used to them," dad Scott Vile says. "The penguins have always come and gone. We've watched them come across the beach at night, like little drunken sailors!"
The family's bach is about 30 metres from the beach. Before the bach replacement project started in October, Scott checked to see if there any penguins beneath the house – but saw none. But just a few days into the demolition, he checked again and discovered the penguins under another area of floor.
"I got I actually got a bit of a fright," Scott says. "They had a burrow down one side of the house, and had made a tunnel to their nest."
Although there were two chicks discovered initially, sadly one has not survived. However, the surviving chick seems to be doing well: "I'm not a bird person, but they're cute!" says Scott. "They're really blue, a beautiful colour."
Scott says his wife Natalie and their children Bentley and Jordan have been thrilled by the penguins: "We've been amazed by how fast the chick has grown," he says. "It's been pretty cool to watch them grow."
The penguin family hasn't been perturbed by the human family, and Scott says once the penguins are done, the bach project will resume.
"It's just one of those things – we'll still come up here sometimes. We just want to be respectful of the birds," he says. "We'll just see what happens, and let them do their thing. They'll get a new bach as well, hopefully!"
Anne-Maree McKay, Pou Taiao for Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Mutunga, says the penguin chick has been fitted with a microchip as part of a Ngāti Mutunga- Ngā Motu Marine Reserve Society project.
The joint project allows for individual penguins to tracked, and their movements and feeding habits better understood. Several whānau and dozens of volunteers are involved in checking and monitoring the penguins at three locations along the Taranaki coastline.
Anne-Maree says the Urenui penguins are very familiar with people, particularly given the influx of summer holidaymakers every year.
The microchipping of the Urenui chick means it could be monitored for several years – and possibly its entire life – particularly if it takes up residence in the area, as his parents have.
"The kororā come back to the same nesting boxes, we try to get GPS trackers on at least a couple each year so we can find out how far out they're going for foraging," Anne-Maree says.
Anne-Maree acknowledges Scott and his family for "being such good sports, and happily letting the kororā stay".
DOC Taranaki Principal Operations Advisor Kelby Clements says the Vile family's decision to pause their project for the penguins' benefit is "naturing at its best".
"This is a great example of how small acts of naturing make a difference to protecting our precious native species. By pausing their project, Scott and his family have made a real difference to this little family of kororā, and that will contribute to our understanding of the species' local population."
Background information
Kororā or little blue penguins are the world's smallest penguin species. Their populations have been declining where they are not protected from predators. Threats to the birds increase where there is human development in coastal areas.
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