Prominent New Zealand rugby player and Crusaders number 8 Kieran Read has taken a deft side-step in his rugby career. He is helping to raise awareness of New Zealand’s endangered yellow-eyed penguins and the work of the Yellow-eyed Penguin Trust that has done so much to ensure their survival into the 21st century. Recently capped New…

While avian diphtheria hit some Otago Peninsula populations of yellow-eyed penguins hard, overall the breeding season on Otago’s coast has been very positive, the Department of Conservation says.Doc recently finished its pre-fledge nest checks of yellow-eyed penguin populations along the coast from Oamaru to the Catlins. Doc ranger Mel Young said avian diphtheria caused the…

Yellow-eyed Penguins moult annually in February and March over a 3-4 week period. During this time they are very vulnerable to predation – disturbances by dogs or people can be fatal so please be extra careful when you are visiting beaches! Unlike other seabirds, penguins moult their feathers all at once and sometimes they look…

The Okia Reserve will be closed to the to the public for pest (possum) control as part of the Otago Peninsula Biodiversity Group’s Portobello to Taiaroa Head possum control operation. The Reserve will be closed on the 9-22nd March inclusive….

One of the highlights of working in the field as employees of the Yellow-eyed Penguin Trust is the unexpected sighting of uncommon ‘visitors’ to our remote beaches. This year a male southern elephant seal hauled out on one beach for several days. This one may have originated from one of the New Zealand subantarctic islands….

Jim Young’s year as an Awarded Teacher Fellow from the Royal Society of New Zealand is drawing to an end, and 2011 will see him returning to the classroom of the Catlins Area School which gave him a year’s leave to participate in this programme. Jim was hosted by the Yellow-eyed Penguin Trust to undertake…