Flippers followed foraging: Napier Port maps out kororā route

The penguins' foraging trips from Napier Port. Those shown in yellow and red lasted 7 days. The tracks in green show trips of 3 and 5 days. Photo / Supplied

Little blue penguins/kororā who nest at the Napier Port Kororā Sanctuary have travelled up to 50km offshore and up to 80km down the east coast to forage.

As part of Napier Port's kororā research partnership with Massey University, tracking devices were fitted to five penguins – the first time they have been tracked as they roam.

Professor John Cockrem of Massey University provided his expertise to the Napier Port team and attached small tracking devices to penguins which collected data on their locations and diving behaviour.

Tracking of kororā from Napier Port's sanctuary was conducted from September to November this year.

The trackers have a battery life of about a month, and needed to be retrieved from the penguins so data could be uploaded and batteries recharged.

"There has been limited research conducted on Kororā feeding habits to date, so gathering this new data has been a valuable and exciting project for everyone involved," a Napier Port spokesman said.

Napier Port also achieved a significant milestone last week when they microchipped the port's 200th little blue penguin, a six-week old chick.