First chicks make appearance at Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony

A 10-year-old female sits on the first chicks of the season at the Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony. Photo: Supplied

The first little penguin chicks of the season have arrived at Oamaru.

Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony staff found the first two chicks of the season yesterday under a 10-year-old female, one half of a pair of experienced breeders, colony research scientist Dr Philippa Agnew said.

The microchipped female laid the first egg of the season on June 28.

There were 24 eggs at the colony after last week's monitoring but now, along with the two chicks, there were 81 eggs at the colony at the old quarry site at Cape Wanbrow.

''Yep, all at once, from 24 to 81 [eggs],'' Dr Agnew said. ''That's pretty standard. We often get a slow start - a few for a start, and then a few more, and then all of a sudden, heaps.''

The number of eggs would continue to increase as the birds went through ''a few different stages of egg-laying'' during the breeding season.

''There will be quite a few eggs each week now until the middle of September perhaps,'' Dr Agnew said. ''There will still be new eggs most weeks, because a lot of these birds that are laying eggs, in this early stage, will go on to produce a second brood.''

Generally, about mid-September breeding pairs that would produce just a single clutch would produce eggs.

Then, in October and November, birds that would lay a ''double clutch'' - producing their second brood - would start to lay eggs again after fledging their first chicks, producing ''that final wave of eggs''.

At this time last year there were 26 eggs, from 13 pairs at the colony.

Now there were 49 breeding pairs at the colony.

The good start to the breeding season this year was predictable after foraging behaviour, tracked at the colony before the breeding season started, showed the birds were foraging very close to home.

This year, the number of breeding pairs at the colony would not be known until Christmas, but with an average 9% growth, it was expected there could be up to 200 breeding pairs at the colony this year.

Last year 189 breeding pairs produced 370 chicks.

The chicks would be weighed at two weeks of age.

Across the harbour at the Oamaru Creek reserve colony, there were 50 eggs - none had hatched - and 34 breeding pairs at present.

Last year at the same time, there was only one breeding pair.

hamish.maclean@odt.co.nz