what’s up with Kororā?

2024 NZ Birds Conference Presentation

Abstract

New Zealand Penguin Initiative: what’s up with Kororā?

Hiltrun Ratz1 and Melissa McLuskie1

1 New Zealand Penguin Initiative, Epworth House, 75 Taranaki St., Te Aro, Wellington 6011 (hiltrun.ratz@nzpi.nz, melissa.mcluskie@nzpi.nz)

The New Zealand Penguin Initiative (NZPI) was established in 2019 as an independent, privately funded penguin conservation organization with the aim to enhance and protect all New Zealand penguin species and habitats. Supporting individuals and groups, NZPI facilitates primarily monitoring of Little penguins/ Kororā by volunteer groups to gather valuable data about their local populations, breeding success and survival. Numbers and trends are unknown for many parts of New Zealand, and anecdotally Kororā numbers appear to be declining but little data is available. NZPI’s advocacy involves collaboration with the Department of Conservation and councils to protect and enhance local populations. Groups can commit to three levels of Kororā monitoring: Tier 1, the highest commitment, includes micro-chipping adults and chicks and regular and long-term monitoring (weekly or fortnightly); Tier 2 groups commit to regular monitoring of their unmarked population; and Tier 3 groups deploy trail cameras and count footprints on beaches to determine presence and number of penguins. There are 18 groups working with NZPI in March 2024 and 37 groups have expressed interest. NZPI provides support through expertise, assists with permit applications, micro-chip certification, advocacy, provides a standardised method of data collection, a network of like-minded groups for feedback and exchange of ideas, resources and a centralised database culminating in a website accessible dashboard displaying basic population parameters. NZPI is working towards a national overview of the Kororā population, and we want to talk with anyone that knows about penguins especially in areas where their distribution and abundance is unknown.