| Our first stop was to watch the yellow-eyed penguins return to Bushy Beach, not too far from the town centre. These little guys are very timid. The beach must remain clear from 3pm on or they will turn around and stay at sea. Additionally, you may only view them from above on the cliff. If they see anyone, they get scared and stay away. They start home at about 7pm. |  The "Viewing Hide" |
 Two Babies - turned left. Can you see them? |
There are 26 penguins currently in this colony. 9 of which have young this year. The mommies and daddies take turns staying home with their young. When the absent parent comes home, the sitter will jump out for a swim and grab some food for themselves. We were fortunate enough to see a daddy feeding his babies right on the hillside. We had our binoculars or otherwise would have missed it all. |
| You really had to stay pretty far away from them in order to keep them happy. Because of this, you'll see that our shots are all pretty hard to see. We got to see about 7 or 8 of them return and were pretty close to one of the families. |  Mommy - after her swim |
| Our next stop was to see the little blue penguins come home to the Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony These little guys don't come home until the sun goes down. They go out early and come back late - in fact, if they don't have young at home, they might not come in at all. The blue penguins are much more common in town and have actually been a pest in the past. They'll nest anywhere and can be found wandering around the streets at night. |  Heading up the hill |
 Crossing the road |
Again...because these little snots are so particular, we had to view from a bleacher bench on the hill. It's nighttime so these shots are all crap, too. We got to see 74 of them come in that night, though. They surf in and preen before crossing the street to the nesting reserve that's been set up for them. The Colony has a webcam set up, so you can check in on them at anytime to see what they're up to! |
Home