Eudyptes pachyrhynchus: Fiordland Penguin

Fiordland Penguin - Eudyptes pachyrhynchus
( Gray, 1845 )

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Subspecies:	Unknown
Est. World Population:	12500-50000

CITES Status:	NOT LISTED
IUCN Status:	Near Threatened
U.S. ESA Status:	NOT LISTED

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Top Speed:
Jumping Ability:	(Horizontal)

Life Span:	in the Wild
Life Span:	in Captivity

Sexual Maturity:	(Females)
Sexual Maturity:	(Males)
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Habitat:

This species breeds in loose colonies along stretches of coastline in habitats ranging from mature temperate rainforest and dense scrub, to coastal caves and rocky shorelines. Penguins arrive at their breeding sites from mid-June onwards, with most nests established by mid-July. Two eggs are laid, which are incubated by both parents and hatch after 33 days (Warham 1974). Chicks fledge around mid- to late November. A diet study on the West Coast found that penguins brought predominantly squid (85%) ashore, followed by krill (13%) and fish (2%) (van Heezik 1989). Penguins from Codfish Island/Whenua Hou took primarily fish (85%) and squid (15%) (van Heezik 1990). Breeding penguins show site-dependent differences in foraging ranges, with birds from the Jackson Head, West Coast, and Open Bay foraging within 20-100 km radii from their breeding colonies, while penguins breeding in Milford Sound remained within the fiord most of the time (foraging radius <10 km) (Mattern and Ellenberg 2016; Poupart et al., 2019). On Codfish Island/Whenua Hou, Fiordland penguins were found to forage either very close inshore (<500 m of the island’s coast, presumably foraging in kelp forest) or travelled to deeper waters about 20-40 km west of the island (Mattern and Ellenberg 2018). Outside the breeding season, Fiordland penguins forage deep into the sub-antarctic south of Australia (Mattern et al. 2018, Mattern et al. unpublished data).

Range:

Eudyptes pachyrhynchus nests on the west to south-west coast of the South Island, New Zealand, from Bruce Bay in South Westland, to Coal Island in southern Fiordland. They are also found breeding on Solander Island, Codfish Island/Whenua Hou, along with Stewart Island and several of its offshore islands (Mattern and Wilson 2019). Non-breeding dispersal ranges from the subtropical front to the polar front with most birds foraging along the sub-antarctic front, travelling up to 3,000 km away to the Southwest of New Zealand. During the non-breeding season, birds have been observed on the Snares, Auckland, Campbell and Macquarie Islands. They are also common visitors to Tasmania, and are occasionally reported from mainland Australia (Mattern and Wilson 2019).

Conservation:

Conservation Actions Underway

The New Zealand Department of Conservation (DOC) established a Fiordland penguin Recovery Strategy 2012-17 plan that included continued population monitoring at representative sites, implementation of island biosecurity measures, and the investigation of the effects of predator control (DOC 2012). As part of a five-year project commenced in 2014, the marine ecology (foraging ranges, diving behaviour, diet composition) of breeding Fiordland penguins was studied across their entire breeding range; the project also investigated the pre-moult dispersal of adult penguins (Mattern and Ellenberg 2016; Mattern and Ellenberg 2020). The species’s non-breeding migration will be investigated between 2016 and 2021 (S. Waugh, pers. comm.). A video monitoring study examines the impact of introduced terrestrial predators on breeding Fiordland penguins (Wilson and Long 2015). Population surveys are being carried out at additional sites throughout South Westland and Stewart Island which have not been surveyed recently, or at all (R. Long 2018/19, unpublished data). The Department of Conservation has previously regularly monitored nest numbers at sites throughout the species's breeding range (Ellenberg et al. 2015); this programme was discontinued in 2016. At Harrison Cove in Milford Sound, an automatic wildlife monitoring system is being trialled for long-term population monitoring (Mattern 2019). The breeding islands are fully protected (S. Garnett in litt. 2020).

Conservation Actions Proposed

Expand the use of standardized census methods (Ellenberg et al. 2015) and survey areas of coastline not surveyed in the 1990s (Ellis et al. 1998). Predator eradication/control – particularly mustelids – is necessary to prevent reproductive failure and mortality (Mattern 2013). Establish guidelines to control visitor access to colonies. Obtain legal protection for accessible colony sites (Taylor 2000). Investigate the viability of automated monitoring solutions to be deployed at representative locations within the species’ breeding range (Mattern and Wilson 2019).