Where to find penguins in new zealand

Where to Stay : Mohua Park is a rural retreat with 4 lovely private cottages set in beautiful bush countryside. Their wonderful tours take in the best of the rugged and remote landscapes, and also offer the opportunity of seeing fur seals, sealions and a variety of forest and sea birds. It has 26 contemporary rooms, and a fantastic restaurant. Come to the Banks Peninsula to see a fourth species of penguin — the white-flippered penguin, or Australasian little penguin.

Only guided tours are allowed onto the Pohatu Marine Reserve to visit the breeding colony, but getting there is a real adventure by sea kayak or four-wheel drive. Where to stay : Annandale Luxury Villas is a working coastal farm with four breathtaking villas, set in stunning scenery and offering complete privacy. A stay here is simply unforgettable.

Join our monitoring team as we walk around the colony to check on our Little Penguins, and observe our rehabilitation efforts up-close and personal rehabilitation tends to occur mid November — January. You will see many birds coming ashore at one time. It is not a walking tour, rather, you can comfortably sit in their grandstand as you and others observe the penguins under dimmed lights. Purchasing a tour with Oamaru helps fund some wonderful Little Penguin research! There are several operators that offer fantastic tours:.

Good set up, includes rehabilitation. At Moeraki there is a very high diversity of wildlife and sea-birds, but it is unfortunately a typical example of uncontrolled tourism.

This is having a devastating impact on the population of yellow eyed penguins. What has happened at Moeraki is devastating for penguin conservation and has all penguin conservationists very upset. It became overrun by tourists, so much so that it disturbed the penguins ability to breed, causing what was once the best penguin colony in New Zealand, to almost fail altogether. So please, if you do go there, join Penguin Rescue, a charitable trust operating from the lighthouse.

For those looking for a tour you can just explore the coastline by yourself if you prefer , one tour company is Penguin Place - Conservation Reserve based out of the southern city of Dunedin. It is a private conservation effort that provides tours to see the precious Yellow Eyed Penguin. Penguins in New Zealand have little sense of fear, so be careful about approaching too close as your presence may disturb them. This lack of fear is making them vulnerable to predation by dogs, cats, and weasels in New Zealand.

Predation is a major threat to these delightful birds lacking any ability to defend themselves before humans arrived in New Zealand introducing animals with them, there were no land-based predators in New Zealand so they didn't need to fear. While scanning the coastlines of New Zealand for these cute and iconic birds you will be able to see many other kinds of marine life. You are nearly guaranteed to see scores of fur seals lazily basking on the rocks and perhaps dolphins, whales, and even if you go to the right place a Royal Albatross colony.

The wildlife beauty of New Zealand hardly stops there, New Zealand is home to some of the world's strangest birdlife. It is a southern paradise just waiting to be explored. One hotspot of New Zealand's marine wildlife is the Otago Peninsula. This small peninsula is only a short drive from Dunedin. Go at the right time of year and you will be greeted with a dizzying array of marine life.

That being said the whale watching hotspot is about miles up the South Island at Kaikoura where mountains literally flow into the sea. Additionally, if you are up by the main city in the North Island, Auckland, be sure to check out the Gannet colony there - most of the colonies are on tiny islands off-shore but this one is on the coast and you can approach within 10 yards of them nesting. The breeding season is the summer months.