Little Penguin colonies show signs of recovery

Two beleaguered Little Penguin colonies in Australia have shown signs of recovery this year.

The species has suffered declines at sites in south-eastern Australia during recent decades but, in 2023, two colonies have begun to bounce back.

A former colony at Eden, New South Wales, was abandoned three decades ago due to predation from foxes, dogs and White-bellied Sea Eagles, as well as sustained erosion of the colony. This year, however, a pair arrived and raised a single chick. 

Little Penguin is showing signs of recovery in south-eastern Australia (JJ Harrison).

Dedicated conservation work helped this happen. First, foxes and dogs were excluded from the site, and then an area of artificial habitat was constructed. Conservationists then played recordings of a flourishing Little Penguin colony each night during the breeding season to help lure birds back.

Nicholas Carlile, from the Australasian Seabird Group, said: "We're slowly coercing these birds into thinking this is a really good penguin colony site. The penguins think ‘oh there's a party, let's go join it'.

"The idea is to establish as many pairs as we can and eventually those pairs will produce enough young that those young will come back and keep the colony going. Generally, about 10% of chicks that fledge come back … it's a very slow burn establishing a seabird colony."

Meanwhile, at Victor Harbor in South Australia, a colony on Granite Island has increased slightly in 2023. During a penguin census of the island last month, volunteers counted 28 birds, up from last year's tally of 26, though a number of new burrows were also found too.

Although the increase in numbers was slight, it reflects the increasing trend detected in the last few years; in the early 2000s, there were fewer than 20 Little Penguins living on the island and it was feared that the colony was doomed.