Alberto Roldan Sastre, who moved to Dunedin from Spain to study penguins, was stunned when a friend called to tell him an Adelie penguin had been seen at the beach on Monday evening.
He and his friends could not see the male penguin that evening, but had better luck when they returned at 5am yesterday — which just happened to be his birthday.
Mr Sastre described the experience as the "perfect combination of things".
"I was crying on the sand while taking the pictures.
"I came to New Zealand to work with penguins and then on my birthday seeing a new species of penguin that is so rare, it was like the perfect gift — and the sunrise was astonishing."
The penguins, famous for their starring role in the movie Madagascar, had only been seen a handful of times in New Zealand. Only about four of those sightings were of living penguins.
There was a recent sighting on Monkey Island in Southland, but this was believed to be the first recorded sighting in Dunedin.
Mr Sastre, a biological sciences student with the University of Akureyri in Iceland, came to Dunedin to study little blue penguins.
He and his friends spent more than an hour on the beach observing and taking photos of the penguin.
"My friends and I were trying to keep the dogs and the people away from the penguin, getting people to walk around."
Soon after its arrival, a Department of Conservation ranger collected the penguin and delivered it to Penguin Place run by Opera.
Adelie penguins travel infrequently from their habitat in Antarctica — about 3500km away.
A Doc spokesman said the penguin seemed to be in an "OK condition" and was being observed by Opera before its eventual release.
Opera penguin ranger Jason van Zanten said they had been discussing with Doc how to best support the penguin.
"It’s an incredibly independent bird and is not looking for a helping hand from us despite needing it."
They could not confirm whether it was the same Adelie penguin seen earlier this month on Monkey Island.
