Figures released this week show breeding pairs of the threatened species at the Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony have increased by a whopping 748% in the 30 years since monitoring began.
The colony was established in 1993 and is now a key tourist destination in the Waitaki District.
Colony science and environmental manager Dr Philippa Agnew said they have continually observed and counted the penguins as they arrived ashore — with the exception of storm events and Covid lockdowns — for the past three decades.
Dr Agnew, who has worked at the colony since 2006, said breeding pairs had increased from 33 in 1994 to 280 at the end of 2022.
Although the penguin colony had 11 breeding pairs onshore this week, this would rise as the breeding season progressed.
The overall breeding numbers were calculated at the end of each breeding season.
"It will grow [over the season] to 250 probably ... just because they don’t all start breeding in the winter.
"In the winter, it’s a little bit unpredictable because they come and go."
As luck would have it, during a free open week for Waitaki locals most of the pairs were at sea.
"It’s unfortunate that the timing has been such that the numbers have dropped a little bit this week.
"They just come and go. It’s a wild colony so that’s the beauty of it."
A successful free admission week last year for the colony’s 30th year prompted them to do it again this week.
Colony team leader Georgie Catto said the free week had been popular and their main viewing stand was nearly at capacity.
"[On Tuesday] night we had about 200 locals and a few paying customers of course.
"We’ve probably had that number every night, although on Saturday night we have 300."
They had received good feedback from the locals.
"It’s obviously been a little bit difficult.
"[On Tuesday] night we didn’t have too many penguins coming back, but people still seemed quite happy."
