Over the winter the Waitaki District Council installed rock armouring along 240m of the shoreline between Oamaru Creek and Holmes Wharf in front of the reserve of about 250-nesting boxes. At the same time the fencing surrounding the colony was moved 7m inland and extended 20m further north to create more space for the penguins.
The Oamaru Creek colony is used as a control site for the Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony's ongoing penguin monitoring at the harbour. And Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony research scientist Dr Philippa Agnew said the nesting boxes were installed in the hope that some birds - which might otherwise nest in and under buildings in town - would move to the now roomier colony.
``We're hoping to encourage the birds to just move in here and stay here, rather than trying to nest under buildings and things in the town.''
With up to 1200 little penguins living in Oamaru Harbour, most were split between the Oamaru Creek colony and the Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony's commercial colony at the old quarry, but there would always be ``spill over'', with birds nesting in a variety of spots throughout the harbour area, including under the nearby historic buildings.
Established at the same time, the Oamaru Creek colony had always been the smaller of the two established colonies.
With breeding season well under way, Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony monitors counted 109 breeding pairs at the creek colony this week, compared with 175 at the commercial colony.
The Oamaru Creek colony this year had already produced ``200-odd eggs'' and 95 chicks with the earliest of the chicks ready to head to sea and their parents likely to lay more eggs this season.
This week, the nesting boxes were built by staff from Z Energy.
Retailer for Z-Energy Jonathan Usher, of Dunedin, said the dozen staff in Oamaru building and distributing nesting boxes were doing so as a part of the company's ``good in the hood'' programme.
Fencing at either end of the reserve would be completed soon, as would additional planting in the area, Dr Agnew said.
Tourism Waitaki's Brooke Kofoed said the tourist season at its Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony was starting to pick up - as were the number of penguins coming ashore during evening viewings, with more than 200 penguins coming ashore at the commercial colony each night this week.
