On Wednesday, staff reported a breeding pair at the colony were incubating the first eggs of the season — the earliest laid at Oamaru Harbour in 20 years.
The colony’s research scientist, Dr Philippa Agnew, said looking back over 23 years of breeding season data, it was clear the early start was "very unusual", but it was not necessarily surprising news given the colony’s apparent good health.
In the spring last year, the colony reported a record night when over 300 birds came ashore and the numbers were still up over the quieter autumn period.
"It probably means that there are plenty of fish out there for them to eat. When they’re coming ashore in higher numbers it means they’re not having to travel too far at sea for their food. So maybe that’s an indication that life’s good for a penguin out at sea if we’ve got a good number of penguins coming in.
"They’re good weights — that’s a good sign that things are going well. And then to top that off, early eggs is another indicator."
The penguins’ two eggs would be incubated for around 35 days, then the pair would raise the chicks for two months after that, "and then they might have a rest for a couple of weeks" and lay two more eggs.
The earliest start to breeding seasons recorded in Oamaru were 1995, 1996, 1997 and now 2017.
In the 1990s, when early-season egg-laying occurred there was typically a pause and the rest of the colony did not lay eggs for about a month afterwards.
And Dr Agnew expected the same to happen this year — across the colony egg-laying would peak in August. But little blue penguins were "pretty variable" when it came to the timing of breeding seasons.
"Early egg-laying directly relates and corresponds to higher breeding success," she said.
