I was working in the South Island when I heard via the BirdingNZ birdwatching forum that an immature emperor penguin had been found on a North Island beach not far from Wellington, New Zealand’s capital city. It was apparently in good health, and it was anyone’s guess how long it would stay. Being only the second record of an emperor penguin on mainland New Zealand (the first was in Southland in 1967) I was eager to see it. I followed the regular updates on BirdingNZ, managed to finish work ahead of schedule, and brought my return ferry sailing forward a day. The media, of course, felt the need to give the bird a name, and “Happy Feet” became an international media star.
I got to Peka Peka beach half an hour before sunrise in Friday the 24th of June, four days after it was first discovered there, and there was already a crowd starting to build in the half light. At first I thought the emperor may have expired during the night, as it lay motionless on the black sand with a crowd of solemn onlookers, but eventually it took a breath and its body moved ever so slightly. This was a penguin that was clearly suffering from the temperate climate it now found itself in, and its condition had deteriorated significantly overnight. Emperor penguins are superbly adapted to the extreme cold of Antarctica, to such a degree that at times they may need to eat snow to cool themselves. Unfortunately for the Peka Peka penguin, that instinct nearly proved fatal. It was not pleasant to watch the ailing bird swallowing sand and driftwood in a vain attempt to find relief from the heat. Still, this is nature, and no emperor penguin has ever been found alive this far north before, so I took some photos, trying to make the most of the few times it raised its head. A couple of times it even stood.
Not long after I left Peka Peka Beach Department of Conservation officials received veterinary advice and the penguin was taken to Wellington Zoo. Over the following days vets and a gastroenterologist from Wellington Hospital carried out several operations to remove the large amounts of sand and sticks that the bird had swallowed. Housed in an ice filled room, its condition has improved over the past week. It’s expected to take several months for the penguin to fully recover and gain enough weight for it to be released to continue its journey in the ocean south of New Zealand.
I have mixed emotions about photographing a sick bird like this. Images of it eating sand are not very pleasant, and seeing it lying motionless on a driftwood strewn sandy beach while dogs and their owners stroll by is a rather bizarre scene. But, this is without doubt a remarkable bird, and one I’m pleased to have been lucky enough to see. You can see more photos of this emperor penguin in my gallery.