Places for Penguins
Through pest control and habitat restoration, we’re giving the little blue penguin a fighting chance of reversing its population decline in urban Wellington.
This community driven programme was established on the Miramar peninsula in Wellington during Wellington’s Seaweek in 2007.
It focuses on coastal restoration, predator control, and nest-box building to establish favourable habitat and safe homes for Little Blue Penguins.
We also run education campaigns to raise awareness about Little Blue Penguins and encourage people to adopt responsible dog control.
The nesting program was test-launched by the Waitaki branch in Oamaru and has since been adopted by the West Coast Blue Penguin Trust.
There are now 300 nest boxes in the Oamaru area and Places for Penguins has established 250 nest boxes in the Wellington area.
Seatoun, Wellington High School, Strathmore school and the Wellington City Council & Greater Wellington Regional Council help out with the program and are involved in program activities. In 2012, Wellington Zoo became a Places for Penguins partner as well.
In the future, we hope to expand the Places for Penguins project to include other areas the penguins call home including Hawke’s Bay and Taranaki.
Little Blue Penguins: Life cycle
Little Blue Penguins (kororā) live around all of New Zealand’s coastal areas (except the Sub-Antarctic islands and the Kermadec Islands), and in South Australia and Tasmania.

They are the world’s smallest penguin, standing only 35-43 cm (just slightly taller than a rugby ball) and weighing slightly over 1kg.
Little Blue Penguins have a slate blue back with a white belly—perfect camouflage for blending in against the lighter water as seen from below and the darker as seen from above.
The birds hunt at sea, feeding on small sardine-sized fish, and may swim up to 25km offshore and up to 70km from their colonies, reaching speeds of 6kph. In fact, their Latin name Eudyptula minor means“good little diver”.
Read more about Little blue penguin at: