Sandfly Bay yellow-eyed penguin/hōiho volunteers
Sandfly Bay
Description: Volunteers travel to Sandfly Bay in the late afternoons/early evenings on a roster basis.
This helps manage visitors to the beach with the aim of minimising their impacts on the yellow-eyed penguins as they return to their nests after feeding at sea.
This is of critical importance for these birds. Recent research has shown that yellow-eyed penguin breeding success at Sandfly Bay is lower than any other site being studied. It is also the site with the highest visitor numbers and, therefore, potential impact on adult birds and their young.
The other role that volunteers play is to explain how visitors to the bay should behave around the resident New Zealand sea lion population at the far end of the beach.
Dates: Labour Weekend (late October) to Easter (March/April)
Time: Late afternoon/early evening
Where: Sandfly Bay, Otago Peninsula
Number of volunteers required: 1-2 per day
Contact
Karen Connor
Ph: +64 3 474 6911
Email: kconnor@doc.govt.nz
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