Little Penguin Monitoring at Middle Island: 2012-13 Breeding Season

The conservation and monitoring of Little Penguins at Middle Island, off the Warrnambool coast of mainland Victoria, involves a strong partnership between Warrnanmbool Coastcare Landcare Group (WCLG), Warrnambool City Council (WCC) and the community.

coastwatch_21The monitoring program at Middle Island provides critical information about the Little Penguins including estimates of the number of adult penguins occupying the island over their breeding season, as well as the health of the colony including their condition and breeding success. This knowledge has informed the Maremma Guardian Project which has successfully reversed the decline of Little Penguins on the island as a result of fox predation. It has also provided information to other groups such as the Phillip Island Nature Park, to build a picture of the Little Penguin’s status across its south-east Australian range.

For more background information on the project, please click here.

Nature Glenelg Trust is excited to join this partnership, with scientific officer Lauren Kivisalu undertaking the role of Little Penguin Monitoring Coordinator for the 2012/13 season.  To learn more about opportunities to be involved in the Middle Island Little Penguin monitoring project, email Lauren at .

The latest 2012/13 season monitoring results are:

8th October 2012 – 102 penguins counted (population estimate 170)

19th November 2012 – 97 penguins counted (population estimate 162)

17th December 2012 – 93 penguins counted (population estimate 155)

2nd January 2013 – 99 penguins counted (population estimate 165)

14th January 2013 – 112 penguins counted (population estimate 187)

29th January 2013 – 65 penguins counted (population estimate 108)

12th February 2013 – 60 penguins counted (population estimate 100)

26th February 2013 – 21 penguins counted (population estimate 35)

12th March 2013 – 19 penguins counted (population estimate 32)



 

Click here for all project related blog posts.