Sighting of king penguin on peninsula extremely rare

Seeing the king stroll along a Dunedin beach would be extraordinarily uncommon, but seeing a king penguin on any New Zealand beach is right royally rare.

A king penguin was briefly spotted on Pipikaretu Beach on the Otago Peninsula yesterday morning, before heading back out to sea.

An Otago Peninsula Eco Restoration Alliance spokeswoman said it was extremely rare to see one on New Zealand beaches because they were circumpolar colonial breeders, found mainly on subantarctic islands.

"It's very rare," she said.

"There has been less than 10 sightings that we know of, in about 100 years, of a wild one washing up on a New Zealand beach.

"It was very exciting."

It was not known why the penguin turned up on the remote beach, she said.

"All we know is, it looked healthy, and it didn't look like anything to worry about, so we just let it be.

"It went back into the water soon after.

"Hopefully, it's gone in the right direction."

At up to 95cm tall with an average weight of 9kg to 18kg, they are much bigger than yellow-eyed penguins, which stand at up to 65cm tall and weigh between 4.2kg and 8.5kg.

The last reported sighting of a king penguin was at Oreti Beach in 2024, she said.

john.lewis@odt.co.nz