Two penguin carcasses have been discovered at Pilots Beach after a slip swept away nesting boxes at Taiaroa Head.
Otago Peninsula Trust operations manager Hoani Langsbury, Pukekura Trust scientist Dr Hiltrun Ratz and Department of Conservation ranger Jim Watts accessed the area by boat yesterday to assess damage to the reserve and its wildlife.
The area remains cut off from the rest of Otago Peninsula after slips swept over the only access road and cut a path through the hillside where little blue penguins were nesting.
Mr Langsbury confirmed two little blue penguin carcasses had been discovered, but wildlife had largely escaped unharmed.
Dr Ratz said the slip had swept through ''the best possible place'' it could have, narrowly missing the majority of nesting boxes and giving most penguins a chance to escape.
The nesting pairs, of which there were about 200, had not yet laid eggs.
''If they had eggs, they would have felt obliged to stay,'' she said.
''Not having eggs is possibly a blessing because hopefully they saved themselves.''
Mr Langsbury said while about 20 nesting boxes had been damaged by the slip, it could have been ''much worse''.
It would be a month or so before losses would be known with any certainty.
The albatross colony had escaped with no damage and its 23 chicks were all fine, Mr Watts said.
''In the colony there's no slips, no nothing. All the chicks are there and all alive.''
Mr Langsbury said he expected an update from the Dunedin City Council in the coming days about when the reserve could be expected to reopen to the public.
Oamaru penguins safe
Last week’s storm was over too quickly to affect little blue penguin numbers at Oamaru Harbour, Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony research scientist Philippa Agnew says.
Dr Agnew said staff were "pretty happy’’ the storm had not impacted bird numbers in Oamaru.
On Friday, staff left early and only 17 birds were counted coming ashore, on Monday 36 birds came ashore and on Tuesday there were 48.
