Penneshaw Penguin Centre

31/10/2026

With yesterday's gusty weather and rain on the forecast, we thought penguin sightings might be a little quieter last night…

How wrong we were! 🤣🐧

A whopping 42 adults and 9 chicks were spotted on last night's tours! 💙

Just goes to show, our little penguins don't always follow the weather forecast!

✨ Want to see them for yourself?

We still have availability on tonight's penguin tours, so why not come along and experience the magic of Penneshaw's Little Penguins!

🎟️ Book online: www.penneshawpenguincentre.com

11/10/2026

🐧 Why did the penguins cross the path?

To get to one of our awesome burrows, of course! 🐧💙

Did you know Little Penguins can travel up to 2km inland to reach their nesting burrows? They're creatures of habit too, often returning to the same burrows year after year!

But there's a catch… 🌿

When w**ds take over, they can make it harder for our little friends to get home, sometimes forcing them to find somewhere else to nest.

That's where YOU come in! 💪

🌱 Friday 16th October | From 9am

We're calling on our wonderful community to lend a hand and help the Penneshaw Penguin team tackle the w**ds taking over our rookery!

🌿 No sprays, no chemicals — just good old-fashioned teamwork to keep their habitat as natural as possible.

🧤 Some gloves and equipment provided.

🌭 Sausage sizzle lunch and refreshments provided!

💙 Many hands make light work, and even the smallest helping hand can make a big difference for our smallest penguins!

📩 Send us a DM if you're coming along so we can make sure there's enough lunch for everyone!

VolunteerKI

11/10/2026

Are you able to spare an hour or 2 to help this Friday?

🐧🌿 **MANY HANDS MAKE LIGHT WORK!** 🌿🐧

We’re calling on some wonderful volunteers to lend a hand with a **manual w**d removal day around the Penneshaw Penguin Rookery**.

📅 **Friday 16th October**
⏰ **From 9am**
📍 Penneshaw Penguin Rookery

We are currently experiencing issues with **common ice plant, thistles, invasive grasses and boxthorn** throughout areas of the rookery. These w**ds can take over important penguin habitat, so we’d love some extra hands to help us tackle them.

For now, the focus will be on w**ds that can be safely removed by hand. **We are still looking into the safest and most appropriate way to remove the boxthorn**, particularly given its size, thorns and location around penguin habitat.

🌱 **No sprays. No chemicals.**
We want to keep our approach as natural as possible while protecting the penguins and their habitat.

🧤 Some gloves and equipment will be provided, but if you have your own gardening gloves or suitable hand tools, feel free to bring them along.

🌭 **BBQ lunch and refreshments provided!**

Whether you can stay for an hour or spend the morning with us, every extra pair of hands will make a difference.

💬 **Please DM us to let us know you’re coming so we have an idea of numbers and can make sure we get the catering right!**

Come along, get your hands dirty and help us give our little penguins’ backyard a spring clean. 🐧💚

06/10/2026

🐧🌿 **MANY HANDS MAKE LIGHT WORK!** 🌿🐧

We’re calling on some wonderful volunteers to lend a hand with a **manual w**d removal day around the Penneshaw Penguin Rookery**.

📅 **Friday 16th October**
⏰ **From 9am**
📍 Penneshaw Penguin Rookery

We are currently experiencing issues with **common ice plant, thistles, invasive grasses and boxthorn** throughout areas of the rookery. These w**ds can take over important penguin habitat, so we’d love some extra hands to help us tackle them.

For now, the focus will be on w**ds that can be safely removed by hand. **We are still looking into the safest and most appropriate way to remove the boxthorn**, particularly given its size, thorns and location around penguin habitat.

🌱 **No sprays. No chemicals.**
We want to keep our approach as natural as possible while protecting the penguins and their habitat.

🧤 Some gloves and equipment will be provided, but if you have your own gardening gloves or suitable hand tools, feel free to bring them along.

🌭 **BBQ lunch and refreshments provided!**

Whether you can stay for an hour or spend the morning with us, every extra pair of hands will make a difference.

💬 **Please DM us to let us know you’re coming so we have an idea of numbers and can make sure we get the catering right!**

Come along, get your hands dirty and help us give our little penguins’ backyard a spring clean. 🐧💚

25/09/2026

🐧 What a cracker of a morning for a burrow check! 💙

Today we found 31 adults and 13 chicks on land, AND we’ve recorded another 14 chicks successfully fledging since our last check!

That brings us to a fantastic 44 chicks fledged for the season so far! 🎉🐧

Even better, compared with the same time last year, we’re currently sitting at one extra chick fledged and three extra chicks still on land.

We’ve also spotted more nesting material appearing in burrows, and we have a sneaky suspicion that a few of those adults we saw today may have been hiding eggs from us! 👀🥚

With breeding activity continuing and more chicks heading out to sea, everything is looking fantastic so far for our Penneshaw Little Penguins.

Here’s hoping there are plenty more fluffy little faces still to come! 🐧

31/08/2026

🐧 When you’re supposed to be doing additional bird flu checks… but you just can’t resist peeking into the burrows! 💙

And look who our crew spotted — these two cheeky little chicks poking their fluffy faces out to say hello! 🥹🐧🐧

While Adrian and Renee are currently away at the International Penguin Conference, talking, learning and doing all things penguin, our amazing crew back home hasn’t missed a beat.

They’re still out there every day monitoring the colony, keeping an eye out for signs of bird flu, advocating for our little locals and educating visitors about these incredible little birds.

We’re incredibly lucky to have such a dedicated team looking after things while we’re away — and it certainly helps when the job comes with little faces like these! 💙🐧

Penguin Conference

27/08/2026

Another successful burrow check today! 🐧💙

We counted 32 adults and 20 chicks on land, and even more excitingly, another 4 chicks have fledged since last week!

That brings our total to 30 chicks successfully fledged so far this breeding season! 🎉🐧

Once Little Penguin chicks fledge, they head out into the big wide world completely on their own. They can spend the next 6–12 months largely at sea, learning to find food and survive independently — with no help from Mum or Dad!

So far, so good for our little Penneshaw colony. 💙 With breeding season still underway, every healthy chick making it out to sea feels like a little win.

And, of course, with bird flu still on our minds, we reminded everyone once again to keep their distance and practise good hygiene… although, as usual, the penguins appear to have their own ideas about social distancing! 😂🐧🐧🐧

24/08/2026

🐧 Another Bird Flu Update 🦠

Today we met with representatives from PIRSA and DEW to discuss the current bird flu situation and what we can do to best protect our Penneshaw Little Penguins.

We discussed the possibility of vaccination, however under the current requirements, approval appears unlikely. While we have extensive historical records and regularly monitor individual burrows, our wild penguins are not microchipped or individually identifiable, meaning much of our data is considered observational. Little Penguins are also not currently included on the priority conservation species list for vaccination.

While disappointing, we will continue to advocate for our Little Penguins and work with PIRSA and DEW as the situation develops.

We also met on-site with PIRSA representatives onsite to discuss practical biosecurity measures, including footwear cleaning and disinfection, which we will begib rolling out this week.

💙 And some positive news…

At this stage, we have not observed any sick or deceased Little Penguins within the Penneshaw rookery.

Breeding season is also well underway, with plenty of activity throughout the colony. Every healthy chick that successfully fledges this season is important, and we are hopeful that a strong breeding season will give the colony the best possible chance to remain resilient and rebound should bird flu impact our penguins.

🐧 You can help too.

Please continue to report any sick or dead birds through the official reporting channels. If you see a sick or deceased Little Penguin in the Penneshaw area, please also send us a message via Facebook or Instagram so we can follow up, record the location and continue monitoring our colony as closely as possible.

Thank you for continuing to look out for our little locals. 🐧💙

07/08/2026

🐧 Penguins everywhere in the rookery! 🐧

Yesterday’s burrow check was another exciting one, with 21 adults and 34 chicks spotted on land! 💙

Even more exciting, we’ve now recorded 11 chicks fledged for the season — 11 little penguins that have taken that huge step out into the big wide ocean! 🌊🐧

And the surprises keep coming… during our check we discovered new natural burrows that we didn’t previously know about! Finding penguins making use of new areas of the rookery is always wonderful to see.

There is so much happening in the colony right now — chicks growing, youngsters heading out to sea, adults still raising families, and apparently a few penguins setting up homes without telling us! 😂

Such an exciting time for our little Penneshaw penguins. 💙🐧

03/08/2026

At 4am this morning our house of humans were all snuggled in bed, but for this Penguin family it was party time! 🎉

These guys have been so active overnight they filled the memory card on our little spy cameras 📷