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New Zealand Journal of Zoology abstractsZ99052 Received 26 October 1999; accepted 9 June 2000
Fidelity and breeding success of the blue penguin Eudyptula minor on Matiu-Somes Island, Wellington, New ZealandLEIGH BULL
School of Biological Sciences
Abstract A study of the nesting habits and breeding biology
of blue penguin Eudyptula minor was undertaken over the 1995-96 and
1996-97 breeding seasons on Matiu-Somes Island, Wellington, New Zealand. Male
and female blue penguins tended to be faithful to both mates and nest sites,
although there was insufficient evidence to detect any association between a
bird's breeding success in 1995 and a subsequent change of mate or nest in
1996. Over the 1995 and 1996 seasons the recorded hatching success (0.51
± 0.11 and 0.63 ± 0.10 respectively), fledging success (0.81
± 0.12 and 0.85 ± 0.10 respectively) and reproductive success
(0.41 ± 0.11 and 0.54 ± 0.11 respectively) were similar each
season. There was no significant difference between the proportion of eggs
laid, or eggs hatched and chicks fledged, between the two seasons. The mean
number of chicks raised over the two seasons was 0.94 ± 0.05 per nest.
Replacement clutches were laid by 11 per cent of failed breeders in each
season, but only in 1996 were they successful in fledging chicks. |