Our first stop today was at the Allan Beach Recreation Reserve to look for sea lions. We did find a seal resting in the rocks along the beach.
At sunset we went on a guided tour with Blue Penguins Pukepura to watch the penguins at their reserve come in to their nests for the night. We learned that blue penguins are actually now called little penguins. The name has changed over the years from little blue penguins to blue penguins and now to little penguins. There are about 1,000 of these penguins at this reserve.
In the afternoon we went to the OPERA. OPERA is the local abbreviation for the Otago Peninsula Eco Restoration Alliance. We hoped to see yellow-eyed penguins in their reserve. That wasn't possible as the penguins were nesting and not observable when we visited. However, we did get to see some juvenile yellow-eyed penguins being rehabilitated for return to the wild. The eyes of the juvenile yellow-eyed penguins are not yet fully outlined in yellow but will be as they get older. We also saw a nesting blue penguin and some seals in the reserve.
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