The little Penguin Eudyptula minor in Victoria. III. Dispersal of chicks and survival after banding

Abstract

Over 8,000 Little Penguins have been banded as chicks in Australia, mainly in the south-east. There have been 201 recoveries of dead birds away from the banding place besides numerous live records at the banding site and elsewhere. The young disperse rapidly after leaving their natal colony, with a strong tendency to move westward from Phillip Island, Victoria, the colony for which there is most information, particularly favouring an area centred on Cape Otway. Birds banded in New South Wales disperse northward and southward along the coast reaching as far as Tasmania in the south and Port Phillip Bay in the south and west.

Some young birds return to their natal colonies to moult when one and two years old but their whereabouts in the intervals we not known. Some birds subsequently breed at their natal colony, others moult or breed or do both elsewhere. Survival after banding is influenced by the weight of the chicks at the time of fledging and whether they were raised early or late in the season.