Post to little blue penguins: a new home
A woman with a special interest in little blue penguins is repurposing old post boxes for nesting.
Postie Lorraine Adams thought of the idea ‘‘many years’’ ago when she saw a former NZ Post street box at work one day destined for the chopping block.
She saw an opportunity to help the small birds at the Oamaru Creek Penguin Reserve.
Since then, she’s collected about 30 old post boxes from throughout New Zealand. These are now used as nesting boxes.
Blue penguins are a popular tourist attraction in the North Otago town of Oamaru.
The world’s smallest penguin began nesting in a rock quarry at the edge of Oamaru Harbour in the early 1990s and since then the population has swelled.
Adams asked her brother to cut the boxes in half for her, and the project ‘‘flowed on from there’’.
‘‘The boxes were going to be destroyed as they were boxes that were damaged. There just happened to be one at work and I thought about what it could be reused for.’’
She said the boxes were perfect for the little birds as they were weatherproof and provided a cosy space for them to nest in.
She said the A-frame parts of the boxes were known as the ‘‘posh accommodation’’.
Adams said it was important to look after the penguins as a treasure of the New Zealand coast.
Wellington is also known for its little blue penguin population.