A little blue penguin has been saved from a slip on the Abel Tasman Coast Track.
The penguin was buried by a 20-metre-long slip of mud and vegetation that fell onto the track during the heavy rainfall that struck Nelson Tasman on 17 to 20 August.
The team working on the slip above Waiharakeke Bay were surprised to see the penguin.
"It was incredible to see the penguin’s head poke up and that it had survived being buried about a metre deep,” Department of Conservation ranger Julie Murphy says.
Julie and camp manager Simon Bayly and fellow ranger Mathew Hopkins were digging in the mudbank to re-form the track on Monday 22 August when the penguin’s head appeared.
“The rescue was one of those joyous, heartfelt moments,” says Julie.
The penguin looked around and seemed none the worse for wear from being buried.
“It was still quite toey, pecking at my hand as she picked it up after it had been dug out,” says Julie.
The team dubbed the plucky little penguin ‘Mr Lucky.’ Once rescued, it waddled off down the track and back down to the beach.
Kororā clamber up the slope above the beach into the vegetation at night. It is thought that is how it became trapped by the slip.
