"Why he ended up north here I will never know. Some of the stories have it there was an old colony up here in the north many years ago, so maybe it's a spin-off from that? I don't know."
Robert Webb of the Whangārei Native Bird Recovery Centre with a Fiordland crested penguin that was found on Ninety Mile Beach. Photo / John Stone
Webb said the bird is about 3.5kg and about half a metre tall. He said the injury on the bird was likely from kahawai or kingfish.
"Now big kahawai and kingfish don't have teeth in their mouth but their mouth is like sandpaper so that could have been what caused the wound on the side."
Despite Webb referring to the penguin as a "he" the actual gender of the penguin is unknown. He hasn't been at the centre long but Webb has learned the bird "has got a big bite".
"He got me through the glove the other day. He's also very noisy when he yells his head off - quite deafening that really."
Webb believes the bird is moulting so he is looking at transferring it to specialists in the South Island.
"When they do the moult they need the right foods and the right diets. And if they moult they won't go anywhere near water. So we're just going to play it by ear."
Robert Webb said the penguin was a noisy fella. Photo / John Stone
Webb said the penguin hasn't eaten yet but when he does he'll be getting a feed of fresh fish
"I bought him some gurnard the other day and that's about $28 a kilogram or something. But it's quite an oily fish and it's what they need for their feathers."
Massey University penguin expert Professor John Cockrem said the discovery of the Fiordland crested penguin on a Northland beach was unusual.
As the name suggested, the birds nested on the south-west of the South Island and Stewart Island.
Cockrem was the person who found the Happy Feet emperor penguin in 2011, leading to a Gareth Morgan-funded expedition to return it to southern seas.
The discovery then was highly unusual, given the emperor penguin's home was Antarctica, but it was still unexpected for its Fiordland cousin to head north.
"These birds can range many thousands of kilometres at some times of year, away from Fiordland, out west and south-west."
The Fiordland crested penguin found on Ninety Mile Beach. Photo / John Stone
Its journey north could be down to sea currents or heavy weather.
Cockrem said penguins seen at Northland beaches should be left to find their own way home.
Anyone encountering the birds should first ensure there were no dogs nearby, he said.
If free from threat, he said the birds were best left unless they were injured. In those situations, the Department of Conservation was the place to call.
