Oamaru's Harbour St is the natural habitat of penny-farthing riders, Steampunks, artists, and little penguins.
And at the weekend, a visitor to the North Otago town took the wrong one to a bar.
The Criterion Hotel posted a picture of the penguin to its Facebook page on Saturday with the comment: "Leave the penguins alone people! They know what they are doing, so leave them to it! Had a tourist hand me this at the pub today."
The post went on to say that "William" was "safe at the colony now".
Criterion Hotel owner Sue Cameron-Duncan could not be reached for comment yesterday.