Penguin season is in full swing at Lillico! Our dedicated volunteers are here every evening from dusk, they are currently joined by Discovery Ranger Amanda Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights. A great time to visit, watch our delightful Little Penguins and learn more about protecting them 🐧🐧
Friends of Lillico Penguins
We are The Friends of Lillico Penguins CARes Group (CARes is short for Conservation Area Reserve). The Lillico Beach Conservation Area is located 6 km west of Devonport alongside the Bass Highway. We assist the Parks and Wildlife Service to supervise the visitors to the Penguin viewing platform from September to May each year - the 'Penguin Season'.
Friday, January 5, 2024
Monday, August 21, 2023
Penguin Guide Training 2023
Volunteer Penguin Guides are needed for Burnie, Lillico (next to Devonport) and Stanley
If you are interested and would like to talk with people who are viewing penguins, we’d like to hear from you.
For more information
Contact Evelyn DeVito
M 0437 149 747
Or message Burnie Penguin Observatory centre
Date: Saturday 16 September 2023
(and a second day determined by the group you join )
Time: 8.45am registration
9.00am – 3pm (lunch provided)
Venue: Cradle Coast NRM, 1 Spring Street Burnie
Saturday, September 10, 2022
Why are red lighs OK?
Friday, September 2, 2022
2022/23 Penguin Season
Friends of Lillico Penguins (FOLP) decided to start the guiding season on Friday 16 September 2022. If you are intending to visit have a quick look at the viewing guidelines and the penguin brochure - available in various languages and for English just scroll past the language links:)
Remember no flash photography and if you bring a torch only use red light torches! Any other light will alert/scare/panic them, meaning they will regurgitate food from their crop, and the chicks will miss their meal that night!
THE CROP?
The crop is a pouch-like enlargement of a penguin's (any bird's!) esophagus. It is located at the base of the neck, between the jaw and the breast muscle. The crop functions to store and moisten food, and can hold a large volume. Food from the crop is gradually passed into the stomach throughout the day. The crop also stores food to be regurgitated to feed baby birds or the bird's mate, during nesting.
WHY RED TORCHES?
Why are red lights ok when viewing penguins? Humans have three types of 'cone-cells' which have peak sensitivity to blue light (S-cones), green light (M-cones) and red light (L-cones). It is our red-sensitive L-cones that allow us to see red. Penguin eyes, like most nocturnal animals, do not have L-cones which means they are oblivious when we illuminate them using red light, similar to infrared TV remotes or UV light from the sun which us humans cannot see because we have no cones to see those spectrums, no matter how bright the sun shines or how well the remote works :)
Monday, August 16, 2021
Penguin Guide Training 2021
Volunteer Penguin Guides are needed for:
Friends of Burnie Penguins
Friends of Lillico Penguins
If you are interested in Little Penguins and like to talk with people who are viewing penguins, we'd like to hear from you.
Saturday 18 September 2021
Time: 9.00am registration for 9.30am start - 3pm (lunch provided)
Venue: UTAS West Park
For more information
Contact Evelyn DeVito
M 0437 149 747
Or message Burnie Penguin Observatory Centre
Sunday, January 5, 2020
Little Penguin FAQ
Ø Q: Where do they go in the off-season?
Ø Q: How far do they swim per day?
Ø Q: How long can they hold their breath?
Ø Q: How deep do they dive?
Ø Q: How fast can penguins swim?
Ø Q: What do they eat?
Ø Q: Do penguins need to drink fresh water?
Ø Q: How many eggs do they lay?
Ø Q: What is the incubation period?
Ø Q: Do both parents look after the chicks?
Ø Q: How do they sleep at sea?
Ø Q: Why do you use red torches and not white?
Ø Q: Do they prefer man-made or natural burrows?
Ø Q: Do they return to the same nest each year?
Ø Q: Why do penguins moult and how long does it take?
Ø Q: Do you do any research on the penguins at Lillico?
Ø Q: How did the freeze-dried penguin die?
Ø Q: What are the penguins’ main threats?
Ø Q: If you find a sick or injured penguin, do you care for them? A: We try to keep interference to a minimum. However, if we think a bird can be saved, there is a dedicated Penguin Rehabilitation and Release facility in Burnie.
If you would like to learn more about Little Penguins, you might be interested in the Cradle Coast NRM Online Learning package.
Friday, January 3, 2020
Tourist Information for Platform
Viewing Little Penguins at Lillico Beach
The little penguin is found only in southern Australia and New Zealand. It is the smallest but noisiest of all penguins. Lillico Beach Conservation Area is the second-largest breeding colony on Tasmania’s ‘mainland’, with some 3,000 little penguins.
There is a carpark and viewing platform where visitors can watch some of these penguins at close quarters. Volunteer guides from the Friends of Lillico Penguins group are rostered at the viewing platform every evening during the summer breeding season (late September to early April). They are there to assist visitors and to minimize disturbance to the penguins. Friends of Lillico Penguins is a Wildcare group that works closely with the Parks and Wildlife Service to protect and manage the native habitat of the Lillico Beach Conservation Area.
Getting to and from the viewing platform
Lillico Beach is located between Leith and Don. The viewing platform is at the eastern end of Lillico Beach, at the foot of Don Hill. It is only accessible from the left hand, eastbound lane of the Bass Highway.
If approaching from the West, there is a small sign to the Lillico Beach Conservation Area 500m from the carpark (which is about 4km east of the Forth River).
If approaching from the East, you will need to overshoot the platform and make a U-turn at the Lillico Road turn-off.
When leaving the platform, all traffic must go east. If you want to go west, then you will need to make a U-turn at Waverley Road, just beyond the railway overpass. Please take extra care when re-entering the highway traffic, as it will be travelling at speeds up to 110kph.
Parking: Cars and small campervans should reverse park on an angle on the seaward side of the carpark. This prevents headlights from disturbing the penguins or other visitors. The spaces on the highway side of the carpark are for long vehicles such as buses and motor-homes.
For more information contact: Parks and Wildlife Service, Short Street, Ulverstone 6429 8719 or email
Friends of Lillico Penguins on info@folp.info
Important guidelines for visitors
Due to a rapid increase in visitors to the Lillico penguin viewing platform, it has become necessary to set an upper limit of 70 viewers on the platform at any one time. This is to maximize visitor experience while minimizing disturbance of the penguins. If the platform is already full when you arrive, please be patient and wait a few minutes until someone leaves before you enter. Thank you for your co-operation and understanding in this matter.- Monday to Thursday evenings are generally not as busy as Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
- There are no facilities at the viewing platform; that is, no toilets (so go before you arrive!), no refreshments and no garbage bin (so please take any rubbish with you).
- Aim to arrive just after sunset, as the penguins generally don’t appear until it is getting dark.
- Please note that access to the beach below the platform is closed between 6pm and 6am during the breeding season.
- Wear warm, dark, comfortable clothing. It is often windy and chilly at the platform. Dark clothes are less noticeable to the penguins. No flashing children’s shoes, please!
- When on the platform, please be calm and quiet; don’t run or jump and avoid any sudden movements or loud noises that might startle the birds – or annoy other visitors.
- Please note that penguins are wild animals and that they scratch and bite. Do not try to touch them!
- Torches: It is a Parks and Wildlife policy that only the guides are to use torches on the platform – and these are to be red light, only. This is to reduce disturbance of the penguins and of other visitors. Why red light? Have a look <here>.
- You are welcome to bring binoculars if you wish.
- NB No flash photography is allowed at the platform. This can have serious
- consequences for the penguins, especially if they are feeding chicks. The guides have good quality photo prints available, taken at Lillico without flash. Photographs taken using red torchlight come out well when converted to greyscale.
- No smoking on the platform, please.
- Viewing is not advised during the ‘off-season’. Although there may be adult penguins visible occasionally, they are not present every night and the weather can be challenging. Also, there will be no chicks nor guides present.
- Box for donations is provided. Although viewing is free, donations are always welcome and all funds received are spent on the conservation area.
- Friends of Lillico Penguins is always looking for new volunteer guides. If this is something you would like to do, please give your contact details to one of the guides on duty and we will send you more information and an Expression of Interest form.