Our partners, Bank of Melbourne, have supported the recent development of a new automated little penguin monitoring system – called a weighbridge. The Bank of Melbourne penguin weighbridge is located on the bay side of the Summerland Peninsula and relays real time information about little penguin health and their life at sea which has previously been difficult to study.

The penguins cross the bridge when they leave their burrows to hunt for food at sea, and waddle over it again upon their return. As they cross, the weighbridge scans their individual microchips and captures their body weights. This information is critically important to help Phillip Island Nature Parks scientists to help them protect little penguins and their marine environment.

In between lockdowns here in Victoria we were excited to host Bank of Melbourne at Phillip Island (Millowl) for a long-awaited visit to the weighbridge study site and to help revegetate little penguin habitat. Congratulations to the team who planted 240 new habitat plants!