After years of dog attacks, the little penguin colony at Low Head on Tasmania's northern coast is rebuilding — and it is in part thanks to a community nest box building project.
Local community groups and school students have built the wooden nests to help the population recover.
So far there are about 60 of the nests — or penguin houses as the locals like to call them — along the headland at Low Head, and bird experts say they are helping to boost breeding numbers.
Fifteen of the boxes were being used within a week of being installed last year.
Steve Gordon from Friends of Low Head Penguin Colony said the community effort to build the nests came after 100 little penguins were killed in dog attacks in 2018.
"The idea was to protect the penguins in whatever way we could and educate the community about domestic pets," Mr Gordon said.
"The community have really adapted and adopted their fairy penguins."
Nest boxes were installed in the area in 1995 but on a smaller scale, and most had since fallen apart, providing little protection for the penguins.
A primary school at George Town and two high schools helped build the new nests with materials bought through community fundraising efforts.
Each box has a GPS tracker so children know exactly where their box is and most have personal messages inside.
"Our future plans are to make another 40 boxes over the next year if we get some funding and to involve the schools again," Mr Gordon said.
BirdLife Tasmania convenor Eric Woehler has been working with the Friends of the Low Head Penguin Colony to keep track of the little penguins.
He said about 60 were hatched in the new nesting boxes over summer.
"We've seen a bumper season in terms of breeding," Dr Woehler said.
"[There are] lots of nests with two chicks, and now birds are finishing up the moult, they're getting ready to go out for the winter and feed up a bit. And the next breeding season will start soon."
Wooden nesting boxes have worked successfully in Phillip Island and New Zealand for years, but many people believe they could be used more often in the future, particularly in Tasmania.
"Colonies on the mainland are facing increasing stress from climate change, warmer seas [and] surface temperatures, and Tasmania's slowly becoming the refuge for little penguins in Australia," Dr Woehler said.
"So we need to protect every one of our colonies here in Tasmania."
Dr Woehler said breeding schedules for penguins were also starting to shift with climate change.
"When I first started working on penguins back in the 70s and early 80s, the paradigm was that the birds would be coming ashore in the spring, breeding in the summer, moulting in the autumn and then spending the winter at sea before the next breeding season started," he said.
"What we're seeing now is a relaxation of that schedule.
"Last year we had about 10 or 15 per cent of the burrows were being used during the winter time, so as the temperatures become less extreme and the winter temperatures become milder for the penguins, we're seeing an increase in the winter breeding effort around the state."
Dr Woehler said increased breeding times meant little penguins were ashore for longer, putting them "at greater risk of dog attacks".
He said it was important communities like Low Head helped protect them.
