MARION VAN DIJK/Stuff
Haulashore Island, once part of the Boulder Bank, marks the entrance to Port Nelson and volunteers hope to make it a home for little penguins. (File photo)
Nelson’s Haulashore Island could become a thriving little penguin habitat, with people able to watch the world’s smallest penguin return to the shore at dusk. The five-hectare island off Nelson s waterfront road has been the focus of renewed predator control efforts last year to protect the birdlife, thanks to a team of dedicated volunteers. The island is a major breeding site for pied shags and also home to the at-risk northern spotted skink. But it s the little penguin, often called the little blue penguin or kororā, that volunteers hope will return to nest there as they reduce the number of predators.