© Emily SmithOne of the sick penguins recovers in a paddling pool.
It took one step, and another, and fell onto its face.
The Esperance resident rushed over, scooping up the skeletal traveller in his arms.
"When I went over to pick it up it was really emaciated," he said.
The black-and-white bird, crowned with a flourish of yellow feathers over each eye, was a Fiordland crested penguin, one of the world's rarest penguin species.
The emaciated penguin had likely been at sea since February or March, and should have been almost 4,000 kilometres away on the west coast of New Zealand's South Island, ready for breeding season.
Clearly, something had gone very wrong.
Over the next week, two other lost Fiordland crested penguins would wash up near Esperance.
Three lost penguins
Lori-Ann Shibish's back deck looks like a summer retreat for penguins.
One floats leisurely in a blue, shell-shaped paddling pool, another closes its eyes as it sunbakes on a towel, while a third scoffs down a hand-fed fish.
Ms Shibish, an Esperance-based Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions volunteer wildlife carer, has spent the past week providing critical care to the three penguins.
The first one, found by Mr Hazelden, came in from Twilight Beach on Sunday, June 11.
The next was found at Dunn Rock, about 60km east, starving and suffering from a recent attack to one of its eyes.
The last one was found by three swimming teachers at Wharton Beach, another 20km east from Dunn Rock.
Dr Jennifer Lavers, a seabird expert with Esperance Tjtaltjraak Native Title Aboriginal Corporation, said it was unusual to see the penguin species in the area, let alone three in a week.
The WA Museum has 18 of the species preserved in its collection, which were found all around the state, but they are only notified of animals that have died.
According to BirdLife Australia, the species has only been recorded alive in Western Australia twice — in Eyre in 2008 and once near Perth pre-1973.
It is likely others have come to the region but not been logged.
Not the only birds in distress
Dr Lavers said the penguins' arrival could point to a broader problem.
"When we see them being tossed in the surf or lethargic on a beach, that's the indicator that something has changed out there in the marine environment and that the birds are not coping," she said.
She said they were not the only bird species in distress, with shearwaters washing up sick and dying along the south coast in recent weeks.
In January, a westland petrel was found near Esperance, the first time the species had ever been recorded in WA.
Ms Lavers said a warming ocean may have created changes that were difficult for the birds, particularly the young penguins, to negotiate.
For example, the bird's food sources may have gone elsewhere or dived too deep for them to follow.
Penguin rehab
Nursing the starving penguins back to health has been a delicate process.
Ms Shibish said the first few days had been critical, when she tube-fed them electrolytes before introducing food to their diet.
As their organs started to function better, she said their faeces changed from neon green, to brown, to chalky white - indicating they were through the danger period.
After a week or so in Ms Shibish's care, the birds were driven to Albany, where they will finish the rest of their rehabilitation at a specialised seabird facility.
Ms Shibish hoped that after doubling their body weight, the penguins would eventually be released back into the wild.
'Something's not quite right'
"For a long time ... communities have looked to seabirds as indicators of the health of the world's oceans," she said.
"When we start to see seabirds coming back and telling us something's not quite right, and when it's multiple species in the same year, I think that's time to stand up and take notice [of] what can be done about it."
She said more dedicated seabird monitoring programs were needed.
She and Ms Shibish would also like to see a specialised rehabilitation centre set up for seabirds in Esperance.
"In a year like this, which we do predict will become more common with a changing world, we need to have that capacity to be able to respond and not be sending birds hundreds of kilometres across the state to get the care that they need," Dr Lavers said.
The pair also urged anyone that came across a sick seabird to notify an organisation like WA Seabird Rescue.
Dr Lavers said as well as helping the birds, it was important to examine why they had suffered.
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