Antarctic penguin waddles ashore in New Zealand, 2,000 miles from home

 “I did not notice any physical injury, but it was tired and hungry,” said Harry Singh, who found the bird.

An Antarctic penguin’s misadventure has seen it waddle ashore almost 2,000 miles from home.

The Adélie penguin, which is native to Antarctica, washed up on the coast of New Zealand on Wednesday.

The rare visitor was spotted by resident Harry Singh, just south of Christchurch in Birdlings Flat on the southern island. A video captured by Singh shows the penguin wandering around on the beach.

“I did not notice any physical injury, but it was tired and hungry,” Singh told NBC News via Facebook messenger Friday.

The last sighting of an Adélie penguin was in 1993 and this is only the third time one of the birds has made it to New Zealand’s shores, according to an online encyclopaedia of New Zealand birds, which says that one was found dead in 1962 and a live Adélie penguin was reportedly found in 1993.

Although the bird’s sex was not immediately determined, locals fondly named it “Pingu,” after the main character in a clay animated children’s TV series.

Singh said he and his wife stayed with the exhausted creature for nearly four hours, until staff from Christchurch Penguins Rehabilitation came to its rescue.

Thomas Stracke of Christchurch Penguin Rehabilitation, arrived at the scene with a  veterinarian, according to the news website Stuff. He told the site that the penguin was malnourished and severely dehydrated. The team had given Pingu some “fish smoothies’’ before it was released back to the sea Friday morning, he added

“We picked a south-facing bay with not too many visitors and no dogs,” Anita Spencer, senior ranger at the Department of Conservation, told the Australian Associated Press. Rejuvenated and on  its feet again, Pingu jumped across boulders and dove into the waves.

Adélie penguins are commonly found on the coasts of Antarctica. Being excellent swimmers, the species can travel up to 745 miles away from home. The tuxedo-clad birds are known to breed on rocky, ice-free ground.