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From our scientist, Hiltrun Ratz, PhD
scientist@penguins.org.nz |
These two are being raised in Nikita's nest 2 and have started to wander while the parents are at sea. They don'g go far but find a spot in the shade to wait patiently.
These two fluff balls are so grown up now that both parents, Goldenstar and Honeydrop are both at sea getting food. They stick together - and get grubby - but they are very good staying in their nest box while waiting for dinner to be delivered.
Once the hectic feeding is done, the chicks relax - check out Hurutini's belly! The chicks are sleepy and the Stewie is having a bit of down time as well! We see the adults preening each other as part of the pair bond and courtship, and they are very gentle around each others' head. They also preen their chicks and as you can see here, Tikitere is returning the favour. These are all skills they have to learn to be good penguins! He and Anna are raising two chicks and they are called Tikitere and Hurutini, and he has just arrived home to feed them but the red-billed gulls are hanging about hoping to disrupt the feeding and steal some of the food by interrupting the food transfer. Sometimes they succeed but Junior is onto it! Maybe you feel a little like these two chicks are? This is David and Asta and Shaju is in attendance watching over their post-dinner nap while Janet is out at sea feeding to bring home the next meal. We hope you had an enjoyable festive days and had a lovely time with friend and family - and got to do a bit of snoozing like these chicks!
As a treat for the festive season, here is another video of Ewan and MamaPingu's wee family, with one of the chicks now called Frankie. They are at least twice the size now - but so adorable at this age, it was worth another video to delight you for Christmas. Wishing you all a wonderful festive season! These two chicks have already had an exciting life and they are only little: their mum is Matty and she has an eye injury and is currently being treated in hospital. Dad can't do this parenting thing on his own, so we adopted their two chicks to Poppy and Mr Dee who were still keeping some dummy eggs warm - for just such a case where we might need a foster parent pair. Poppy and Mr Dee were delighted when the eggs turned into chicks and they have been taking their parental duties very seriously and Breezy and MJ are now thriving.
who is peeking out from behind dad. They had wandered away from their box "Collins Family" - maybe that was a good idea, those boxes get a bit mucky with time.
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