Hello friends and family, The pattern of penguins coming and going continues as we work our way through the season. The penguins coming in to moult now are our breeders. These are early days, but the temptation is to make a roll call of who we have seen and who has not come home yet, but that will only create stress! Our fledged chicks have been very adventurous. One has been found in Kaikoura, one in Timaru, one at Shag point and one downtown Dunedin! These 4 chicks were all natural fledges so who knows what instructions their parents gave them! The big dry continued until Friday when we got 11mm of rain, along with a temperature drop. On my trip to town on Wednesday, I could not miss the autumn colors – I am just getting into the swing of summer! Fortunately, I decided to get a man in to paint the house and he finished it on Thursday. He cut the big hedge as well. I am on a roll here. I decided to get an electric lawn mower to save carting my mower to Hampden to mow the lawns there. I have not yet decided which mower I will keep where. The new one is much lighter than the old one. Have a great week!
Rosalie Hello friends and family. Sunday was a busy day. Rick from Alpine salmon kindly brought us 160Kg of salmon smolt from the hatchery near Twizel. It was fresh and so getting it frozen as quickly as possible was a priority. What a great opportunity for the penguins to get the best nutrition! Thank you, Alpine Salmon. Later in the day, there was a knock on the door. A tour guide had seen a limping penguin on the beach. I went down straight away, but the penguin had died. It was Mr. 30. His injuries were at a level I had seen other penguins survive, but Mr. 30 was a Malaria survivor which may have affected his ability to handle shock. The team came on Tuesday, and we did the rounds. We are finding male penguins at good weights and females in the 6-7kg range, so needing a helping hand. We brought in 6 penguins who will moult with us and then be released. We let 2 go and 4 more went on Wednesday, including the Tawaki, who was ready to go, but the gale force sou’westerlies are not what he needs for heading home. Mrs. 79 died in care on Wednesday morning, and it was a surprise as she was not that badly injured. I took some bloods and found Malaria. Elaine came out and did a catchup of the bloods. Most seemed clear. They will now go down to Noi for confirmation. Elaine has begun training the team to be able to prepare blood slides too. Murray and Robbie checked the Bluffs and came back with 4 penguins needing help. This takes the total in care to 26. Today I will be releasing 3 who have completed their moult and are looking fabulous!
Have a great week! Rosalie Hello friends and family, Another quiet start to the week. It is now getting very dry here and watering is on top of the list. I am harvesting courgettes, carrots, tomatoes, and beans at present. On Sunday, the chicks in soft release fledged and all the chicks in the colony have gone. The team came out on Tuesday and the day began with a Tawaki rescue at the Moeraki Boulders. Searching for underweight and injured penguins is the top of the list at this time of the season. Often the penguins underweight have minor foot injuries which would become enough to cause big problems without help. We picked up 3 underweight moulters at Okahau. The last 3 pre-fledge chicks went to soft release and fledged on Friday afternoon. I went to town on Wednesday. The drying out scenery is almost autumnal, but I am still in summer mode. Some drizzle mid-week was a good excuse to do little! On Thursday morning we found another 3 needy penguins and Jan stayed and cleaned out the pens. The end of the week was quiet too. The weather was good and the 22 penguins in care are all making steady progress. Someone stole the wooden penguin from the gate so we will replace it with another one.
Have a great week! Rosalie Hello friends and family, This has been a full-on week. On Sunday morning I went down the hill only to see 2 small boats with about 8 people harassing Hector’s dolphins. The people were young and selfish, but our protected species deserve better. I reported them. Monday was my birthday, so I was treated to chatting with the family and yummy food. Older but just as hedonistic! The team came out on Tuesday morning, and we did the rounds. We found about 6 penguins going into the moult at great weights, so we left them to get on with it. We found 2 under 7 kgs so brought them in. One was Mrs. 297, and she was with her partner, so we brought in the pair. Guess who lines up first for extra fish? It does not matter. She needs help and can get it with her mate happy in care. We took 9 chicks to soft release, leaving only 3 here at the lighthouse. We got a call about a penguin at Kakanui, so Robbie spent a lot of time looking for it. He found one – a starving adult Hoiho from Stewart Island that we could not save. It has gone for an autopsy. The busy times continued on Thursday. It was great to release the Little penguin down the hill where we found it. It took off to sea very quickly. Robbie picked up Mr 17 from the Wildlife hospital and then we found 3 more penguins needing help at Okahau. One was on the landing waiting for us. The rest of the team went off to the Bluffs and I stayed with Elaine who was doing the bloods. It is so helpful to know more about why these beautiful birds need help. Jan brought back 2 penguins from the Bluffs. One of them was perched out in the full sun, on the cliff face. When she got here, she did not want to get out of the carry cage! On Friday evening, we picked up our first failed fledgling. It was one of ours, a natural fledge from Okahau that is already feeding from the hand.
Have a great week! Rosalie Hello friends and family, This week started out a little differently – we had an injured penguin come in down the hill. Someone saw it, told someone else who called DOC. DOC left me a message and so after closing time, Jan and I went down and rescued it. It had a slash wound to the belly, so on Monday morning, Dave and I took it down to the Dunedin Wildlife hospital. We did the rounds on Tuesday morning, noting the chicks that had fledged and checking on the rest. We were treated to a display by a pod of Hector’s dolphins in the bay. I counted 6 of them. Most of the chicks were fine and we only weighed a sample of them to ensure they were okay. We took 6 chicks to soft release at Okahau and Robbie opened the door for the chicks at the Bluffs. The crested penguin we have in care dropped feathers to reveal white cheeks – it is a Tawaki! On Thursday the team was joined by Environmental officers from the Waitaki District Council and the Otago Regional Council. Both were very encouraging and supportive of our work. We rescued an injured penguin that was taken down to the Wildlife hospital. We took the opportunity to say farewell to Dave with a picnic lunch at the Bluffs. 4 more chicks were taken there for soft release. Friday was the day to catch up on the parked chores and get ready for Saturday morning when I drove Dave to the airport. I also picked up the Kawariki chick from the OPERA so it can be released here. Jan has come out to help with the afternoon feeds for the last 2 weeks – such great support!
Have a great week! Rosalie Hello friends and family. Once again, the weather gods smiled on us at the start of the week, and then left us to a very mixed bag! Tuesday was the first big day. We had 25 chicks to catch and weigh, were a man down and had to bring 3 of them into care for Malaria. We did very well, managing creches of up to 6 chicks who are averaging 6kgs and have hardened beaks. The first chick had fledged on Tuesday. We picked up our first Crested penguin on Sunday. It was found by a dog – no human would have seen it. It is an Erect Crested penguin, starving in the moult, and settled it quickly. It is not well, hiding in the dark and not feeding from the hand. Wednesday was Toptip day and Dave came along for the experience. It was a slow but steady morning, and the afternoon was grey. On Thursday, the first 4 of the chicks went to soft release. Robbie and Murray took them down, along with two vets from the Wildlife hospital. They get very few chances to see the penguin habitat and it was great to see them. One of our chicks was in their care for over 5 weeks, so it was nice to be able to show them the progress the chick has made. On Friday I had an appointment in Dunedin at 9:15am so it was an early start. I fed 29 penguins in 17 minutes! It was another grey day, but we took the scenic route home anyway. It has not really warmed up much since!
Have a great week! Rosalie Hello friends and family, Our fun in the sun continues. On Monday I took Dave to visit some local spots, including the Boulders, and the team came out on Tuesday to do the chick weighing here. The chicks will fledge in the next few weeks, so it is time to measure their heads. This is to get an indication of gender. We could not find 2 of the chicks, Chick 42 has been missing for 2 weeks, chick 90 was seen in the weekend. On Wednesday Dave and I went to Oamaru in the morning to stock up on essentials and went via Kakanui to show Dave the coastline. We got home in time to get a message that we needed to drop a parcel off in Palmerston, so took the opportunity to visit Anderson’s lagoon – no needy penguins, but a nice flock of Spoonbills! Thursday was the turn of the Okahau chicks to be weighed and measured. The chicks are holding their weights rather than getting heavier. I went down after dinner to look for Chick 42 again and found him where he used to be. His mum was faded and scrawny – she would be lucky to tip the scales at 4kgs. I brought the chick in to give her a chance. Friday and Saturday were ruled by the weather. It was wet on Friday and windy on Saturday. Jan came out and helped with the afternoon feeding and locking the gate. On Friday night at about 11pm, a group of 4 young men came out in a souped-up saloon and did damage to the entrance way. Patrick was on to it, and it was all soon repaired. We heard the perpetrators, but the guy next door, rabbit shooting, saw them. We have 28 penguins in care. The first of the chicks will be going to soft release this week.
Have a great week! Rosalie Hello friends and family The weather was glorious for the start of the week. Both Sunday and Monday were warm enough to sit about and do little. We picked up another adult penguin which brought our total to 18 in care. The rain arrived on Monday night, and we got 16mm – great in every way but the timing. We still had 7 chicks to screen. We scrambled through the slippery slopes and got 5 of them. The last 2 are too well hidden. We brought up 2 more chicks that are not thriving, bringing the rehab total to 20. Dave met the team and shared some of his many stories. On Wednesday, we headed inland to the Elephant rocks and then on to the Waitaki River mouth. We completed the outing with lunch at Scotts Brewery and got more jobs done when we got home. Thursday was a little different with Jan, Robbie and Dan heading south to a meeting in Dunedin while the rest of us checked the chicks here and weighed the chicks at Okahau. All but one had lost weight and one more so than the rest, so we brought that one in. Sadly, we found another dead one and it has been sent off for autopsy. It was the turn of the Bluffs in the afternoon, and as Dave had not been there before, we went to Kawariki Bay and found the male breeder with a swollen foot. In he came, and then on Friday morning, off to the Wildlife Hospital for vet assessment.
Yesterday Hiltrun did the rounds and Dave went off to the Bluffs with Murray. I processed some more blood smears. Have a great week! Rosalie |
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