Short and very sweet

It is only the 24th September and egg laying is already finished in one of our yellow-eyed penguin colonies. Some nests have only one egg so the second one will be on the way in the next couple of days - but from the first egg to the last (first) egg was only 10 days! This is a first in our experience over the last 3 decades of working with these penguins and it bodes well for the coming season. Even the female who is always last has laid her first egg - a good 2 weeks earlier than normal. We are expecting some more first eggs in our second colony and then we will know how nest numbers stacks up against last season but ALL females have been accounted for: 100% survival is amazing! We are very excited and hopeful for the future.