​Hello friends and family
These are busy times!
On Sunday afternoon I picked up grandson Daniel from the airport in Dunedin. It was raining all the way and so Daniel, who was not sure of the waterproofness of his suitcase, had to nurse it all the way home. We called into the supermarket and got some oven fries for the air fryer and Daniel is in charge of chips for his visit.

​On Monday we did a beach search and Daniel began feeding the Yellow-eyed penguin chicks. He had remembered how to feed from his last visit and has stepped up from Crested penguins to Yellow-eyed ones. That evening we went to Anderson’s Bay lagoon and picked up 2 Little penguins, and an adult who is still alive and a fledgling that died the next day. There were 2 more dead ones that had stranded there in the previous 48 hours.

​On Wednesday we went to Oamaru in the morning and to Waianakarua in the afternoon. We went to a Pizza lunch, and took Roxy, Jan’s dog with us. Daniel and Roxy kept company while the adults sorted out the world – awesome! In the evening I picked up cousin Daniel from the turnoff and so for the rest of the week we are enjoying two Daniels.
Jan, Vicki and Robbie came out on Thursday for a working bee and 20 more cabbage trees have been protected, as well as the soft release pens being completed.

​Saturday was a red-letter day with real gannets consorting with our decoys at Okahau Point. What abundance we enjoyed – there were shags, gulls, gannets, penguins, oyster-catchers and Titi too numerous to count. We have now micro-chipped all chicks bar one in hospital – he needs to fatten up a bit. 

Have a great week!
Rosalie
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Hello friends and family
Happy New Year!​

​A big thank you to all the support for my award as a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to conservation. I heard from people that I had not heard from for over 30 years. It was great, and I enjoyed myself immensely. I was thrilled by the level of support, both local and distant, for the penguins here at the lighthouse.

​On New Year’s Eve, after a drink at the Tavern, Jan and I went down the hill to check out the local night life – so many birds live here it is amazing. We saw 8 different species of native birds in great abundance. Wow.

​Robbie and Barb came out on New Year’s Day and we did the rounds and worked on the aviary which was mosquito proofed by Thursday. Jan has been coming out between her split shifts and doing the afternoon penguin feed. 

Yesterday we micro-chipped another 18 of the chicks. Now we have only 7 left to do. This lot were all a good weight and quite cooperative. We also celebrated Hiltrun’s imminent birthday.
So, we have a new year and our top priority for penguin conservation remains getting some legal protection for the coastal strip between the 2 penguin reserves. As more and more penguin habitat is lost to coastal erosion and more intensive land use, this becomes more important. This needs to happen soon while there are still some penguins left.
Have a great week and an awesome year!
Rosalie
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​Hello friends and family
I hope you enjoyed Christmas and broke out of habits even if just a little! I was spoiled – 7 for Christmas lunch and then Merran and Sue arrived to share some time and discuss bird health. Sue reminded us not to underestimate the issues around poor nutrition and that was very helpful and reassuring that we have behaved responsibly, intervening with our penguin chicks.

​And so, 2018 comes to an end. What a year! It started with 14 penguins dead from Malaria – a disease that had not been identified during my previous 16 years and so it was devastating. The team rallied around, and we determined to minimise the impact of this disease on Yellow-eyed penguins at Moeraki, to the best of our ability. 

​We have spent the winter preparing, reading, up-skilling and building. Everyone in the team, plus many more have stepped up and done the extra to get us to the point where we are confident that scale of die-off will never happen here again.

All we need is for the weather to be on our side and all will be well.
Enjoy the rest of the holidays and may 2019 bring you joy and happiness.
​

Rosalie
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Season’s greetings to you all!
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​Hello friends and family
The week began with sunshine – a rare treat so far this month. I took the opportunity on Sunday to replenish the Mosquito dunks in the standing water within 500 m of the penguin reserves. The water level was quite low in most ponds. I got a call on Sunday night about a bee swarm and so I collected it quite efficiency.
On Monday I checked the bees and gave them an extra box on top to put honey in. I got a call from the police while I was doing the last hives – a man had founded his boat in the middle of the seal breeding area at Okahau Point. I took a police man to the spot and we did manage to escape from the raging bull seals, but it was very dangerous.

​I did the rounds on Tuesday with Jan and Robbie. All the chicks in the colonies were looking fine. We weighed a couple of them and they had put on weight. The gull chicks are growing up fast and some now look like gulls not fluff-balls! 

​With the rehab full so early in the season, we have begun mosquito proofing the aviary. This time, instead of putting the screening outside the structure, we have put it inside, so we can leave the shading vegetation in place. All that needs to be done now is to line the ceiling and we have a plan. When summer does arrive, any penguins in there will not over heat. In the afternoon both Jan and Robbie helped with feeding the rehab chicks. We want them to be more resilient. We all dress in blue overalls and wear blue gloves to reduce stress. 

​To round off the day, Jan and I went to the mayoral Christmas function at the Oamaru Opera house. We enjoyed it and managed to get home before the worst of the rain arrived.
We got 30 mm of rain in the next 24 hours – an average months’ worth here so the ground was all soggy again. I went shopping on Thursday and left Jan and Robbie to complete the monitoring at the Moeraki colony, but we did have to bring in another chick – only 60% of expected weight for age and loosing it even though there was a parent at home.

Chris and Hiltrun came up on Friday evening and we did the rounds on Saturday. There were adults having a day off and healthy-looking chicks. Helen and Stewart called out in the afternoon and it was lovely to catch up with them.
Have a great week!
Rosalie
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​Hello friends and family.
I was pleased that I did not say anything controversial on TVNZ 1 on Sunday night. I was interviewed for an hour and a half, for a 3-sentence segment – Then completely ignored by the panelists who continue to advocate exploitation to the last attraction standing! They compare us with Iceland. This is one response to global warming!

​Never mind! On Monday I was well supported at the Kiwi Bank local hero awards by Elaine and the Anglins who came along to the ceremony. Having the Great Dane there was a welcome diversion.
On Tuesday Jan and I weighed all of the post-guard chicks. The parents are both going fishing very early in the chick’s life and we found two more very thin chicks that have come into care. At this stage we have 8 chicks, all safe from harm and eating well.

​Wednesday was my day to do as little as possible. It rained until mid-afternoon, so I had a good excuse. On Thursday we picked up another 2 skinny chicks, but the rest are gaining weight. We also weighed all of the hospital chicks and they too are getting heavier and are active. There was a cruise ship off Moeraki – some patrons were ferried into Moeraki – to Fleurs we presume.

By Saturday the worst of the starvation event seemed to be over and we saw penguin chicks with food in their bellies – thank goodness! Unfortunately, we have a missing chick and a tiny one that is only ½ the weight it should be and has bald patches too. Still, all 53 chicks are still alive.
My faith in humanity was restored this week by a donation from the Hugo Trust. It is heartening to know others care for penguins too.
Have a great week!
Rosalie
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​Hello friends and family
The silly season is upon us – 3 social gatherings this week plus the Top tip – I feel like a gad about!

​On Monday I visited the Hampden section for the first time in months. It was very wet under foot and some tree Lucerne had fallen over so I will need to go back and tie them up. Tuesday was my town day and I was able to have lunch with Raewyn and Jenny – what a treat. They are both well and enjoying life. 

​Top tip on Wednesday morning and after lunch I had an interview with a TV reporter for Q & A that will screen on Sunday night (tonight). It was about tourist impact. Eric and Barbara arrived after that and it was great to catch up with them and all their news. In the meantime, Jan and Trish had done the monitoring round and found one dead chick and 4 starving ones in two nests. I brought the 2 smallest chicks in each nest into care. This is mostly to relieve the stress on the mothers – one of whom had been injured and one who is only 2 years old. She is the only 2-year-old that was attempting to raise 2 chicks. Feeding at the nest is fine for the chick but stressful for the family.

​On Thursday, Eric and Barbara were on their way back to Christchurch and I attended the Moeraki ladies Christmas gathering at the Tavern. Jan came out on Friday and we found two chicks with large bald patches on their lower backs. It was something that we had not seen before and so yesterday we brought them into care – here they are protected from mosquitoes so it reduces their chance of getting Malaria. 

Today I am off for a barbeque and tomorrow I go to Dunedin to receive a Kiwi Bank local hero award.
Busy times!
Have a great week!
Rosalie
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​Hello friends and family
It is always good to get past nasty November. We now have 54 healthy chicks with a good chance of surviving to fledge. We will be weighing, micro-chipping and screening them for malaria in 3 weeks’ time. The weather has remained unsettled, very windy and damp.

​I went to town on Monday and take the opportunity to check out other people’s bee hives – most still have only one super on them for collecting honey. Robbie and I did the rounds on Tuesday and we found one of our breeding females in the gay guy’s house. She was back there on Thursday.

​Wednesday was the day for our Hui with TRONT, TROM and DOC. The site visit was made special by a penguin coming home while we were there.  There are also lots of Red-billed Gull chicks which are very cute. Robbie and Joe did the rounds with me on Thursday and we found an undersized chick at home alone. We will keep a watchful eye on this chick as its mother is only 2 and dad hasn’t bred in years.

​I did some weed-eating on Friday and eyed up the lawn but decided it would pass muster without a mow – by Saturday it was a jungle!
Hiltrun and I did the rounds on Saturday. The Thursday chick had put on 300 g so is Okay for now. We did find a chick that was only 2/3 of the size of its sibling. We compare chick size all the time and this was new. I will be supplementary feeding this chick at the nest for the next week and see if it will catch up.

We had some of our local supporters visit on Saturday afternoon (hence the concern about the lawn). It was great to hear their caring and encouragement. It was also a chance to discuss strategy around how we can save this species.
Have a great week!
Rosalie
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​Hello friends and family
And so, November continues to be frenetic, and the weather has joined the party! Heavy rain and high winds test our fortitude, but we just dress for it and get on with the jobs at hand. The house is like a Chinese laundry but smells worse!

​On Sunday we checked the chick at the south end of the Moeraki colony and it had fallen out of its nest. We returned it to the nest box and within ½ hour we had a hail storm – lucky chick. On Monday we rescued an adult with an eye injury and had to wait in the truck for the hail to stop. He is known to us as drain bird as he chose to live in a drain below SH 1 until we eventually relocated him to a safer place.

​On Wednesday we found a mum that was injured. She was still at home on Thursday, so we were able to put iodine on her wound and weigh the chicks. The risk is that they will starve while she recovers, and the sea is so rough, dad may not be able to cope with the food demand of the family on his own. 

​On Thursday we also found another dead chick and its sibling, still alive, had maggots in its mouth and died by Friday. Yuck. The good news for Thursday is that we now have our first seal pup of the season. On Thursday night someone broke into the money box again. This time they came out with bolt cutters and removed the brass padlock. I hope the wet weather visitors this week were mean.

Chris and Hiltrun came up on Friday and Hiltrun and I did the rounds together on Saturday.
We have had 4 more dead chicks – two from inexperienced parents and two from a nest where the parents always seem to struggle to raise their chicks. We now have 54 chicks, and our fingers are crossed for them all.
Have a great week!
Rosalie
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