​On Sunday night we got 27 mm of rain and Monday dawned fine and sunny. By mid-afternoon it was cold and wet. The joys of a southern summer! On Tuesday the team did the rounds. Daniel checked out a sheep app which may well work for us when monitoring the penguins. On Wednesday Daniel went surfing and I walked the coast. There were no struggling penguins. It rained again in the afternoon – currently we are getting four seasons in one day!

​On Thursday we brought in 2 penguin chicks (plus one sibling that was not thriving) that had tested positive for Malaria through a process called PCR and released 3 adults that had recovered from their injuries. We now have several penguin chicks that are over 6 Kg in the colonies, and some that still have parents at home, guarding them. 

​The ocean north of Moeraki is very dirty, but here on the headland it looks just great. In the afternoon, we went to the bluffs and set 4 penguin houses in place. This is to provide shelter for moulting penguins, the first of which we have seen this week. 

Yesterday we began the 90-day health checks. This is where we weigh, measure, and take a blood sample of the chicks for the final time before they fledge. They will leave in about 2 weeks so that gives us time to get the test results back and uplift them if they have Malaria. For most, it is the last time we will handle them until they return as Juveniles. We did 7 chicks and the lightest was 5.9 Kg, the heaviest 6.7 Kg. This has been a great season for the wildlife.
Have a great week
Rosalie
​

​Hello friends and family
This week we have continued monitoring penguins and traps. On Monday while at the point, I saw a pod of about 8 Hector’s dolphins. I have now downloaded the app and reported it. Daniel saw them again on Tuesday in Keepers bay. We found an injured adult penguin on Tuesday who we brought into care. That brought our patients up to 10. 5 chicks, 2 juveniles and 3 adults.

​A swarm of bees arrived and moved into the box beside the aviary – great. Then they started robbing the honey out of the boxes in the garage – not so great – then they decided to move into the garage! Fortunately, I heard them coming and was able to shut the garage doors in time. They settled in a Hebe and I was able to cut the swam out and put them back into the hives by the aviary. We will see who wins in the long run.

​On Wednesday Dom found an injured adult penguin. It has slashes to one foot and is now on antibiotics and progressing well. Our weighing went well on Thursday and all chicks are doing fine. On Friday I picked up 4 Little owls from Oamaru Bird Rescue to give them flying time in the aviary before release. They flew very well, so well that they found a hole in the aviary and all escaped. On Saturday morning I had a porch full of moths to feed them and no owls.

Dan arrived back from his trip to Milford sound and Hiltrun, Trii and Elaine came out yesterday to do the rounds. We are all enjoying seeing the chicks look so well. Long may it continue.
Have a great week
Rosalie
​

Hello friends and family
​Hiltrun came up on Sunday and we were able to do the rounds between the showers. We picked up 2 chicks. Chick 139 had lost weight since we uplifted mum and chick 13 was waiting for company before she came in. Both will be fed until fledging at about 100 days old.

​On Tuesday, the team came out and we weighed the chicks here. 2 were over 70 days old and under 5 Kg so they came in. We also picked up “Tumble Bum” the chick that had fallen down the hill and never caught back up to its sibling. It was also over 70 days and under 5 Kg. We micro-chipped the last 2 chicks so now all 58 have been done. Elaine has been very busy doing the blood testing.

​On Wednesday, Bruce and Noi came up from Dunedin with the children and we met up with Patrick and Nola to progress research into diagnosing and treating Malaria in penguins.

​The team got a clear round on Thursday – all chicks accounted for and all up to weight. In the afternoon, Dom and the 2 Dans went surfing in Kakanui with Lindsey. They found him to be an excellent instructor. On Friday we had a meeting with the historic reserve management group. Brian the archaeologist was there with a wealth of interesting information about local history. The catering was so good, I felt obliged to go for a long walk after I got home!

Yesterday was a sunny one and so I focussed on getting outdoor jobs done, while the boys went surfing with Lindsey.
Have a great week
Rosalie
​

​Hello friends and family
Happy New Year
May all go well for you this year. I have just returned from a mini holiday with Maria, Bryan and Daniel. We went to Queenstown before it went manic and the adults went on an e-bike wine trail while Daniel went mountain biking with a guide. It was fabulous and I recommend it to anyone travelling to Queenstown.

​We travelled up through the Maniototo and came back down the Waitaki river valley, stopping for dinner at the Moeraki tavern on the way home.

​On Thursday morning, Maria and Bryan left early to catch the plane home. Daniel and I were joined by the team plus Mel and Thor to micro-chip another 10 chicks. Lindsey is now fully signed off and Daniel was able to collect a number of fleas to help Sue identify what species they are and then we can refine their control on the penguin chicks.

​Cousin Daniel arrived on Friday and it has rained ever since. The New Year has brought us what we needed most – rain!

Have a great week!
Rosalie
​

​Hello friends and family
Best wishes for 2021. I realise that 2020 was very difficult for many people, but for our penguins it was the best year for the last 8 years. We have halted the decline of nest numbers and it has been a real team effort. Our increase from 37 nests to 41 here is an 11% increase. We have also seen a lot of returning juveniles which gives me hope that we have indeed, turned the corner.

​Together the members of the team have put in over 5000 hours of selfless hard work to achieve this outcome. They have done it with good humour and risen to every challenge that has come along. I feel very fortunate to have such awesome people in my life.

​When we got the sniff of resourcing, we decided to develop a monitoring app to improve the chances for all Yellow-eyed penguins to benefit. We beg, borrow and extract resources from dumps to keep going. Our work ranges from manual labour to highly technical activities and all is freely given. Thank you, team.

​On Tuesday we gathered to micro-chip more chicks and Jules came up to help, signing off Patrick and Lindsey to become registered handlers. We now have now chipped 46 of the 58 chicks. Bloods have been taken and slides read.

Maria, Bryan and Daniel arrived on Christmas eve and we spent Christmas day out in the sunshine, enjoying delicious food and just the right amount of wine to avoid a hangover. Today we are off to Queenstown for a holiday
Happy New Year and have a great week!
Rosalie
​

Hello friends and family
Best wishes for a happy and healthy holiday season!
​

​After a windy weekend, the weather settled down to summer gloriousness. On Tuesday, the team came and we micro-chipped and took bloods from another 8 penguin chicks. They are all growing up so fast. Some now have time at home alone as the parents both go fishing to feed their growing appetites. The small ones are growing too, and a great reminder of where they have all come from.

​Our Happy Christmas story.
On Tuesday the team came across a juvenile YEP resting near tickle bay. We gave it a health check – weigh 5.4 Kg Okay. Feet and feathers Okay.  It looked just fine, so we recorded its micro-chip number and then released it. When I got home, I found that it was the chick from nest 10.
Last year we came across a nest with cold, abandoned eggs at the Moeraki colony, so being one to not give up on eggs, I put them under a single male sitting on a dummy egg next door. This was only ever going to be a temporary solution, but we were able to continue our monitoring rounds.
Later in the day I came back and both eggs had pipped so I collected them up and took them to the pair at nest 10 that were sitting on dummy eggs too. 48 hours later, they had still not hatched so I broke off some of the shell as the internal membrane had dried out and gone leathery. This one survived! A few days later it contracted Diphtheria and so we treated it for that. A few weeks later we had a plague of ferrets that were eating some of the other chicks, so we collected up all the remaining chicks and hand raised them. They all fledged at the normal time, free from Malaria.
Now chick 10 has returned and looks great. What a buzz for us!

On Thursday we went to the Bluffs to erect a penguin fence to stop them going into the bull paddock. While we were there, we saw a small pod of Hector’s dolphins fishing close to shore. We all felt very fortunate to be able to do this work.
Have a great week!
Rosalie
​

​Hello friends and family
Tuesday was a great day. We started the micro-chipping at this colony and the chicks were looking fabulous. The first nest has gone post-guard, so the chicks were home alone. Some them have moved to a different nest box so it can be exciting to find them looking healthy, but not where we expect them to be. We have a number that are just under the expected weight and put it down to the impact of Diphtheria, so the weekly weight monitoring is paying off.

​The wee chick getting supplementary feeding at the nest has doubled its weight and one of the big ones has tested positive for Malaria. It is also being treated with Malarone at the nest.

​Thursday was another cracker with sunshine and Dom cooked hamburgers for the team for lunch. Yum! A few more of our chicks tested positive for Malaria so treatment will start next week when the results are confirmed by the university.

​Thursday was also the day when we received the total nest numbers through the media.
Breeding pair numbers:

• Banks Peninsula – 3
• North Otago – 47
• Otago Peninsula – 76
• Catlins – 55
• Rakiura – 39

In the 1991 YEP management plan, the goal was 500 nests on the sub-Antarctic islands, 500 on Rakiura and 500 on the mainland. 20 years later, I think our score is a FAIL. The path to extinction is littered with glossy pamphlets and noble words!

Hiltrun and Trii came up on Saturday and we braved the wind gusts to monitor the chicks and Hiltrun did some weed whacking while Trii watered the plants.
Have a great week
Rosalie 
​

​Hello friends and family
This week is the start of the next phase of monitoring. The chicks are past the danger of Diphtheria and Pneumonia and now we must keep them safe from mosquitoes and predators.

​On Tuesday I went to the dentist while the team did the rounds, weighing the chicks down here and checking the ones in the Moeraki colony. All was well. After lunch we put the wind cloth around the water-tank enclosure. We now have new seal pups! They may be small, but they make a lot of noise.

​I had my monthly outing to the Toptip on Wednesday morning and in the afternoon, long standing friends from Te Aroha visited for the night. It was great to catch up on news from that chapter of my life – 40 + years ago,

​On Thursday we weighed the chicks at the Moeraki colony. Some are now over 3 Kg so we will start micro-chipping next week.

Two of our chicks are not thriving so I have begun supplementary feeding at the nest. One of the off spins of gathering more data is the obligation to use it to make a difference!
Have a great week!
Rosalie
​