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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​Hello friends and family
Life is so busy at present! On Sunday we had Sniper the Yellow-eyed penguin detector dog up to search beaches for us. It was a magical day and we found all the penguins that we knew to be there so that was wonderful. 

​On Monday we did the monitoring rounds and sorted out some of our new calendars to put with other people to sell. I spent the afternoon preparing for the scheduled power outage on Tuesday that was then deferred to Thursday. On Tuesday Robbie arrived with a small hothouse which he delivered, set up and installed. Thank you, Robbie!

​On Thursday we found more sick chicks and 2 more dead ones. Sad. Thank goodness the rest are still alive! On Friday we reached peak treatment with 29 individual chicks needing antibiotics. For 14 0f them it was their last dose, so we are over the hump. Chicks in the last nest started pipping too, which is wonderful.

Saturday was a busy one too! In the morning Hiltrun and I did the rounds and found another 6 sick chicks. This brings the proportion of treated chicks up to 72% so it is as bad as last season. Our productivity is now at 1.4 – it needs to stay over 1.1 for the penguins to be replacing themselves. In the afternoon, Marian and I did the AFB check for the bees. She got stung 3 times and me twice – it was a bit cold and the bees were grumpy. Thank goodness and Marian that it is done for the season.
The media has been interesting this week too. The ODT reported the YEPT as finding the rate of population decrease is slowing which is of little consolation to us as diphtheria is rampant again and little is being done to treat it. TVNZ 1 reported that the penguins will be extinct on mainland NZ in 10 -20 years as the numbers continue to plummet. We can only hope that more awareness brings more resources.
Have a great week!
Rosalie
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​Hello friends and family
The tiny babies down the hill are now my focus and on Tuesday we found a dead one. We also found 3 sick ones, so they were started on anti-biotics. This was also the day that we had a visit from 2 DOC officers from the permits department and it was such a shame that they did not have enough time to prepare for the meeting and then see the work that we are doing. They are over worked!

​Wednesday was my day at the Top-tip shop and once again, I caught up with a lot of the locals who are busy getting on with life. On Thursday the rain arrived. Jan and Robbie joined me for the monitoring rounds and we found another dead chick. It was 2 days old. As Robbie was heading to Dunedin he was able to take it to DOC for autopsy at Massey university. It was diagnosed as having Diphtheria. We also came across 3 more sick ones.
By the end of the day we had 58 chicks and 8 eggs yet to hatch.

​It continued to rain on Friday, so I put the laundry out in the hospital as it now has a roof!
We ended up with 40 mm of rain which is a lot for us, and it was quite cold with snow on the mountains.

It was too cold to do the bees on Saturday, but we did the rounds and found more sick chicks but no more dead ones!
Have a great week!
Rosalie
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​Hello friends and family.
Happy birthday Hamish! I hope your exams are going well and you have your summer accommodation sorted! 

​After helping plant trees at the Waianakarua river mouth on Sunday morning I had a quiet afternoon pottering about and enjoying the day. Monday was a busy one! Julia and Megan came up from Penguin Place and did the monitoring rounds with us. Stewart, Robbie and Jan were here and our focus for the day was making a positive start to the season and sharing best practice. They brought up some boxes of fish and Wayne arrived with 20 more – the freezer is full! I even had to turn on the chest freezer for a day to be able to sort the old fish to the front and the new stuff in the back of the walk-in freezer. What a great way to start the season, with plenty of fish.

​At the end of the round we had 15 chicks. The weather was miserable on Tuesday, so I went to town and got more wire and posts. Jan came out on Wednesday and we did the monitoring rounds. We found 24 beautiful chicks, and sadly, a dead one. Its sibling was very sick and scored a 4 on our new Diphtheria diagnostic sheet so we are treating it with antibiotics.

​Jan, Robbie and I were joined by Vikki on Thursday and we managed to plant the last of this season’s bulk plantings – 36 Tussocks. We were not as lucky with removing the sheep from Seal Point – 3 attempts and only ½ of them out. We no longer own the sheep – they have been taken over by Ross the farmer to ensure that they get the best possible care.

Jan and I checked the chicks on Friday and all was well – the same again on Saturday with Hiltrun which is awesome.
Have a great week!
Rosalie
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