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From our scientist, Hiltrun Ratz, PhD
scientist@penguins.org.nz 
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One needs to be mindful in what direction to turn to have a pooh. Either Stewie Junior or Anna had to face the right direction just so. Ah, that's better! Presumably either Stewie Junior or Anna are the bird in the foreground, but notice the mob that's leaving for a day's fishing down on the beach. It's that time of day to head away! Near their nest site there was a whole lot of pooh so the other trail camera was trained on that and got quite a lot of footage of this pair doing stuff after fishing. Here they are allo-preening aka snogging, an important pair bonding exercise Someone usually gets told off for coming too close to the mate and it ends up being a screaming match.  The penguins can sleep or doze sitting up by rocking back onto their heels and park their backside on the ground - or the box such as Peanut here. That gives them stability so they don't fall over if they sleep too deeply. Spying with trail cameras on the penguins it becomes pretty clear that the main things they do ashore is sleep, pooh, preen and hang out. It's down time after a long day fishing and nothing much else to do. Our trail camera was in action and pointed at this trap box that had a lot of pooh around it. There was a good chance that at least one penguin was using it regularly, maybe two. It's next to Peanut and Ming's nest from last season, so it's probably them. Here one of them hopped on the box for the night oh so easily! Some yellow-eyed penguin chicks travel north on their big OE after fledging and this year we had a special wee boy from Glory Bay on Stewart Island dropping in for a top-up. The poor chap only weighed 3kg and was fighting an infection. He got his meds and lots of food and was on his way again - north or south towards home? Maybe one day we will find out if he is recorded again. For now, good luck, little buddy, find them fish!  These two are on a mission to go fishing in the morning just as it is getting light. |
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