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From our scientist, Hiltrun Ratz, PhD
scientist@penguins.org.nz 
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It's not been an easy few days with quite a few penguin chicks dying unfortunately - updates later - and horrid wet weather (although we did need the rain) making it near impossible to take photos. Pompey and Harry though have a trail camera on them and we have selected a gorgeous photo of their two bubs in the nest. It's in the middle of the night and both parents are at home. Both chicks had Diphtheria and were treated and so far are clearly thriving (other chicks did not) so it's been a bit of a mixed bag overall. Enjoy these two - and just a reminder: if your scroll back to 9 November you can see that they have really grown loads!  For a little variety and what we are aiming for: this is Stitches' chick from last season and she is hanging out near her parents' place - whose eggs were just starting to pip. Soon Danielle's siblings will be out and keeping Stitches and her mate busy. They are great parents and fingers crossed the chicks stay healthy!  These are also among the pairs with chicks and so far so good. Holger was on the nest on the day of the photo, and he was not impressed with the visit and clamped right down. What a dad!  These two are usually among the first to lay eggs in their favourite nest box called Lacenest - and so they are among the first to have chicks. Both eggs have hatched and the chicks are still super tiny - fingers crossed, all goes well.  These two had two fertile eggs and one of them has hatched. We are not sure if the second will, we thought it was fertile, but time will tell. The parents sit pretty tight on the small chicks so getting photos is near impossible.  We have a trail camera on this nest and were able to tell when the chicks started pipping and then got the first glimpse of them. We are keeping a very close eye on them as Pompey has never bred before. As of today we have 32 chicks at the Moeraki colonies.  These two are expecting their eggs to hatch any time. Thor is the girl of course, and they did a great job last season. No photos of chicks just yet, but we have had 19 chicks in the colony as of the weekend, unfortunately two have died. One of the oldest and first hatched was Bri's chick and it looked like it had got food stuck in its throat. The other chick (not the sibling - different nest) died very shortly after hatching. It reminds us that these chicks are oh-so-fragile and it is unrealistic to expect them all to live. November is hard that way.  The pairing of these two is unchanged but Chris now has a name. It's funny how things sometimes work out: last year they were in box 84 and this year they are in number 48! Surely that's a coincidence - or is it??? A note on the side (sorry no photo): Danielle has been sighted. She is Stitches' chick from last season and we were very excited when we worked out who we had managed to id!  She was another first-timer last year and managed to raise a chick - well done. Her mate was the first unmarked adult we had at our colonies for a very long time, so he must have come from somewhere else - and maybe he went home? We gave him a micro-chip but haven't found him yet. In the meantime Meghan hooked up with a long-term bachelor from next door, and they have two fertile eggs. He is just so pleased to be breeding again after so long!  These two were first-time breeders last season and managed to raise one chick. They are back - but nest choice was not the greatest. Honeydrop seems to like an open nest among flaxes - so open in fact that a roof was required. We carefully put a nest box over the top of the nest so that they have some shelter. They are incubating two fertile eggs.  |
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