 morning at the lighthouse Hello friends and family This started out as a quiet week. Elaine and I celebrated Mother’ day with dinner at the Tavern – yummy as always! I took a load of rocks to the Bluffs on Monday and picked the pears in the Hampden orchard. There are still a few more apples to ripen.  3 shags The team came out on Tuesday, and we saw only a handful of penguins at home. I got an email from Mt Cook Salmon who will be donating some smolt to us which is awesome, the team at the OPERA will store it for us until the freezer is repaired.  evening at the lighthouse I went to town on Wednesday – no snow to be seen, but a good day to get my Covid jab. On Thursday, we found Mrs K18 at home again and she had taken a blow to the head and needed some help. She is responding well.  Tiny native broom, growing in the lounge Friday was busy. In the morning it was the Hui for the reserve management group. They were very empathetic towards the plight of the penguins. After a delicious lunch, it was off to the tavern to farewell Peter Whitehead who died recently. He had been a great help to Penguin Rescue by making trap boxes and little penguin cages. In the evening, I went to Hampden to hear Tamsin talk about her voyage through the North West passage. It was a great talk – a fitting highlight of a day when I did more socialising than the rest of the week put together! Have a great week! Rosalie   Back where they belong Hello friends and family The week began with pleasant weather, and it even got to 18 degrees when I was travelling home from the Toptip on Wednesday. It was a good time to release penguins, so I let 3 go – down to 2 fledglings in care, just fattening up to go after the next front has gone through.  There is great afternoon viewing on our YouTube channel The rain finally arrived on Friday morning, only 7 mm, but enough to keep the tiny trees happy!  Mrs 18 swam straight home as fast as she could This very cruisy week was turned on its head when I opened the big freezer on Friday just after 5pm to get fish out for the penguins, only to find it was defrosting rapidly. The freezer unit had stopped but the fan was still working, blowing warm air over the contents and defrosting it all rapidly.  2 shags on the rock What to do? I transferred all the current fish supplies and my food into the 2 freezers in the garage, but there was no room for the old fish. Why do I even have old fish you may ask? Because having fish to feed penguins is central to what we do. Just in case!  Where are we? It helps me sleep easy, knowing I have plenty of fish. It was good enough to use, if necessary, but now it is buried – 160kgs of it. I will call the freezer company on Monday to get the freezer repaired. Yesterday I released the last 2 fledglings as we are expecting calm seas for a while.  fledglings back in the wild Have a great week! Rosalie  Back in the wild after recovering from a wound. Hello friends and family The week began with more boring tasks, but a lot of satisfaction from doing them. The weather was mild and dry – I thought about watering the baby trees.  An abundance of sea birds The team came out on Tuesday morning and we picked up another fledgling. This one was just a bit light and is the first of the hand raised chicks to return. I did the monitoring rounds on Wednesday because we had the Oamaru penguin conference on Thursday and Friday.  It was worth getting up early on Friday morning This is a great chance for the whole team to network with other penguin conservation groups and to get updated about the latest research. Thursday was focused on Little penguins, and it was great to hear from new groups, advocating in their communities for penguins which means tackling the ongoing problem of dog attacks. One group has set up a radio network of cameras on the dunes and another has investigated Council compliance with the Wildlife act and only 4 complied.  A waiting pup Dinner was delicious. The weather was too unpleasant to go and see the Little penguins come home at the Oamaru colony, but those that did were pleased to see lots of them. We saw one on the pavement as we left the restaurant! Friday focused on other species and was very informative.  More north Otago glory Genetic research is revealing a lot about the penguins’ past – there is evidence that Hoiho have been here for over 3000 years.  Heading home early I did the rounds yesterday and the penguins were all out fishing. Have a great week! Rosalie  home again Hello friends and family The weather cleared on Monday, and I carted rocks and planted trees – very satisfying but not exciting! I weighed the fledgling that has gone from 3.6kg to 5.4kg. It is still eating 16 fish a day so I will keep it until it is not so hungry.  another glorious sunset The team came out on Tuesday morning and we checked that all was well with the penguins who were all out fishing. In the afternoon I got a call from Shag point and arrived in time to help Stewart who had rescued another fledgling. It has not been in care before so some training will be required!  the Kowhai is blooming very early this year On Thursday morning we gave the new fledgling a thorough check up and found she had an old injury to the foot. I had observed that she was reluctant to stand up, so this explained that behaviour. By Thursday afternoon, she was feeding from the hand.  Having a day at home On Friday morning I found a fledgling at Okahau and then, on Saturday morning, one here. Elaine came out and did the bloods – both are unwell. It is a quandary! Fledglings home so early but not well. We are thrilled that they are back. Have a great week! Rosalie  Excuse me - this is our place Hello friends and family The much-heralded rain arrived on Monday afternoon, and we got 5 mm – the temperature dropped by 10 degrees, so it was a good time to be indoors.  The right spot We did the rounds on Tuesday and Robbie found a distressed penguin. We brought it into care, but it died overnight. I transferred it to the DOC ranger at Palmerston on Wednesday so was pleased that I didn’t have to go all the way to Dunedin. Just as we got back from the rounds on Thursday there was a call about a stranded penguin at Moeraki. Robbie and Murray went off to save it. It was in a very bad way, so I took it down to the wildlife hospital where it failed every survival test and was put out of its misery. It was a regular in rehab but its chip had moved so we could not identify it – that happened at the hospital.  What the point looks like when people stay away On Friday it rained all day as predicted. We got 7mm but it was perfect for the newly planted trees so when the sun came out on Saturday, I planted 7 more. I was very pleased to see Titi (Sooty Shearwaters) on their migration to Siberia. They are the most numerous seabird and spend our winter in Siberia, returning late September to breed here, mostly on off-shore islands where they are safe from most mammalian predators.  The great migration begins Yesterday I did the rounds and planted 7 trees. Today is wet again so I am tackling the list of indoor jobs. Have a great week!  wearing a new suit Hello friends and family Sunday plans were interrupted by a call from Timaru. A Hoiho fledgling had landed on the boat ramp on Saturday night and was still there on Sunday morning. Our trusted friend Peter organised its rescue and I picked it up from Oamaru. It had slash wounds to its foot and weighed only 3.8kg. A quick check of its microchip number showed it was from here, had been in care and then fledged on 18th February.  buddies Like all penguins, it remembered how to feed from the hand and has settled in quickly. I shifted Sunday’s jobs to Monday and began the pruning at Okahau. With a dire weather forecast in place, I checked the penguins then – just as well as Tuesday brought a nasty storm – 15mm of rain and an icy southerly – a good day for inside tasks!  I don't need help thanks! Wednesday was Toptip day, and I took a few more treasures to be reused in the community. The morning was cold but sunny – lots of people came and it was a busy morning.  clean air and low sun - natural beauty On Thursday the team was treated with sightings of a Kereru and a Juvenile Gannet. The juvenile gannet was with an adult, and they were both fishing around the point. After the rounds here, we split up and got on with monitoring, tree planting and chain sawing at Okahau. There is much to do there, so every working hour makes a difference.  After a cold snap we can see the Otago peninsula from here Yesterday I took rocks to the Bluffs in the morning and then, after lunch went to Okahau to plant trees and prune. There I found an injured penguin on the beach that I rushed to the wildlife hospital in Dunedin. Today I will be planting trees and pruning at Okahau! Have a great week! Rosalie   On their winter break. Hello friends and family The days are getting shorter and so the change to daylight saving is timely. The penguins are mostly through the moult and so we have started the winter cleanup, which will be massive this season. The storm in October dropped swathes of trees at Okahau. The prolific growth since the storm has given us a challenge too.  Autumn is fungi time We started with Kevin’s bush on Tuesday, cutting back branches and clearing fallen trees. It was an easy place to start because it is easy to dispose of the green waste by throwing it over the cliff. In other places we will have to cut it small and make stockades or piles that we can walk around.  more fungi On Thursday, the weather won the day, so we did the monitoring rounds and left the big stuff for another day. We did not get a share of the rain – 1mm was it, but the seas were roaring, and it was very windy.  And then there were 3! The little shags are increasing I have started potting up my bin of cabbage tree seedlings and have had some success with the native broom seeds. We have one penguin in care.  These 2 sealions are becoming regular visitors Have a great week! Rosalie  Waiting out the moult Hello friends and family Gavin carried on cleaning out the shed at the start of the week and by Tuesday we were ready to call the Skip company and ask for it to be removed. On Monday night we went to the Moeraki Tavern for dinner, and they produced Blue cod deliciousness.  You can't see me The penguins in care are getting grumpy. They are coming out of the moult and think that they don’t need to be fed anymore, but I disagree so we are all waiting for that last feather to fall and they can go and get their own fish.  All dressed up in a new set of feathers The team came out on Tuesday and all penguins in the reserves were doing just fine. We tried our hands at matchmaking and put Mrs W3 and Mr Od5 into the soft release pen at the Bluffs overnight to encourage bonding. Fingers crossed! Gavin came to the Toptip on Wednesday morning, and we got rid of the last of the recycling out of the shed. While we were having lunch at Vanessa’s, we saw the loaded skip going past – great satisfaction for a job well done.  Gone fishing I took Gavin to the bus in Oamaru on Thursday morning and then went to Okahau with the team. On Friday I completed the funding application for the ORC ECO fund – it gave me a headache! Yesterday was laundry day – sunny with a light breeze, just lovely. Have a great week! Rosalie |
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