 Climbing lessons continue Hello friends and family Dan was on his way back to the stormy weather of Auckland on Monday morning. Elaine was going down so he went with her. It was awesome to have his help, and we used AI to great effect!  In full bloom On Monday evening, Brent and Julie arrived to visit for a few days, and they are staying in the tiny house at the Bluffs. Bronwyn went to a great effort to make them feel welcome and they really enjoyed their time there -not only because of the comfort, but the bulls in the front paddock were very interactive. They did the monitoring rounds with us on Tuesday morning and then went off to see more penguins in Oamaru.  Curious chicks Lizzy from Dunedin arrived for a couple of days to help. She is doing the ranger course at the Polytech in Nelson. We have been blessed with wet weather all week. We get out and check the chicks when we can, they are doing just fine.  Some things love the rain On Thursday we farewelled Brent, Julie and Lizzie. Thank you all for your support. There was a short break in the weather on Friday morning so we could check that the chicks were okay.  A family day at the beach Then on Friday, the rain set in and we have had 2 days inside – cabin fever all around! Today it is windy and very cold. We will dress for it and check the penguins this morning, before the next lot of rain.  a dry place in all the wet! The seas have been wild, driving up into the rocks. The penguins are taking their time to land; the main problem is the floating kelp on the shoreline. Not many are taking the risk at the moment! Have a great week! Rosalie   Growing up in a boxthorn bush Hello friends and family These are busy times and on Tuesday, the team came out and we began the process of doing the blood screening for the chicks. With only 11 chicks in the wild, we were able to get this done in a timely way, the rain held off and the chicks behaved nicely. In the afternoon, the French filming crew arrived; this was Florine the videographer, Louis the sound technician and Anna the star. They will be here for a time to produce an educational documentary, part of Penguin Rescues goals – education about the plight of the penguins.  How many seal pups? On Wednesday, Dan took the crew to Trotter’s gorge to see native bush and on Thursday, Elaine prepared the slides.  We went up the lighthouse on Wednesday It was wet all day Friday, which gave us a chance to examine the new government document about the rapid decline of the Yellow-eyed penguin in the northern population – here. It is 162 pages long and designed to be balked at. Fortunately, with Dan here and the help of AI, we were able to unravel the key points and have put the summary, along with the link to the original article on our website https://www.penguinrescue.nz/spatial-risk-assessment-of-threats-to-yellow-eyed-penguinhoiho.html  Our oldest chick is thriving This will inform our actions over the next season and is why we uplifted the juveniles. Things have remained quiet in the field which does simplify things!  The first Pohutukawa bloom raised from seed sourced locally Have a great week! Rosalie   Our oldest chick is rapidly gaining his waterproof feathers Hello friends and family On Sunday evening we caught another Juvenile Hoiho and then went to Oamaru to pick up grandson Hamish off the bus. What a treat to see him again and looking well.  The gulls keep trying new places to nest but have no success yet On Monday we checked for penguins in the morning, including at Katiki Beach, and in the afternoon, went to the Bluffs to install a new automatic trap at the north end. On Tuesday we weighed the chicks down the hill and shifted the penguins out of the hospital and into Robbie’s rehab and weighed them too!  This is the first ex-Tasmania stink horn we have seen here The Crested is doing very well, the Hoiho are not gaining much weight so will need to be with us a bit longer. On Wednesday we went to the Albatross centre and had lunch before we picked up our penguin holidaying at the OPERA. For the rest of the week, Dan and Hamish did jobs at Okahau – clearing weeds, protecting trees and tidying up old houses.  Noel loves to sit on the point On Saturday we took Hamish to the bus – off on the next big adventure, and Dan spent some time compiling songs for Penguin Rescue. We scored 25mm of rain during the week too!  Our youngest chicks are outside, exploring their world Have a great week! Rosalie   Katiki Point from the air Hello friends and family Dan and I picked up Mr 26 from the Dunedin Wildlife hospital and brought him home on Sunday, then we went to lunch at the Tavern. In the evening, we got a phone call from a local and rescued a Snares crested penguin from the beach at Moeraki, in almost the same spot as last week’s Hoiho.  Showing his best side Monday was pleasant, so we did some tree work at Okahau. Jan and Bronwyn joined us on Tuesday and we weighed the chicks down the hill. They are all doing just fine and are at their cutest – getting a bit of penguin attitude which is always welcomed.  The Snares crested penguin This year we are trying a new procedure for Juveniles, where we uplift them pro-actively to ensure that they get through the moult successfully. This takes them out of the ocean at peak Barracouta season. We picked the first one up on Monday night, the second on Tuesday and the 3rd on Wednesday. Wednesday was our morning at the Toptip and from there we went to lunch at Elaine’s to mark the end of 2025.  The gull babies are struggling with harsh weather conditions Jan joined us on New Year’s day to weigh the chicks at Okahau. 2 of them are of concern and we will reweigh them today. They will come into care if they have not made good progress. Elaine came out on Friday, and we processed the blood samples from the 3 Juveniles – one Malaria and 2 infections – a big shock to us all.  Jan giving the chick a health check On Saturday we found a mother compromised so today we will test her blood and that of her chick.  Adults annoyed with us for visiting after hours Have a great week! Rosalie  |
Archives
January 2026
|
RSS Feed
Te whaka oraka o te takaraka
Penguin Rescue is a member of the Wildlife Rehabilitators Network of New Zealand
Thank you to our sponsors;
HAMPDEN COMMUNITY ENERGY
AUSTIN COMPANY
