 This Otago Shag came to say hello Hello friends and family On Sunday Elaine and I went to the Forrester Gallery in Oamaru to see a local film. It was a great reminder of how beautiful the Waitaki district is and a good way to spend a damp afternoon. From there we went to the Brewery for a pizza and to hear the local musicians, so I felt quite the socialite!  Our resident White-faced heron By Tuesday the weather had cleared to a beautiful sunny, frosty day. For the first time in 20 years, I saw a Tui. It was actually leaving and flying back to the hills. Tuis are seen in this area, but to get to the lighthouse, they must bypass the magpies that attack every bird that crosses their territory.  frosty The low winter sun highlighted the filthy state of my windows so on Wednesday cleaning them was top priority. I just had to wait until the ice in the hose melted. There were no penguins at home when we did the rounds on Thursday and Peter and Dianne came to see us release the juvenile from care. On Friday I stayed in bed until the sun came up – no penguins in care!  Peter and the penguin So, the last big clean of the season has begun. There are 6 pens in the hospital enclosure to be deep cleaned. The substrate of our enclosures consists of rocks on top of a plastic grill that sits on concrete. Concrete is great as an all-weather base but it harbours pathogens so is unsuitable for penguins to stand on. The plastic grill provides drainage so the rocks can be cleaned and then they dry out. The crud drains underneath.  note his eyes and breeding plumage This leads to a process of tossing the rocks out, lifting the grill, cleaning out the crud, waterblasting everything, sterilising it, and then putting it all back together again, ready for next season. Have a great week! Rosalie   home early with a full tummy Hello friends and family Winter arrived this week, so it was out with the thermals and more time indoors. The issue was the cold winds from the south, so it was alright in the colonies that are sheltered from that direction, but uncomfortable getting there!  getting ready for spring So, the task at hand is gathering the season’s data for the annual report. Some of it is disturbing – we trapped 35 ferrets. Of these, only 2 were lured by food – the rest were lured by their dead friends. We don’t have hungry ferrets, there is rabbit meat in abundance.  claiming a nest site We found more than 50 predated White-Faced Storm petrels. My guess is that they were killed by rats. We had no idea there were that many petrels here, but now there are not. We don’t get the rats in the traps, so there is nothing we can do.  home in a hurry to beat the waves There is good stuff too, but not enough of it. We did the usual rounds and on Wednesday, Robbie and I went to the retired aviary north of Oamaru to check out the wire netting that the lovely people there are willing to give to us. It will be a big job so we will have to plan it out. And then there are our regular sponsors that fund our work so generously.  supervising the palisade construction We are also beginning to see penguin poo at nests not used before, so this is always very exciting! There was a set of footprints in Ogden Bay and the one penguin at home yesterday was very chunky! Have a great week! Rosalie  time to go fishing Hello friends and family This has been a low energy week. On Sunday I went to the Bluffs on Sunday to toast the Queen and the penguins. It is great to be making a new start to such an exciting big project. On Monday I played with baby trees and on Tuesday Robbie and I planted out 7 of them to mark Arbor day.  Where is the fish? Wednesday was my Toptip day and there was a steady stream of locals visiting – many of them are new to the community so that is a good thing. All the local businesses seem to be for sale at the moment which is making the neighbourhood nervous.  Hanging out with the seal pups Sue and Merran arrived on Thursday afternoon and stayed until Saturday morning. It was nice to have them for a good catch up with all things veterinary and penguins. Hiltrun and I got the rounds done before the sleet arrived What a contrast!  the first kiss of winter Have a great week! Rosalie  home with a full tummy and bright pink feet Hello friends and family We did get a few days with no penguins in care but on Thursday the call came from Peter to say there was a penguin just north of the Moeraki Boulders. Robbie and Elaine were the rescue team, and they safely delivered a 3 Kg fledgling into care.  only just hanging on The storms this week have mostly passed us by, and it is too dry to be planting trees. The penguins are staying out at sea and only seal pups are seeking fame on the webcam. The workers down at the neck are getting a great run of weather to build the stockade which is progressing well.  turning back time On Friday the wind came up so I took the opportunity to start the annual accounts and got the first 9 months done.  clear winter skies Yesterday was a glorious winter day. I went to the Bluffs in the morning to do some weed control; and in the afternoon, walked the coast. In the 10 minutes it took me to travel down Lighthouse road, I passed 7 cars going the other way, even though there is now a big sign at the start of the road saying the reserve is closed. Have a great week! Rosalie |
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August 2023
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Te whaka oraka o te takaraka
Penguin Rescue is a member of the Wildlife Rehabilitators Network of New Zealand
Thank you to our sponsors;
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HAMPDEN COMMUNITY ENERGYAUSTIN COMPANY
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Hugo Charitable Trust
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