 Please help me! Hello friends and family This time the week began with wet weather and so I shifted out to the garage and made 3 rectangular penguin boxes. When I get the correct ply, I will make some triangular ones. These nest boxes will spend the coming season in the aviary as rehab accommodation and then they will be relocated out into the Moeraki colony to house nests. I have poor to middling building skills but am very enthusiastic!  Katiki Beach looking fabulous Hendrick visited on Tuesday. He is a new seabird technical advisor based in the Dunedin DOC office and brings a new perspective to our battle to save the penguins. What a great day! All that was missing was penguins.  Winter colour in the garden On Wednesday I did a stint at the Toptip and went to Oamaru on Thursday. With the pantry stocked up again, I can relax for a while. Yesterday I got a call from Fleur – there was a stranded Juvenile YEP on the ramp. It was thin, exhausted and had a fungal throat.  Wild winter water By Lunchtime we had 2! The Hugo wing will be tested.
Have a great week Rosalie  Checking out the real-estate Hello friends and family Another interesting week in paradise! Thank you all for your positive support for our re-structuring and forming an incorporated society. We continue to do our best for the penguins. The week began with more rock cleaning and stapling mesh into place in the enclosures. I hate stapling – it is never blood free, so I just do a bit at a time and use surgical tongs to hold the staples in place while I bang them in.  The Hugo wing - ready for penguins! On Tuesday, after completing the monitoring rounds, Jan, Robbie and I finished the upgrade of the Hugo wing and now have somewhere safe for any new penguins that come in. We have moved our attention to the hospital. Robbie has re-hung the door as the hinges had rusted out and the pens now have new flooring. The rocks needed to prevent bumble foot are sitting on plastic crating that allows for drainage to keep the floor dry.  One of our helpers cleaning rocks We have added the plastic crating to Robbie’s rehab as well. This will improve drainage. All of this is a response to having to manage feathers during the moult. Pre-Malaria, we would put the penguins back out into the wild to drop feathers and complete the moult, but that is not now an option.  The promise.... The long-awaited rain has arrived. I did the rounds yesterday before the predicted deluge. We ended up with 15 mm over night which is just great – the drought has broken.
Have a great week! Rosalie  Home from a day's fishing Hello friends and family. Monday was cold and nasty, so I decided to blob for the day and not do much. It worked well until about 4:30 pm when I got a call about a skinny penguin down the hill. I went down to check it out and it was just fine. I decided to return through the habitat and saw a few penguins, some in different boxes from last season, so I await the new season with even more interest.  When humans are away the seals claim the headland On Tuesday when Jan and I did the rounds we found the southernmost male – Mr 18 in the northern most box – nest 114. Here’s hoping that he has moved! The task for the day on Tuesday was washing rocks in disinfectant for the enclosures. We have completed the Hugo wing. On Wednesday I picked up some more rocks and began re flooring the hospital.  Checking out the real estate Thursday was a day for more rock work. We moved on to Robbie’s rehab and have disinfected the rocks in the two back pens. While excluding mosquitoes may reduce Malaria risk, we have to reduce the risk of a complete range of infections that penguins are vulnerable to, so good hygiene is a must.
I spent Friday on small jobs and Hiltrun came up for the day yesterday. We did the rounds and there were no penguins to be seen! This is just right for July. Have a great week! Rosalie  A penguin heading home - still shiny from the ocean Hello friends and family The big dry continues. Hebes are starting to die and Akeake’s are wilting. Jan and I checked the island and there were no little penguins at home. On Wednesday, my turn at the Toptip was very comfortable with 20 degrees recorded. Hamish arrived on Tuesday afternoon and was happy to be able to feed the hospital penguins. The flax is now dug out of the front garden and the big plum tree is pruned.  An Otago shag checks out a pair of Spotted shags Hamish and Robbie worked on Thursday while Jan and I did the rounds. We released 2 penguins and picked up one. She was free for a week but did not leave, so is now back in care with a sore throat. On Friday Hamish and I went to the Waitaki River mouth which was not much fun as it was bitterly cold. Lunch at Riverstone on the way back was very yummy!  The cool crowd - sleeping in until 9:30 am. All was quiet when Hamish and I did the rounds on Saturday morning. We did see the two juveniles that we released on Thursday and both were looking just fine.  A Weta - disturbed by my gardening. I am slowly getting the home jobs done. Yesterday I cleared the front path of overhanging flowers. After 150 years of lighthouse keeping here, most of the weeds are flowers.
Have a great week! Rosalie |
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