 who are they? we won't find out for a month Hello friends and family. I had a holiday at home on Sunday and Monday. The weather was glorious, and I pottered around in the morning, and then went for a long walk in the afternoon. On Tuesday there was a cold wind that made being outside unpleasant so after doing the rounds with Robbie and Patrick, I came indoors and worked on the computer for a while.  masking up against complacency I have decided to get off the fence and wear a mask when I go to public places. On Wednesday I went to town and bought a new set of kitchen taps. The tap in the laundry was broken, and rather than just get a new one for there, I decided to upgrade the kitchen taps and replace the laundry tap with an old one from the kitchen. When I got home, I phoned the plumber and they were able to come out to do the job that afternoon. Unfortunately, the pipes were corroded, and the plumbers needed to come back to finish the job the next day. I am very happy to have new taps – the others were ancient!  flash new taps Our Thursday working bee Tasks ranged from removing a dead seal, emptying the chest freezer, to preparing Robbie’s rehab floor for next season. The penguins are changing their behaviour – no longer socializing on their way home from fishing, rather they are landing in ones and twos and heading home straight away.  Heading home Hiltrun and Elke came up on Saturday and Elaine joined us as well. They trimmed trees and blocked off cliff tops to make monitoring safer and easier. I have begun constructing the fence to keep the sheep off the new trees. We are ready for the new season. We hope that our Malaria work has turned the tide and our nest numbers increase from the 38 of last season.
Have a great week! Rosalie  Another Juvenile arrives home. Hello friends and family The days are getting longer, and we are responding by ticking jobs off the list. Tree planting has slowed down until we can access the south end of the Moeraki colony when the stock have finished their winter grazing and we can drive to the fence. No prizes for doing things the hard way.  Warming up the nest The weather was spring-like, and Kowhai and Clematis are in bud, about to flower at any time. That all changed on Thursday when we all got wet doing the rounds in the morning. The paddock was very slippery, so I was not keen to drive there again in the afternoon.  Glorious Kakabeak Therefore, I took the photographer down the hill here for his magazine article. Cathy and Jon were visiting at the same time, so we were all treated to a display of penguins on the beach, one of which was a juvenile. On Friday I released the 2 girls from the hospital so am now down to one male in care. He is a bit slower to rally, but I will try to not rush him.  Spring is coming. Hiltrun came up yesterday and once again we had the chance to watch penguins for a while. We watched one Juvenile chasing another – how amazing is that!
Have a great week! Rosalie  A Juvenile penguin has come home Hello friends and family Once again, we started the week with pleasant weather – overcast but no wind and quite mild. The bees were out foraging, and the lawn keeps growing. On Tuesday we had a de-brief from the weekend conference and a big discussion about how we could best help the penguins going forward. Later we ended up picking up both of the penguins released last week and burnt off the old dead boxthorn so we can plant Kanuka in the spot now cleared.  Goodbye Boxthorn Wednesday was my Toptip day and it was quiet – no rushing required, and people were generally quite relaxed. In the afternoon I watered the trees. On Thursday we had a short road trip with Patrick to check on watercress and put fresh bait in all the traps. Elaine and I did the bloods of the 3 penguins in care. The 2 that we treated earlier are still clear of Malaria, but the new young female has tested positive – she will get a course of Malarone.  Manuka blooming in the colony Hiltrun and Elke came up yesterday and cleared a large tree that was smothering all its neighbours. I cleared the access to 5 nests at the south end. We watched the penguins coming home and were very pleased to see two juveniles returning with the adults. This brings the total seen so far to 8!  Claiming a nest site Have a great week!
Rosalie  penguins socializing on the rocks Hello friends and family We continue with our regular monitoring on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, helped along by pleasant weather and good company. The penguins are starting to return home in mid-afternoon, so I took a walk down the hill to sit in the sun and counted 17 penguins on the rocks in Hide Bay, including one juvenile.  The breeding season has begun On Thursday we released the 2 penguins in care at Pebble Bay and both had left by Friday morning when I went to check them. I did not get the chance to celebrate as we picked up a new Juvenile penguin that had an infection and fungal throat. It is a wee girl and so very precious!  Waiting for help in the forest Yesterday was the annual Yellow-eyed Penguin symposium so we carpooled and travelled down with Jan. Hiltrun presented our annual report in the morning and in the afternoon, I gave a talk about our journey with Diphtheria.  A favourite tree for seal pups The new recovery plan for Yellow-eyed penguins has now been approved. The Minister of Conservation was there to officially announce it and it will take some time to unpack its meaning. They have allocated another 2 rangers to care for the penguins, but it seems likely that they will spread them too thinly. Time will tell!
Have a great week! Rosalie |
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August 2023
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