 proud mum Hello friends and family. The rain last Sunday was just soaked up and the place is lush! I spent the day indoors – very rare event, and got some tidying done. On Monday, Jan, Robbie, and I went to the pre-season meeting in Dunedin. It is always a pleasure to catch up with the front-line staff and to find out that the first egg has been laid on the Otago peninsula too.  abundance More eggs were laid by Tuesday and by Thursday we had 25 nests with eggs, 8 of them had 2 eggs. We were joined by the team from the Yellow-eyed Penguin Trust. There was Ben, their head ranger, Tabi the new CEO, and Sue the retiring CEO. The weather played nice, and they were able to see our operation in action.  playing the waiting game Later in the day, the rain arrived and now we will be able to continue planting small trees. It is just a matter of negotiating small lambs and electric fences. It rained all day on Friday and on Saturday I did the monitoring rounds in drizzle. No complaints from me!  spring is here Have a great week! Rosalie   Our trail blazer - first egg of the season Hello friends and family, Our first egg has arrived! – hatch date 12th September. The warmer spring weather continues. The forecasted cold fronts that brought snow to the south, delivered short cold windy blasts and about 7 drops of rain. I have stopped planting out baby trees as it is too dry. This has resulted in an expansion of the tree nursery.  spring glory in the garden The pair from QE2 Trust came to catch up on Monday which was nice. They weren’t in such a hurry that I could not bring them up to date with our work. Rob is going to be working further north and Cathy is taking over this area.  Waiting for a wife There was great excitement for the team on Tuesday when the first egg arrived. There has been a lot of penguins home here at the lighthouse, but numbers are patchier at the Moeraki colony. After Thursday’s round, we had identified most of the penguins at home. Mrs. Katiki Beach has moved back here so it is not likely that there will be a nest there this season.  Karo -a native with a lovely perfume Yesterday, Hiltrun found 7 more nests with an egg, so we are well underway with the new season. It was also the day of our AGM so we can now put the old season to bed and focus our attention on the new season. The guest speaker was Prof Bruce Russell from Otago University. He is an outstanding speaker and very knowledgeable about Malaria. Only the Green party candidate showed up – the National and Labour candidates were no-shows.  Still, misty, evening view I woke this morning to rain – the first real rain in 2 months. We have 10mm so far, falling gently, straight down. All those baby trees we have planted will thrive! Have a great week! Rosalie  In a hurry to get home to the nest Hello friends and family. We have had a great beginning to spring here with clear skies, warm temperatures and not a lot of wind. It is getting too dry to plant out, so I am hoping for a wet spell soon, so we can get on with it and the penguins are chased into boxes to keep their nests dry.  Kowhais are in full bloom We were joined by Jim and Gabe from DOC Dunedin on Monday to show them our setup and share our concerns for the penguins going forward. My concerns for the missing Spotted Shags were repeated – we still have none.  We still get surprises Jan joined me on Thursday when we started nest checking. Eggs are due any day now and we want to record the dates as accurately as possible. Hiltrun continued the good work on Saturday while Elaine and I went to the Hampden Beach cleanup. The beach was pretty good, so it took an hour to get a bag full of rubbish.  Waiting for the wife Everything this week was in the shadow of the recent death of my sister-in-law, Shirley Burgess. She was an outgoing, caring person who made the world a better place. Farewell Shirley.  Clematis blooming in the garden Have a great week! Rosalie  Mr and Mrs 8 at home Hello friends and family A new month, a new season and plenty of challenges ahead. This week has been overshadowed by the need to make a decision about our tiny chick handling this season.  The magnificent Kowhai on the farm Tiny chicks die without help. For the last 20 years it has been Diphtheric Stomatitis (DS) that has affected more and more chicks until in the last 2 seasons, all chicks got infected, at a younger and younger age. Last season, some even hatched with it. We have been very effective in treating this in the field.  penguins getting together At the same time, Respiratory Distress syndrome (RDS) which manifests as random deaths has been increasing in frequency and proportion of chicks infected. This has no known cure, but the chicks uplifted to the Dunedin Wildlife Hospital at 3-5 days old, survived it. We had 34 chicks die from it, the worst infection rate so far. It was a tough decision, but the team stepped up to it and we will be taking our chicks to Dunedin Wildlife Hospital in an effort to improve their survival. We are lucky to have this option available and are very appreciative of the help.  Red Kakabeak - blue sky In the meantime, the penguins are pairing up and selecting nest sites. Soon we will know how effective our huge efforts in rehab were earlier in the year. On Tuesday morning we were joined by the local National Party candidate to bring him up to speed about the issues facing penguins.  Who are these penguins? we will wait to find out On Friday we showed the new community liaison lady from Port Blakely around the Bluffs. The weather remained glorious until Saturday when it became cloudy and damp. The lambs on the farm are arriving and spring is in the air!  looking north from the headland at Waianakarua Have a great week! Rosalie |
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