Penguin Rescue NZ
  • HOME
  • Watch Live!
  • DONATE
  • CONTACT
    • HOW CAN YOU HELP?
  • NEWS
    • Weekly News >
      • JOIN
    • Annual Report 2023/2024
Picture

Weekly news

Picture
Weekly news from the Sanctuary Manager, Rosalie Goldsworthy
Watch live
DONATE

Sunday 25th October 2015.

27/10/2015

Comments

 
Hello friends and family
What a relief to find all penguins sitting nicely on their eggs when we did a monitoring round on Tuesday. We have had some spring like weather – sunshine and wind. When I mowed the drive on Thursday, the lawn is burning off so I will probably not need to mow it again until the autumn.

Picture
heading home to incubate
We have started the process of candling the penguin eggs and so far fertility appears to be high which creates a problem for the 3 eggs that we have saved when their mothers abandoned the nests. I am sure that we will find a good home for them. In the meantime, an egg has disappeared from a nest site visible to the public, the same nesting pair that was robbed last year.
Picture
Incubating. Note how clean the egg is - a result of very dry weather
Today marks the beginning of the New Zealand tourist season. In spite of promises of action, nothing has been done by those legally responsible for Yellow-eyed penguins to protect them from another year of 50,000+ uncontrolled visitors who come from all around the world. The disgusting “long drop” toilet, designed for a few trampers in the bush remains unchanged, with no hand sanitiser and so smelly that many people come onto my place and use the back of the hedge as a toilet. 
Picture
Spoonbills spooning
Yesterday Marian came and together we visited all the bees. Marian inspects every part of the hide for an incurable disease called American Foul Brood. We found a swarm and were able to get it into a bee hive. Marian showed me how the bees advertise their new home to the rest of the swarm and I saw them marching into the hive. Awesome! 
Picture
Our second new helper at Okahau point - job - motivator.
I have now planted my potatoes and carrots. I gave up on my crop rotation for the carrots and put them in where they did so well last season. The potatoes have been moved and I will shift the courgettes and pumpkins too.
Picture
Our first new helper at Okahau point
Have a great week
Rosalie
Comments

Sunday 18th October 2015

19/10/2015

Comments

 
Picture
Waiting, waiting, waiting....
Hello friends and family
The week got off to a grand start with a trip to Oamaru to collect potting mix to plant the tomatoes for the season. They are doing well. Chris and Hiltrun came up on Tuesday and we enjoyed having Raewyn and Hugh for dinner. 

Picture
Now the apple tree is taking centre stage in the garden
Wednesday was my day for volunteering at the TopTip shop and I was pleased to learn that I will be able to get raw milk for cheese making next week. The weather has been great and so I will be able to extract the Varroa treatment from the hives this week and begin gathering honey.
Picture
On Thursday Nola came out and did her first trap round. It was the first round for this spring and it is good to know that the predators have options as the burrowing sea birds return to nest.
Picture
An unusual visitor - a Californian Quail
On Friday, Chris, Hiltrun and I did the nest rounds and were very concerned to find 2 abandoned Yellow-eyed penguin nests. We have fostered the eggs out and hope they are still viable. There is nothing else that we can do when this happens. Last year we had some success but it depends on how cold the eggs get.
Picture
Cute Bunny
We put artificial eggs in the abandoned nest so if the parents return and settle, they get their own eggs back.
Have a great week!
Rosalie
Comments

Sunday 11th October 2015

12/10/2015

Comments

 
Picture
Waiting for a partner.
 Hello friends and family.
The much promised winds arrived on Sunday afternoon and the first hint that they were serious was when they blew over the power pole outside the house.

Picture
Power lines down across the lawn
Somehow the lines stayed connected but I did not walk under them just in case. Then by Monday morning, they had blown the house off a penguin sitting on eggs on the point so I went down and replaced it, securing the box in place with warratahs this time. I always feel bad when this happens – the penguins choose to nest in boxes because it should be safe in all weathers.
Picture
A fine new post and all damage repaired.
The winds ripped up the circles placed on small trees to protect them down near the sea and the challenge there is the rotten fence posts that wave about and rip the circles out of the ground.
Picture
Shags line the top and Spoonbills are in the middle.
The winds continued until Tuesday when we visited Moeraki to check out the Stewart Island Shags. It was a treat to see that the Spoonbills are returning. The Sooty Shearwaters are coming back to nest here on the point. Thorough searches have revealed no further Yellow-eyed penguin nests which is quite devastating. This colony has dropped 30% and Okahau Point has dropped 17%.
As these birds share the same ocean and weather conditions, we are left to assume that the difference in survival rates relates to conditions on land. The most obvious difference is the relentless stream of people coming here with all their noise and bustle. Every night I am asking people to leave who overstay or arrive after 7:30pm. The opening and closing signs are back out on the road but are ignored by too many people. This is not the first Yellow-eyed penguin colony decimated by uncontrolled tourism, we can only hope it will be the last – there are no more left.

Picture
Bees in the garden.
However the work goes on, and we wish all our nesting penguins a successful breeding season.
Have a great week!
Rosalie
Comments

Sunday 4th October 2015.

6/10/2015

Comments

 
Picture
patiently waiting ....
Hello friends and family.
I returned home from 2 weeks of family time on Friday night, feeling excited to be back and keen to see what the penguins had been up to. 
Picture
My mountain.
Chris and Hiltrun came up yesterday and we went out and checked all the nest boxes. We found 43 nests with eggs – not as good as we had hoped, and different from last season in that there are not a lot of busy males nest building all over the place, but every nest is just so precious!
Picture
Yes, I am working - keeping 2 eggs warm.
Not only are the penguins making the most of the spring, the Stewart Island Shags are nesting on the island off Moeraki. While I was away, all of the low down Spotted Shag nests disappeared, making me think that there had been some rough seas.
Picture
Stewart Island Shags on Motiti Island
September brought us 26 mm of rain which was enough to keep our little trees green. More is predicted for today so I am hoping it rains
Picture
Okahau Point looking green
Have a great week!
Rosalie
Comments

    Archives

    June 2025
    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015

    RSS Feed

Picture
Picture
​Te whaka oraka o te takaraka
PENGUIN RESCUE NZ
Moeraki Lighthouse
RD2 Palmerston
North Otago 9842
+64211710832
​www.penguinrescue.nz
Penguin Rescue is a member of the Wildlife Rehabilitators Network of New Zealand
Picture

Thank you to our sponsors;

HAMPDEN COMMUNITY ENERGY

AUSTIN COMPANY

Disclaimer
Picture
  • HOME
  • Watch Live!
  • DONATE
  • CONTACT
    • HOW CAN YOU HELP?
  • NEWS
    • Weekly News >
      • JOIN
    • Annual Report 2023/2024