 It is so dry, the eggs are still clean Hello friends and family The week began with a dire weather forecast and so I planned my days accordingly. The storm passed us by. There were only a couple of wind gusts and a few spits and that was it. Tuesday morning was idyllic, and the team came out to do the rounds.  The gulls are choosing a nest site It was warm, fine and gusty on Wednesday morning, and the Toptip was busy. I had lunch at McDonalds and then did the shopping before coming home. Robbie and Murray came to do the rounds on Thursday and the fine, blustery weather continued. The promised rain did not eventuate. These are very drying conditions, and everything is needing watering.  Loving his egg It was wonderful to see Maria on Thursday evening. She had driven down from Christchurch -that would have been the only way to get out of the city as a big storm hit the South Island. Here it was very windy, strong enough gusts to blow salt onto the windows.  All the little birds have had a vicious storm to deal with On Friday we did the rounds with Jan and got excited about a possible pipping, but it must have been something on the outside of the egg. Saturday was idyllic and we went to the Bluffs in the morning and to Anderson’s lagoon in the afternoon. There was time to check out Jan’s new kittens and enjoy the day. Have a great week! Rosalie   Both of the Kawariki penguins were home Hello friends and family This has been one of those weeks! On Monday morning, I went out to check, and the freezer was only -8.5oC. I got on the phone, and the technician was here within a few hours. This time, our freezers were full of fish so there was no leeway. The technician climbed into the freezer over the top of the fish but was unable to find the leak. He re-filled the gas to buy us time and on Friday, another technician came and found the leak. He assured me that the freezer was fixed, but I will be checking twice a day for at least a month!  A NZ Sealion rests in front of a trough in a secure paddock. How did he get here? Mel came up on Tuesday to discuss the tracking research planned for this season. We need to have data to populate a request for protection for our penguins. At the moment, the Otago peninsula has some protection with a set net ban out to 8 km, but our penguins have none. It was great to see her and catch up on all things penguins.  Commercial fishing occurs right up close to the penguin colony On Thursday we began the candling of the eggs. It looks like we have 50 viable eggs and a number of spaces for fostering. The candling went very smoothly for both people and penguins. Have a great week! Rosalie   incubation - the calm before the storm Hello friends and family The rough spring weather continues. After a wet weekend, it was great to get out and about – but only in the mornings as the wind came up, strong and cold around lunchtime.  A young male not quite sure what to do with his egg Bronwyn came out on Tuesday morning and we did the nest monitoring. We identified one new penguin by putting out dummy eggs. These dummies will stay there until the chicks can stand up and get out of the way if the adults fight.  Kohuhu - blessing the section with wonderful perfume On Wednesday, I put up the fence to stop the tourists trampling over the Red billed gull nests. They are just in the early stages of their annual nesting cycle and may move elsewhere if they are too disturbed. The Titi scratching has increased to a level which shows they are thriving this season.  A Titi has come home On Thursday, I put my car into the garage for a service. This requires quite some coordination as it is 30 km from home. Fortunately, Robbie came to the rescue and picked me up from the garage at 8:30am and dropped me back there at 3pm. He lives only about 5km from the garage.  The pear tree is gorgeous I have been entering data on the shared data base and found that every pair at Okahau has remained the same from last season. In contrast only 7 of the 16 nests here at Katiki are the same pair as last season and, at the Bluffs, they have all had a change.  Another magnificent construction Have a great week! Rosalie   love those eggs Hello, friends and family Most of the unsettled weather of the last month has passed us by and we only had one wet day but a lot of wind. We welcomed October with the most snow seen all year, delivered by a howling sou’wester. The colonies are well protected from the sou’wester but here at the top of the hill we are blessed with an abundance of air!  the snow The Titi have arrived home. This is shown by an increasing number of nest burrows being scratched out. They are a little later than last season, but there are no signs of health issues. The weather was all good until Friday when the weather shifted around to the nor’ east. It brought wonderful, welcomed rain and most nests stayed dry. We are still expecting one more egg to be laid here but the season totals are close.  the clematis We have 3 nests at the Bluffs. While this is down 1 from last season, all penguins are accounted for. Mr Bluffs has chosen a new partner and the other 2 laid 4 eggs in one bowl, so therefore it is only 1 nest. At Okahau we have 11 nests. This includes a pair from the Katiki colony, and the total remains the same as one of our females died of Malaria.  2 juvies At Katiki Point we have 16 nests. We have 2 pairs unaccounted for, and 2 females that we have not seen, leaving us 5 down from last season. It is possible that the missing pairs may be nesting in fallen trees, but we have not yet found them. They may have moved somewhere else. There are about 8 single males running about and I saw one in the company of a juvenile which is good news as she has survived her first year. We will put out dummy eggs in the known nests to track down who the males are. This gives us a total of 30 nests so far. Have a great week! Rosalie  |
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