 getting bigger every day Hello friends and family We learned during the week that there is a third killer on the loose among our penguin chicks. The upside is that there was nothing we could do to save the ones that died, the downside is that they are dead. It is called RDS (respiratory distress syndrome) and is fatal once symptomatic.  the Manuka is at its best The Norwegian volunteers have headed off to the north island and life is settling down a little. The spring growth, perfume and colour is amazing. The gulls have laid eggs on the headland and the hedge is full of nesting finches.  glorious cabbage trees On Tuesday the team came out for the weekly weigh here at the lighthouse. Some chicks have topped the 1.5kg mark and look fantastic. Our newest babies had diphtheria and have been treated. The ground had dried out enough for us to be able to get around without too much fuss.  well camouflaged babies At 8:30pm on Wednesday evening, Joe called me out and we watched a drone circling so low over the island that the gulls lifted off their eggs. We walked down the headland but could not see the operator. There were no cars in the carpark and no other sign of people present. Joe said that when he first saw it, it was sweeping over the penguin colony. By 9pm there was no more sign or sound of it, so hopefully it had gone.  a beautiful weed Thursday was our first clear round for some time. We weighed the chicks at the Moeraki colony and the heaviest was over 2 kg. The chicks at the Bluffs are all still young and small. We checked on 49 chicks and they were all okay. Sadly, yesterday another one had died so we now have 48 – same as last year. Have a great week! Rosalie  precious gifts Hello friends and family. The week began with full on treatment of chicks sick with Diphtheria. Hiltrun stayed over to help again on Sunday. By Monday, we were down to 9 nests being treated and all but 2 nests either hatched or pipping.  Oystercatcher chicks at Kawariki Bay The weather started off hot but then cooled to where it was comfortable in overalls. The volunteers went up to central Otago for the weekend with Jan, to bike some cycle trails, and were hosted by Walter and Theresa.  after the mildest winter in recorded history, Pohutukawa blooming in November Tuesday was a good day. No dead chicks and two new foster chicks from Green Island. The parents were super happy to greet their new chicks and for all 3 visits that day, the chicks were safely tucked under the parent. By then we were up to 58 chicks with 2 eggs to go. This was our famous lucky last female who has hatched last ever since she began breeding.  getting bigger The one remaining nest is not expected to hatch so we will hold it for foster chicks.  The gulls are back breeding on the headland All went down hill on Thursday. We had 4 dead chicks. One had an air embolism and was euthanized at the Wildlife hospital; one was predated, and the other 2 deaths were consistent with Respiratory Distress disorder.  Otago shags roosting By the end of Friday, we were down to only 5 nests to treat which was good news as we had a heavy rain warning for Saturday. The rain has arrived! The plants are growing in front of my eyes. Yesterday our last nest hatched, 3 weeks to the day from the first one. It seems we have been battling to save chicks lives much longer than that! Have a great week Rosalie   not out of danger yet Hello friends and family. Well, the lack of chick deaths did not last long. We had our first one on Sunday and by Tuesday, our DOC liaison man, Jim, had 4 bodies to deliver to the research project looking into the cause of death.  tiny scraps of life We were able to get bloods from 2 of them and found Malaria. These two will get further testing. Tuesday was a beautiful day with enough volunteers to have 2 teams on the job. This frees up the afternoon for other tasks. By the end of the day, we had 50 chicks. The chicks here were weighed and on Thursday we weighed the rest of them.  fishing in the Mataitai On Friday we had 5 more dead chicks and yesterday Robbie joined Hiltrun and I, and we had 3 more dead chicks. It gets hard to go out and look in the nests. This will pass.  It was a beautiful night to watch the eclipse Have a great week! Rosalie  Precious new life Hello friends and family What a difference a week makes! By Wednesday we had 16 chicks and 7 of them had Diphtheria. On one hand we are so thrilled to have these precious babies and on the other we fear for their lives.  Posers On Tuesday, our team was up to 8 members, so we were able to split and send 4 to monitor the Moeraki colony and 4 of us went to Katiki Beach to make the nest there possible to save the chicks. We had a plan – a good plan. With everyone in agreement we set out, fixed up the nest site, set the penguin to return to her eggs and she didn’t! Fortunately, we chose to go away and within 5 minutes she was back on her eggs, and all was right with the world.  Native Iris Once we have Diphtheria in the population, we check the nests every day as new cases can be saved if caught quickly. On Wednesday I was able to pass the Toptip on to Kate (bless her) and focus on penguin welfare. Not only did we see dolphins swimming past, but we also found a whistling frog. Robbie took the volunteers off to his place in the afternoon so I could recoup for Thursday.  What's missing? On Friday, we found our first dead chick. It had died within 24 hours of hatching and sadly, that does happen. It could be any of a lot of reasons associated with hatching, but we cannot do much about these deaths. We have had very warm days and the chicks are struggling to hatch as the membranes in the egg dry out and become leathery. We had 32 chicks, 26 of which need treatment for Diphtheria. We had 46 eggs left to hatch.  On the street corner, waiting for the young females to arrive Yesterday we were up to 43 chicks and no more deaths. My idea of paradise. Beautiful sunny day with a breeze to take the heat out, healthy chicks and spare penguins who were just chilling or having political meetings on the landing. Long may it last! Have a great week! Rosalie |
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November 2023
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