 Happy family Hello friends and family I hope you enjoyed Christmas and broke out of habits even if just a little! I was spoiled – 7 for Christmas lunch and then Merran and Sue arrived to share some time and discuss bird health. Sue reminded us not to underestimate the issues around poor nutrition and that was very helpful and reassuring that we have behaved responsibly, intervening with our penguin chicks.  The gull chicks are now teenagers! And so, 2018 comes to an end. What a year! It started with 14 penguins dead from Malaria – a disease that had not been identified during my previous 16 years and so it was devastating. The team rallied around, and we determined to minimise the impact of this disease on Yellow-eyed penguins at Moeraki, to the best of our ability.  Snoozing in the sun, waiting for the next fish delivery We have spent the winter preparing, reading, up-skilling and building. Everyone in the team, plus many more have stepped up and done the extra to get us to the point where we are confident that scale of die-off will never happen here again.  Our first creche All we need is for the weather to be on our side and all will be well. Enjoy the rest of the holidays and may 2019 bring you joy and happiness.  Cooling off by standing in the water dish Rosalie
Season’s greetings to you all!  The southern Rata celebrating the season Hello friends and family The week began with sunshine – a rare treat so far this month. I took the opportunity on Sunday to replenish the Mosquito dunks in the standing water within 500 m of the penguin reserves. The water level was quite low in most ponds. I got a call on Sunday night about a bee swarm and so I collected it quite efficiency. On Monday I checked the bees and gave them an extra box on top to put honey in. I got a call from the police while I was doing the last hives – a man had founded his boat in the middle of the seal breeding area at Okahau Point. I took a police man to the spot and we did manage to escape from the raging bull seals, but it was very dangerous.  The bull seal in the foreground was guarding his territory I did the rounds on Tuesday with Jan and Robbie. All the chicks in the colonies were looking fine. We weighed a couple of them and they had put on weight. The gull chicks are growing up fast and some now look like gulls not fluff-balls!  Creching With the rehab full so early in the season, we have begun mosquito proofing the aviary. This time, instead of putting the screening outside the structure, we have put it inside, so we can leave the shading vegetation in place. All that needs to be done now is to line the ceiling and we have a plan. When summer does arrive, any penguins in there will not over heat. In the afternoon both Jan and Robbie helped with feeding the rehab chicks. We want them to be more resilient. We all dress in blue overalls and wear blue gloves to reduce stress.  Going on an adventure To round off the day, Jan and I went to the mayoral Christmas function at the Oamaru Opera house. We enjoyed it and managed to get home before the worst of the rain arrived. We got 30 mm of rain in the next 24 hours – an average months’ worth here so the ground was all soggy again. I went shopping on Thursday and left Jan and Robbie to complete the monitoring at the Moeraki colony, but we did have to bring in another chick – only 60% of expected weight for age and loosing it even though there was a parent at home.  Nearly as big as mum! Chris and Hiltrun came up on Friday evening and we did the rounds on Saturday. There were adults having a day off and healthy-looking chicks. Helen and Stewart called out in the afternoon and it was lovely to catch up with them.
Have a great week! Rosalie  a lucky penguin chick with food in its belly Hello friends and family. I was pleased that I did not say anything controversial on TVNZ 1 on Sunday night. I was interviewed for an hour and a half, for a 3-sentence segment – Then completely ignored by the panelists who continue to advocate exploitation to the last attraction standing! They compare us with Iceland. This is one response to global warming!  Our latest fund raiser - let us know if you want any. Never mind! On Monday I was well supported at the Kiwi Bank local hero awards by Elaine and the Anglins who came along to the ceremony. Having the Great Dane there was a welcome diversion. On Tuesday Jan and I weighed all of the post-guard chicks. The parents are both going fishing very early in the chick’s life and we found two more very thin chicks that have come into care. At this stage we have 8 chicks, all safe from harm and eating well.  Whistling frogs are back in the garden Wednesday was my day to do as little as possible. It rained until mid-afternoon, so I had a good excuse. On Thursday we picked up another 2 skinny chicks, but the rest are gaining weight. We also weighed all of the hospital chicks and they too are getting heavier and are active. There was a cruise ship off Moeraki – some patrons were ferried into Moeraki – to Fleurs we presume.  a sad hungry penguin chick By Saturday the worst of the starvation event seemed to be over and we saw penguin chicks with food in their bellies – thank goodness! Unfortunately, we have a missing chick and a tiny one that is only ½ the weight it should be and has bald patches too. Still, all 53 chicks are still alive.
My faith in humanity was restored this week by a donation from the Hugo Trust. It is heartening to know others care for penguins too. Have a great week! Rosalie Hello friends and family The silly season is upon us – 3 social gatherings this week plus the Top tip – I feel like a gad about!  The Oyster catchers have laid their second egg at the top of a cliff! On Monday I visited the Hampden section for the first time in months. It was very wet under foot and some tree Lucerne had fallen over so I will need to go back and tie them up. Tuesday was my town day and I was able to have lunch with Raewyn and Jenny – what a treat. They are both well and enjoying life.  A close look will reveal chicks of every size Top tip on Wednesday morning and after lunch I had an interview with a TV reporter for Q & A that will screen on Sunday night (tonight). It was about tourist impact. Eric and Barbara arrived after that and it was great to catch up with them and all their news. In the meantime, Jan and Trish had done the monitoring round and found one dead chick and 4 starving ones in two nests. I brought the 2 smallest chicks in each nest into care. This is mostly to relieve the stress on the mothers – one of whom had been injured and one who is only 2 years old. She is the only 2-year-old that was attempting to raise 2 chicks. Feeding at the nest is fine for the chick but stressful for the family.  I wont eat grass when I can eat trees. On Thursday, Eric and Barbara were on their way back to Christchurch and I attended the Moeraki ladies Christmas gathering at the Tavern. Jan came out on Friday and we found two chicks with large bald patches on their lower backs. It was something that we had not seen before and so yesterday we brought them into care – here they are protected from mosquitoes so it reduces their chance of getting Malaria.  3 penguins where there should only be 2. Fighting will be the outcome. Today I am off for a barbeque and tomorrow I go to Dunedin to receive a Kiwi Bank local hero award.
Busy times! Have a great week! Rosalie  The Yellow-eyed penguin chicks are growing and developing so quickly! Hello friends and family It is always good to get past nasty November. We now have 54 healthy chicks with a good chance of surviving to fledge. We will be weighing, micro-chipping and screening them for malaria in 3 weeks’ time. The weather has remained unsettled, very windy and damp.  Little penguin chicks check me out I went to town on Monday and take the opportunity to check out other people’s bee hives – most still have only one super on them for collecting honey. Robbie and I did the rounds on Tuesday and we found one of our breeding females in the gay guy’s house. She was back there on Thursday.  Terns and Oyster-catchers all together Wednesday was the day for our Hui with TRONT, TROM and DOC. The site visit was made special by a penguin coming home while we were there. There are also lots of Red-billed Gull chicks which are very cute. Robbie and Joe did the rounds with me on Thursday and we found an undersized chick at home alone. We will keep a watchful eye on this chick as its mother is only 2 and dad hasn’t bred in years.  The babies are big enough to come outside I did some weed-eating on Friday and eyed up the lawn but decided it would pass muster without a mow – by Saturday it was a jungle! Hiltrun and I did the rounds on Saturday. The Thursday chick had put on 300 g so is Okay for now. We did find a chick that was only 2/3 of the size of its sibling. We compare chick size all the time and this was new. I will be supplementary feeding this chick at the nest for the next week and see if it will catch up.  Get hothouse -get skink We had some of our local supporters visit on Saturday afternoon (hence the concern about the lawn). It was great to hear their caring and encouragement. It was also a chance to discuss strategy around how we can save this species.
Have a great week! Rosalie |
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