 magnificent - but he would rather have had a wife Hello friends and family These are challenging times for penguins. 10 years ago we had 46 Yellow-eyed penguin nests here at Moeraki and now we are down to 38. The mainland-based population 10 years ago was around 600 nests and now it is 155.  the chicks are growing fast Of those 38 nests here, 5 have failed. One failed at the incubation stage – the female disappeared, and the male was forced to abandon the eggs, one at the brooding stage when the female disappeared, and the chicks died of starvation. One lost their chick last week, maybe to predation and we brought in the male and 2 chicks from another nest on Tuesday. The chicks weighed only 90% of what they should, and the male is a wreck. On Thursday we found a predated chick so brought the sibling into safety.  behind the box is better when it is too sunny! Our response to the chicks dying of starvation was to weigh every chick once a week so that we can detect when they stop thriving sooner. This is not a task that I would take on single handed and is only possible because of the awesome team we have here. 50 sets of very sharp claws can be daunting.  dead Our response to the predation is to put live traps in the reserve – we have no other options available to us. Our regular trap line is monitored weekly and we regularly change the baits. Yesterday we found another predated chick. If they continue to die, we will bring in the post-guard ones that rely on camouflage to survive – it is not working for them. The tough thing for them is that there is no going back to the parents – they will have to fledge from here.
Let’s all hope that the next decade brings recovery to the penguins and health and happiness to us all! Have a great week Rosalie  Home alone for the first time! Hello friends and family. On Sunday and Monday, I got around the bees and added extra boxes where needed and on Tuesday the much-promised rain arrived (15 mm). Robbie and Robyn came and checked out the Moeraki colony while I went down the hill here.  Note the blue tinge above the eye - a sign of cyanosis which can be a symptom of Malaria. Not in this case. All the chicks were in their boxes except one that was in a dry spot under the trees. We did not weigh them as they would have got wet. In the evening I went to the Mayor’s Christmas function and was thrilled to see Hugh there. He has now retired from the Council and lives in Christchurch. I also caught up with Hamish who has been promoted to environmental reporter for the ODT in Dunedin – well deserved.  Our tiny chicks from last week have a parent at home I must have been feeling in a good mood because I actually talked to some of the Councillors about the plight of the penguins. Every request I make is interpreted as a request for money. It takes about 5 times to get the message through that the issue is protecting penguins from uncontrolled tourists, not funding our work. Then they pass the buck with such finesse that I can tell that they have a real skill at it. The problem, they say, is national, and belongs to DOC, it is even international and why don’t I apply to WWF for money? I reply that the penguins live here. ON my way home at 8:30 pm I passed the last car leaving the car park.  The southern Rata in celebratory glory Robbie and Jules made up the team on Thursday and we caught up by weighing every chick except one that we could not find! On the whole they are making great progress – only two are causing concern and I will check them daily for the next little while. Some of them are now over 3 Kg, and right on schedule, I found chicks in both colonies home alone. This is called post-guard and is the next step in their young lives.
Have a wonderful festive season Rosalie  Growing up fast Hello friends and family Mel and Rachael came up on Sunday and with Mel’s guidance, I was able to get my Transponder permit updated and so now I can continue to mark penguins as needed. The system had been upgraded in 2018 but no-one had told me so now that problem is fixed! I gave them the 2 dead chicks in the freezer to take back for post-mortem – before they left, I weighed them. To my horror they had lost weight, so it was possible starvation played a role in their deaths.  Brand new variable Oyster Catchers Knowing this, we have begun weighing all the chicks to prevent this happening again. We weighed the doubles on Tuesday and found 2 nests with underweight chicks and then the singles on Thursday where we found more underweight chicks. If they weigh in the normal range, we will check them weekly, but if they are underweight, we will weigh them 3 times a week. The chicks from Tuesday had put on weight by Thursday, but not enough to get them out of the danger zone. Some will be coming into care. The question is not if, but when. We want them to stay in the wild for as long as possible.  Some of the hundreds of Terns that visited during the week As well as busy penguins, we have had thousands of sea birds feeding close to shore – gulls, terns, shags, gannets and petrels. We think they have come down here to escape the murky waters further north from when the Canterbury rivers flooded, closed all the roads and spilled silt into the ocean. They appeared to be eating Pilchards which are normally only found further north.  Baby Waxeyes - other species benefit from Penguin Rescue trapping Wednesday was my day at the Top-tip and I was back there again on Friday evening for the Dump Christmas party. After that event, Robbie and I went north to be part of a Long-Tailed Bat excursion. There were about 50 people and it was a very enjoyable evening even though we did not see any live bats. Elaine and Hiltrun came on the Saturday round and all the chicks were just fine, although one had not put on any weight.  A juvenile with tired feathers and a big bald patch at the back This time last week we had no internet because flooding had taken out the cable. Here at the lighthouse, we have had only 5 mm of rain so far this month.
Have a great week! Rosalie  venturing out of the nest box Hello friends and family The penguin chicks are growing fast and mostly out of the danger zone for Diphtheria, so we have cut back on monitoring rounds to be able to get other things done. We did the rounds on Tuesday.  Lots of gull chicks now! I have been out and about a bit this week. On Monday I went to the dentist in Oamaru and had to go back on Wednesday. While I was in town, I got a call about a penguin stranded on Katiki Beach so picked it up on my way home. Much to my surprize, there were traffic lights on Lighthouse road. We are always busier when the weather is terrible on the West Coast and this week has been no exception. Even so, it is very busy.  Yes, traffic lights on lighthouse road! The promised rain stayed away so on Friday Michelle and Charlie came to do some watering. By Saturday, SH 1 was closed with the Rangitata River bursting its banks and we still had no rain! Hiltrun and Elaine came to do the rounds yesterday and it really was hot. The chicks are coming out of their nests which is very cute. The last egg has hatched, giving us 52 chicks – 26 in each colony.  Handsome babies Have a great week!
Rosalie  The chicks are growing every day Hello friends and family Nasty November is over! We have come through it, along with 53 chicks that have survived their first challenge and we can now relax a little, while keeping a close watch on the penguins to ensure that they get the help they need in a timely fashion. Last week was made even more interesting when I developed an abscess on my remaining front tooth. I had it extracted on Wednesday and the dentist stuck it to my partial plate so I could carry on with my busy schedule and not frighten anybody!  The second lot of gull chicks have survived We had prepared for a Hui on Thursday, but it was called off. Will came up anyway, so he did the rounds with us to see first-hand what is involved with treating Diphtheria in the field. This week we will be finishing the daily visits and start getting back onto the list of jobs that need doing, including monitoring for Mosquitoes.  a few little penguins have returned to the island Our DOC permit arrived this week and I find that I must renew my micro-chipping permit. I will get on to that quickly as the main opportunity for me to qualify is when we micro-chip the chicks in about a month’s time. The DOC permit seems more relevant this time and will last for 5 years.  Our first pup now has friends and is getting stronger I have 2 penguins in care and released one during the week. The 2 juveniles had fungal throat and the adult is displaying symptoms of Malaria. His bloods seem clear but he sits in the house with his head in the darkest corner which is not usual. He may have the tissue phase of the disease.  so cute and our hope for the future Hiltrun and John are here to remove the data loggers off the tracker penguins. We are very interested to see where they go fishing!
Have a great week Rosalie |
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