October 11th, 2020

​Hello friends and family
Nothing stays the same here for long. I spent Sunday tackling the “to do” list and was interrupted by a man who wanted to buy the camper.  On Tuesday he came and took it away. I am very pleased to have it be used by someone else. 

​Our last breeding penguins have laid their second eggs and so incubation begins – there is less than 2 weeks until the first egg hatches, so we are very excited!  We spent Thursday morning making 2 nests safer for the chicks when they arrive. 

​Dealing with amphibious species presents its own challenges in that it is very difficult to give an accurate head count. Penguins come and go to their own agenda – some stay out at sea and some stay home. The best way to track the population is to count nests. This gives a comparison over time to measure the size of the colony. Most Yellow-eyed penguins lay 2 eggs which may be fertile so even counting eggs is not as useful as counting nests.

backyard beauty

Yellow-eyed penguins are philopatric – they return to their breeding sites, often to the detriment of their long-term survival. Our increase in nest numbers is because we have recruited 5 new breeding females – they are only 2 years old and 4 of them were hatched here. The other one moved here over a year ago. Our increase is not at the expense of other colonies.
Have a great week!
Rosalie
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