Penguin rescue update

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