Sunday 11th December 2022

on his first adventure

​Hello friends and family
This has been a week full of drama! On Sunday I visited the Bluffs nest and took a video. What it showed was that the mum had an eye injury. I went to pick her up, but she was not at home. On Monday Jan, Robbie and I went back and there she was, so we picked her up – only 4.25Kg so not able to continue with parenting duties. We uplifted her and the chicks, she went to the Wildlife hospital and the chicks went to nest 49. 

cute and fluffy

​The parents in 49 were still in the incubation phase so being presented with 2 3-week-old chicks was a big surprize. They coped but needed help feeding for a few days. Both chicks were underweight, so there was no room for risk so I fed them at the nest. Three feeds a day for 2 days, 2 feeds a day for 2 days, 1 feed a day for 2 days and wait and see.

scruffy but doing okay

​On Tuesday when we did the rounds, we found blood in front of a nest. The reason is still a mystery, but we did a thorough check. Then we found the youngest chicks had had a relapse of Diphtheria, so they are being treated for that.

our first totara seedling

​Thank goodness, Thursday’s round produced no new problems. Sadly, on Friday morning, there was another dead chick. Yesterday Hiltrun came up and took it back to the Dunedin Wildlife Hospital for an autopsy. We have 46 chicks left.

how cute are these swallow chicks?

​Summer has arrived, and it has been a tee shirt weekend. Long may it last!

Chicks doing what they do best - sleeping!

Have a great week!
Rosalie