Sunday 12th December 2021

first steps out into the big world

​Hello friends and family
Nasty November is well and truly over, and we now have delightful December. This is when the chicks are at their cutest. Each time we do a monitoring round, we seem to save at least one chick. On Tuesday we came to nest 129 and there were 3 chicks there! Two were in the box behind a parent and one was just outside. It had come from the nearest box, still quite a difficult journey and it would not have found its way home. We also found 2 chicks, home alone. Deploying a trail camera revealed that they did indeed still have 2 parents – must have been a communication error!

the chicks are getting bolder by the day

​On Wednesday Elaine and I went to Dunedin to catch up with the wonderful people working to unravel the mystery of the chick deaths. It was very inspiring to meet with them and hear their ideas on how to progress improvements for the penguins.

Here it is - finished and sparkling

​On Thursday we almost got speed wobbles. The tasks at hand were to check the traps at Katiki and weigh and treat the chicks at the Moeraki colony. Down the hill we found all the chicks were fine but came across a very sick Juvenile that we brought into care. There was nothing caught in the traps.

shy but cute

​When we got to the Moeraki colony we found a wandering chick and then ran out of treatment so had to go back, where we found another 2 small chicks home alone. I put a camera on their nest.
On Friday I got up early and travelled to Tauranga to help Maria celebrate a special birthday. On Saturday, 10 of us went to Rotorua and did the Canopy zip-line experience. It was great! In the evening we had an excellent party with live music from Paul and Daniel. I had only about 4 goes at Karaoke and stopped before I made a total fool of myself!

My first tomatoes will be ready for Christmas

The team cared for the penguins, and I got home last night.
Have a great week!
Rosalie