Sunday 12th November 2017

Two beautiful babies

​Hello friends and family
On Monday Elaine and I walked the south end of Katiki Beach and saw penguin sign at the old colony area and above the block wall. These are 2 of the safest places in that area. There was no sign of drain bird which was just as well as the road works by his home began on Monday. They are putting rocks on the beach to slow the erosion – the coast is a disaster area – there is fresh erosion over more than half of the 2 km at the south end.

A Red poll feeding on the front lawn

​Tuesday was a monitoring day and by the end of the rounds we have 28 nests with 52 chicks. We are waiting for another 15 nests to hatch. On Wednesday I worked at the Toptip shop. I was expecting a quiet day as the weather had been a bit rough, but it was the busiest day in a long time.

A Juvenile YEP enjoying the sunshine

​Jan came on the monitoring round on Thursday and picked up some calendars to put out with the retailers to sell. We found no dead chicks, thank goodness for that!

About to hatch

​Our good fortune lasted through yesterday with the next monitoring round with no chick deaths.
We now have 39 nests with 64 chicks and 6 nests left for the eggs to hatch.  Around half of the chicks are now at least a week old. Their first week of life is the most dangerous. I hope the pattern holds.

A White faced heron in breeding plumage

Have a great week!
Rosalie
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