Sunday 22 October 2023

A lonely dad with his precious egg

​Hello friends and family
Excitement is mounting as the egg hatching gets closer. On Tuesday morning 5 of us set out to candle the eggs here at the lighthouse. We were very pleased to find all the eggs were fertile – especially the Kawariki ones that had gone cold earlier on. We will be returning those ones to their parents later in the week when dad is home as he is more settled.

The Clematis just keeps blooming

​So, we set out in fine drizzle and by the time we had candled the eggs, we were well reminded of that, damp, penguin smell on our clothes. It will not disappear until the chicks move out of the nest boxes some time in December.
We completed the candling on Thursday and were delighted to have a 96% fertility rate. This means up to 75 chicks to take to the Dunedin Wildlife hospital (DWH) at 3 days old. The Kawariki eggs are back in their own nest and both parents are doing the incubating.

Our resident juvenile who started life on Green Island

Our preparations have included updates to our permit to allow us to take the chicks to DWH, assembling the required equipment and agreeing to DOC supporting us by providing a rental car for a month. This support is wonderful and most appreciated. We can have up to 5 named drivers and so our roster will work well. The goal is to transform nasty November to notable November by increasing chick survival.
Bring it on!
Have a great week!
Rosalie