Sunday 23rd February 2020

A Snares Crested penguin

​Hello friends and family
The week got off to a quiet start, feeding and cleaning were the main tasks. On Monday I got a call out to a penguin at the Boulders. It was a starving Fiordland Crested and it had almost been forced back to sea by people taking photos of it, way too close. We had a new volunteer start on Tuesday – Tracey who has come out from Palmerston and did the rounds with us. We moved the penguin tent and were pleased to see that the occupants were very comfortable inside it – one even ran back to it when we arrived!

A fiordland crested penguin

​On Wednesday I celebrated my 71st birthday by transferring 800 kg of fish to the freezers – happiness is lots of fish! The chicks in the soft release pen all fledged.

Forest floor colour

Thursday was the day for the big transfer of chicks to soft release. We took all the chicks that were old enough, and that came to 28. Robbie, Ann, Jules and I weighed, measured and carried them to the pens. The gender balance was even. The weights ranged from 5.7 Kg to 6.6 Kg. What a privilege it has been to work with them.
Thomas and Richard came up on Friday to put a tracker on the next Fiordland Crested penguin – called Okahau. You can follow the penguins here - http://www.tawaki-project.org/penguinrescue
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A big fat healthy penguin

​I was saved big embarrassment when Jules identified the other penguin that was ready to go as a Snares Crested penguin. – We had 6 species at once! Elaine came and did the cleanout of the enclosures. The aviary is now empty of chicks and we gave it a deep clean, ready for adults or juveniles.

Even the Titi are chubby

Yesterday it rained – proper rain in the morning so when Elaine came, we did the bloods in the hospital out of the weather. Stewart came with me to feed the chicks in soft release and just as we were on the way home, the sky cleared so I could hang all the wet gear outside.
Have a great week!
Rosalie
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