Sunday 23rd October 2022

Mrs 0 has been found

​Hello friends and family
We are racing towards hatching! On Tuesday, we were joined by 3 penguin people from Dunedin. We love having them come up because we can all talk penguin stories to an empathetic audience. They came for the last of the egg candling Once again, on the first look, we have a high fertility rate. We took the penguin in care to Kawariki Bay for a soft release in our penguin tent.

Blooming broom

​The penguins remain very settled which is a bonus. All around us, spring is unfolding, and we have an abundance of blossom, perfume, bird song and real warmth in the sun. Murray supplies us with trays of seedlings and Jan, Trii and I are potting them up. Soon I will run out of space to put them so maybe they can go back to Murray’s place. It is very pleasant in the garden doing this work. 

a guest in our colony

​On Wednesday Robbie and I went to feed the penguin in soft release, and, just as we had hoped, the spare male was standing by the tent taking a great interest in the sweet young thing inside. We fed her and decided to open the tent so they could meet. We are wanting to encourage her to move to a safe place. Twice she has been found on a public beach with loose dogs.

clematis

​Thursday was one out of the box. Firstly, the Clematis in the garden is blooming. Then, when we went down to the point, there were 100+ White fronted terns roosting on the island with the red-billed gulls. The monitoring rounds went smoothly and then we went to Kawariki Bay to make sure our soft release penguin did not need feeding. There in the tent was the adult male, I guess he was waiting for the young one to come home, she had gone fishing. We know the penguins like the tent, but that was unexpected.

too big to fit on the screen!

Then to top off the day, Elaine and Bronwyn found a nest along Katiki Beach. It is one of the missing females from here. It will be interesting to find out who her partner is. Yesterday was the first time this season that I have seen the Spoonbills. They nest just north of here and their return is always a good sign.
Have a great week
Rosalie