Sunday 24th March 2019

Nearly ready to go!

​Hello friends and family
This has been a quieter week. We have had penguins coming and going and more of them turning up in the colonies to moult. I had a visiting group of American students on Monday who are studying the impact of climate change on the environment. They had a lot of pertinent questions so that was great.

A visiting male sea lion resting on the beach

​Jan, Robbie and I caught an underweight penguin at Katiki Beach on Tuesday morning – it was hanging out with a dead one which died of Malaria so we have taken bloods and will begin treatment. Wednesday was my town day and very dismal and grey – a good day to get out of the place!

Feathers everywhere

​Robbie and I released 7 penguins on Thursday and brought one new one into care. It takes hours to do this as we must take bloods, medicate and measure these birds. This is all part of managing Malaria. We can control release dates but not admission dates. Our mandate of minimising handling of penguins is challenged by the new requirements. Generally, we only handle the penguins 3 times – admission, transfer between ICU and pens, and release. Our challenge is to keep this regime yet administer several tests and treatments. 

Feathers in the vacuum cleaner!

​Once we have taken samples, they must be correctly stored and transported – some at -80 oC.

and after - beautiful!

​Saturday was another busy day, with John and Henry added to our usual gathering. John commented about how busy the place was with science happening all over the place. It is our normal!
Have a great week!
Rosalie