Sunday 24th October 2021

Still waiting...

​Hello friends and family
The lingering cold weather fools us into thinking there is no rush to prepare for hatching but our first chicks are expected this week. The main task at hand is candling the eggs and so we have begun this process.

before...

​On Tuesday, Jim, our new liaison person with DOC came up for the day and did the rounds with us. Fortunately, there were no penguin dramas and so we were able to discus issues big and small and plan for the best future for the penguins. 

After weather and predator protection has been added.

​On Thursday, Stewart joined the team, and we began candling eggs, doing 3 nests here and 3 at the Moeraki colony. After that, we went to the Bluffs and found another nest with 4 eggs, one of which is fertile! Very exciting as this brings the Bluffs total to 9 eggs – there must be at least 5 breeding females.
On Friday we candled the Katiki Beach nest and both of those eggs are fertile.

Shag chicks growing fast

​Yesterday Hiltrun and Bronwyn came, and we candled more eggs. We have a high fertility rate this season which is wonderful. While we were on our rounds, we came across a car with a dog that had been driven through a paddock with lambs in it and parked within 20 m of a penguin nest. The owners were on the rocks looking for paua. The worrying thing about this is that other than trespassing on the farm, our society finds this behaviour acceptable. Our 4 year battle to get this land protected goes on.

an attitude of entitlement

We now have calendars. Not only do they make a perfect Christmas gift, but they also educate and help save Penguins as well. Please support us by buying lots. They are $20 each.
Make a deposit into Kiwi Bank 38-9016-0481348-01 with your name and code it ‘sales’. Reply to this email with your postal address and I will send them out ASAP. If you live overseas, use Give a little. Postage is included.
Have a great week!
Rosalie