Sunday 28th January 2024

Looking very grown up - all fluff gone, off to sea soon

​Hello friends and family
The weather was glorious for the start of the week. Both Sunday and Monday were warm enough to sit about and do little. We picked up another adult penguin which brought our total to 18 in care. 

Always hungry

​The rain arrived on Monday night, and we got 16mm – great in every way but the timing. We still had 7 chicks to screen. We scrambled through the slippery slopes and got 5 of them. The last 2 are too well hidden. We brought up 2 more chicks that are not thriving, bringing the rehab total to 20. Dave met the team and shared some of his many stories.

A Pohuturata blooming

​On Wednesday, we headed inland to the Elephant rocks and then on to the Waitaki River mouth. We completed the outing with lunch at Scotts Brewery and got more jobs done when we got home. 

Stunning

​Thursday was a little different with Jan, Robbie and Dan heading south to a meeting in Dunedin while the rest of us checked the chicks here and weighed the chicks at Okahau. All but one had lost weight and one more so than the rest, so we brought that one in. Sadly, we found another dead one and it has been sent off for autopsy.

Even climbing the hedge does not get dad peace.

It was the turn of the Bluffs in the afternoon, and as Dave had not been there before, we went to Kawariki Bay and found the male breeder with a swollen foot. In he came, and then on Friday morning, off to the Wildlife Hospital for vet assessment. 
Yesterday Hiltrun did the rounds and Dave went off to the Bluffs with Murray. I processed some more blood smears.
Have a great week!
Rosalie