Sunday 2nd August 2020

penguins socializing on the rocks

​Hello friends and family
We continue with our regular monitoring on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, helped along by pleasant weather and good company. The penguins are starting to return home in mid-afternoon, so I took a walk down the hill to sit in the sun and counted 17 penguins on the rocks in Hide Bay, including one juvenile. 

The breeding season has begun

​On Thursday we released the 2 penguins in care at Pebble Bay and both had left by Friday morning when I went to check them. I did not get the chance to celebrate as we picked up a new Juvenile penguin that had an infection and fungal throat. It is a wee girl and so very precious!

Waiting for help in the forest

​Yesterday was the annual Yellow-eyed Penguin symposium so we carpooled and travelled down with Jan. Hiltrun presented our annual report in the morning and in the afternoon, I gave a talk about our journey with Diphtheria.

A favourite tree for seal pups

The new recovery plan for Yellow-eyed penguins has now been approved. The Minister of Conservation was there to officially announce it and it will take some time to unpack its meaning. They have allocated another 2 rangers to care for the penguins, but it seems likely that they will spread them too thinly. Time will tell!
Have a great week!
Rosalie
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