Sunday 3rd October 2021

an 'open' nest aka squatting in the flaxes

​In spite of the cooler air, the week started off with clear skies and little wind.
On Tuesday we were joined by Murray, so we split the team in two and Robbie took Murray to the Moeraki colony and Lindsey, Margie and I did the nest checks here. We found 20 nests here and there were 15 nests at the Moeraki colony. How awesome was that! After the rounds, we worked on the Webcam project, installing the solar panels, and clearing the tree blocking the sun. 

Robbie adding finishing touches to the solar panels

​On Wednesday I got my second COVID jab and feel very pleased to be part of the solution and not part of the problem. 

The clematis is stunning

​On Thursday we found 40 nests plus one of the gay guys is back! Once again, a dummy egg did the trick and provided all the motivation he needed to settle in the nest. Just as well! There were penguins on the loose at both colonies – juvies and young ones testing out the fences. We brought one of them home. Just on 5 Kgs and very flat – not standing or running away. This replaces the juvie we had in care that we released at the Moeraki colony. It is very unusual for the penguins to need a helping hand at this time of the year.

Lindsey releasing the recovered juvenile

​On Saturday we took his blood and found a very high white blood cell count which is a sure sign of infection. Thank goodness we picked him up. After that we did the rounds on Saturday and found more nests. We are 2 weeks into a 3-week process and have 24 nests here and 18 at the Moeraki colony. This is an increase of one from last season. The spare males are beginning to play up and we found 2 in the neighbour’s nests – a big worry as eggs can get broken when they fight. 

beautiful sunsets this week.

We will keep up our monitoring. We have made 544 entries on the nest-checking app already!
Have a great week!
Rosalie