Sunday 4th March 2018

our new, very thin Fiordland crested penguin

​Hello friends and family
It has been a busy time in the hospital – penguins in and penguins out. The week began very auspiciously with the grader repairing the road – what a difference! I can now travel safely in 2nd gear instead of first gear! Sanfords fisheries have donated us 90 Kg of fish and it will be ideal for the moulters with the munchies. They can be filled up once a day and have salmon for breakfast – hopefully this will make happy penguins.

2 penguins moulting out of the sun

​The last of the chicks have left the colonies and all the boosted ones are in soft release, they will be gone by the end of the week. This means that it is time to be on the lookout for failed fledgers who wash up along the coast very thin and hungry.

a penguin being the king of the castle

​I found a dead adult penguin in the colony – it weighed in at 7.2 Kg so was in good body condition. It was sent off to Massey and the preliminary report mentioned malaria. If this is indeed the case, it will be the first bird from here and the first adult. The others have all been chicks and lost at least 1 Kg of weight before dying. Further investigation is required.

the view from the front door

​As I do my rounds, I notice that we are missing a lot of penguins. This could just be paranoia as it is only early March and the storms will have slowed down the penguins efforts to gain weight to moult but it makes for worrying times all the same. I have been out treating all standing water to kill off any mosquito larvae. 

Spotted shags resting after a fishing session

​The ORC has started putting out carrot bait for the rabbits and within 24 hours, most of it was gone even though we have a lot of autumn growth in the paddocks. I have begun my annual apple harvest and am feeling blessed with abundance in the garden.

one of my veggie patches

Have a great week!
Rosalie 
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