Sunday 6th January 2019

Our Pohutukawa blooming for New Year

Hello friends and family
Happy New Year!​

A creche of 5 chicks

​A big thank you to all the support for my award as a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to conservation. I heard from people that I had not heard from for over 30 years. It was great, and I enjoyed myself immensely. I was thrilled by the level of support, both local and distant, for the penguins here at the lighthouse.

Little penguin chicks waiting for dinner

​On New Year’s Eve, after a drink at the Tavern, Jan and I went down the hill to check out the local night life – so many birds live here it is amazing. We saw 8 different species of native birds in great abundance. Wow.

Proud parent

​Robbie and Barb came out on New Year’s Day and we did the rounds and worked on the aviary which was mosquito proofed by Thursday. Jan has been coming out between her split shifts and doing the afternoon penguin feed. 

Morphing into a proper penguin,.

Yesterday we micro-chipped another 18 of the chicks. Now we have only 7 left to do. This lot were all a good weight and quite cooperative. We also celebrated Hiltrun’s imminent birthday.
So, we have a new year and our top priority for penguin conservation remains getting some legal protection for the coastal strip between the 2 penguin reserves. As more and more penguin habitat is lost to coastal erosion and more intensive land use, this becomes more important. This needs to happen soon while there are still some penguins left.
Have a great week and an awesome year!
Rosalie
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