Sunday 8th March 2020

another pair of moulting parents

​Hello friends and family
The week started off quietly – nice weather – chicks to feed in the middle of the day, so plenty of excuse to just amble along doing the small easy tasks that caught my attention. 

The 'before' shot

​The team came out on Tuesday and it was great that they too saw lots of fat moulters and no needy penguins. We opened the hatch for the chicks and released 6 penguins from hospital that were also fat and happy. Wednesday was my Toptip day and when I went to feed any lingering chicks, there were none – they had all fledged! There is now only the young one left here in care for another few weeks.

The 'after' shot

​On Thursday we found 2 of our breeding females from the Moeraki colony needing a helping hand and brought them in. Chris from the Dunedin DOC office came for a visit in the afternoon and was able to meet Nola and Patrick while he was here.

Where's mum?

​On Friday, I released another 2 moulted juveniles and the water tank arrived. It was very windy, and the delivery man was very impressive with his ability to manage a large, light object in high wind. It is now secure and ready for water. 

A Malaria plasmodium in penguin blood

Yesterday Elaine and Hiltrun came out and we picked up 2 more penguins. One had Malaria and the other was underweight.
Have a great week!
Rosalie
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