Sunday 8th May 2016

Home time after a day's fishing.

​Hello friends and family
The big day has arrived and son Paul and daughter in law Jennifer have a beautiful new baby girl – Olivia. We are all so very happy and I will be away for the next 2 Sundays, playing with my new granddaughter so there will be no blog for 2 weeks. Hiltrun and Chris will be here to mind the penguins.

Thank you Rick for the sacks to carry penguins in.

​In the meantime, it has been busy in penguin central. We have new penguins in care and repeat customers that have been out at sea for a few weeks but now need a helping hand for few days. One of our juveniles was released last week but sits on the landing, getting fed right up until she decides to get back into the ocean and catch her own fish. Another one returned bleeding and will get a rest before heading back out.

Saying goodbye before a day's fishing

​We had a juvenile penguin die. This is the second death in the hospital this season, from more than 50 penguins. It is always horrible to loose them as we try so hard to save them all. It will be sent to Massey for an autopsy. 

Spotted shags checking out the fur seals.

​Hiltrun and I attended the Oamaru penguin symposium and Hiltrun presented a paper on the gender disparity here at Katiki point. We have spare males that cannot breed because there are fewer females. They get quite desperate to find a mate and can disrupt the breeding pairs. It is a problem for the whole Yellow-eyed penguin population. It was great to see familiar faces and hear of the dedicated work being done with Little penguins. The colony that Viv and I set up in Days Bay is now being used for research!

A Sky point - classic penguin greeting.

If you are going to miss this blog while I am away, check out our other blog
Have a great couple of weeks!
Rosalie