Penguin Rescue Update

Moult complete - ready to go

​Hello friends and family
Our first successful breeding pair were in to moult on Tuesday – we brought her in at 6.3kg – the rough weather and seas have had an impact on local penguin feeding. There was about 8 unsuccessful pairs at home on Tuesday and we brought in 3 birds – all underweight to be going into the moult.

An underweight moulter

​The good news was that we took the last 3 chicks to soft release and 2 of the crested penguins are now swimming free in the ocean. I am so grateful that we have rooves over all our aviaries as the number of drones flying over my house has got ridiculous. The penguins cannot be seen and cannot see the drones which would be very stressful for them. 

Looking fabulous

​Wednesday was a glorious summer day. I was on Toptip in the morning and fed the soft release chicks in the afternoon. It was so nice I went for a walk after dinner.

Free at last!

​Thursday was wet and cooler. Jan and Robbie came out and were well in the mood to check the penguins. We must give the star performance to the birds from O140. They raised 2 chicks and were both over 8Kg when we weighed them. We weighed another 5 males over 8 Kg, which was very reassuring, given our concerns about the food supply for the penguins in the ocean.

One fat, one not - the pattern of the season

​We brought in 4 breeding females, all weighing a little over 6 Kg. We will care for them through the moult and then release them. A few eluded us, but we can try again on Tuesday. We looked like mud babies at the end of the morning. The last of the chicks fledged on Friday and I took 2 more juvies that had completed their moult and released them at Okahau.

getting oriented

Summer ended on a high with a blue sky and warmth with no wind. We love it, the penguins not so much.
Have a great week!
Rosalie