 After the moult Hello friends and family After a very cold start to the week, the sun came out on Monday afternoon and the weather looked up from there.  a great night for the eclipse On Tuesday, Jan and Robbie came out and we checked out the next lot of moulters. It was great to see some of the breeding females at respectable weights. Mrs 137, who eluded us last week was heavy enough to leave in the wild. We brought in 3 underweight penguins. The capture and transport process resulted in some feathers falling off, and it was heartbreaking to see how thin the 3 penguins were.  needing help On Wednesday morning, I walked Katiki Beach with Elaine. The erosion there is significant and the penguins have moved to new locations above man-made rock walls. Both regulars have finished moulting and will be enjoying the calmer seas.  Katiki beach below the tide Robbie and Jan came out on Thursday morning, and we targeted known moulters that had eluded us for the last couple of weeks. They too were very thin and came in. In the afternoon, Robbie and I went to the Bluffs and uplifted one penguin from the Bluffs and one from Kawariki Bay.  Not penguins Friday morning was the time for the Hui. It was held at the Marae this time and many issues were progressed so that was a good outcome. On Saturday morning I did a quick check down the hill and the 18 pair are now home. Only footprints to see from the last pair to come home to moult – the 87 pair in Tickle Bay.  rainbow Have a great week! Rosalie   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   3 chicks ready to fledge Hello friends and family The week started with a dire weather forecast that turned into nothing much at all – 15mm of rain and a cold southerly but no high winds. The sea got very rough for a day but then settled down.  This year's pups are now playing in the rock pools Our first 6 chicks fledged and the next 3 are in soft release. The 3 youngest ones will be away next week. On Monday I picked up Mrs 138 on the bank at Okahau. She has moulted through rehab for the previous 3 seasons and will do so again this season. The interesting thing is that she did not lay eggs this past season, so I thought that she was dead – not so!  Mr 165 moults alone. Elaine and Robbie came out on Thursday, and we picked up 2 more females – Mrs 9 and Mrs 40. Both are heading into the moult just over 6kg and that is too light for a healthy moult. Neither of them raised chicks, so there is a feeding problem out there. We released the first moulted juvenile, and the next one will go soon.  it pays to be alert! Sealions can be anywhere. The garden is producing surplus tomatoes, beans and courgettes. I am freezing the beans and tomatoes and giving away the courgettes.  Mr 212 moults behind a boxthorn while his partner is in care Today I will open the door for the 3 chicks in soft release to go and that leaves me with the last 3 chicks to take to the pen next week.  Free at last - our first juvenile to complete the moult. Have a great week! Rosalie   The rescued Snares penguin Hello friends and family These are busy days. On Sunday morning I picked up a juvenile Hoiho and in the evening, Murray and Bronwyn came and rescued the Snares penguin that was at the bottom of a cliff.  Bronwyn to the rescue! On Monday, Thor arrived to place satellite trackers on 4 of our chicks – soon to be fledglings! Murray and Bronwyn helped to take them to Okahau to go in the soft release tent, and one that was under 5.5kg had to be replaced by a bigger one.  Before and after! Our first juvie will be out the door soon. On Wednesday I went to the Doctor in Oamaru to get a boil on my ear checked out. He put me on antibiotics so I have started them.  The adults have the munchies Elaine and Murray came out on Thursday and we took blood samples from the Juvenile (ex Long Point) Stewart found at Shag Point and Mr 2, who was hiding in an odd place.  3 Juvies well into the moult The week ended quietly. The unemployed males are starting to moult. If they are up to weight, we will leave them to it. Have a great week! Rosalie   Before dinner Happy birthday to Jen and Daniel today I had planned to be with you, but penguins got in the way. On Tuesday the full team came out and we uplifted the chicks. In the process we found Mrs Old, underweight and needing help. Bronwyn then got a message from a friend in Waikouaiti, about a penguin at the north end. It was an emaciated moulting Tawaki with dog footprints on the beach within 1m of its hiding place. Bronwyn and Murray rescued it! This left us with 12 new penguins, so Jan came out and gave me a hand with the feeding. With soft fish, half of it was all over us by the time we had finished, but the penguins were much better on Wednesday morning.  Rabbits galore The sun shone on Wednesday, so I went to town and did the messages in the morning and just caught up with myself in the afternoon. On Thursday morning, we checked the colonies and Robbie erected the soft release pen so we can house the tagged fledglings in a way that they are unlikely to remove the tags. All that is left for me to do is dig in the skirt. On Saturday, it was another thin female Hoiho, and another Tawaki. I got a message from Mel in the Auckland Islands that there was a stranded Snares Crested penguin here on the point. I have been out twice so far and not found it.  After dinner Have a great week! Rosalie   Waiting for the moult Hello friends and family The week began with miserable weather, but by Tuesday we were out and about, weighing chicks and checking for stranded penguins. I think most penguins chose to stay out at sea; the waves were huge withy a lot of floating kelp to get tangled in.  Wild water - no beach! Wednesday was my day at the TopTip. It was steady business all day and I took over $150 which is good for a Wednesday. Elaine came and covered for me while I got Mark and I a coffee.  Our 3 adults have got the munchies Murray, Toby and Robbie came out on Thursday, and we thrashed out a plan to make a difference for our penguins. We are going to uplift all the chicks on Tuesday – it will be within a few weeks of them fledging so the parents will just think they have gone and will start to look after themselves. Last time we did a bulk chick uplift, no females died and we held our nest numbers for the next season.  Hiding in the grass Filming the penguins is complete for the “Tiny Planet” film and so I have asked the team to move on to their next project. They are a great bunch of young people who are very focused on their project.  Take only photos - leave only footprints The weather played nice at the end of the week, sunny days and cool nights. I have started potting up the tiny Rata trees. They are very slow growing but will benefit from being in their own pots.  Our youngest chick is 6Kg We are now entering the high-risk period for penguin diseases. It is time to do what we can to reduce the stress on our breeding adults. We will uplift the chicks on Tuesday. Have a great week! Rosalie   Climbing lessons continue Hello friends and family Dan was on his way back to the stormy weather of Auckland on Monday morning. Elaine was going down so he went with her. It was awesome to have his help, and we used AI to great effect!  In full bloom On Monday evening, Brent and Julie arrived to visit for a few days, and they are staying in the tiny house at the Bluffs. Bronwyn went to a great effort to make them feel welcome and they really enjoyed their time there -not only because of the comfort, but the bulls in the front paddock were very interactive. They did the monitoring rounds with us on Tuesday morning and then went off to see more penguins in Oamaru.  Curious chicks Lizzy from Dunedin arrived for a couple of days to help. She is doing the ranger course at the Polytech in Nelson. We have been blessed with wet weather all week. We get out and check the chicks when we can, they are doing just fine.  Some things love the rain On Thursday we farewelled Brent, Julie and Lizzie. Thank you all for your support. There was a short break in the weather on Friday morning so we could check that the chicks were okay.  A family day at the beach Then on Friday, the rain set in and we have had 2 days inside – cabin fever all around! Today it is windy and very cold. We will dress for it and check the penguins this morning, before the next lot of rain.  a dry place in all the wet! The seas have been wild, driving up into the rocks. The penguins are taking their time to land; the main problem is the floating kelp on the shoreline. Not many are taking the risk at the moment! Have a great week! Rosalie   Growing up in a boxthorn bush Hello friends and family These are busy times and on Tuesday, the team came out and we began the process of doing the blood screening for the chicks. With only 11 chicks in the wild, we were able to get this done in a timely way, the rain held off and the chicks behaved nicely. In the afternoon, the French filming crew arrived; this was Florine the videographer, Louis the sound technician and Anna the star. They will be here for a time to produce an educational documentary, part of Penguin Rescues goals – education about the plight of the penguins.  How many seal pups? On Wednesday, Dan took the crew to Trotter’s gorge to see native bush and on Thursday, Elaine prepared the slides.  We went up the lighthouse on Wednesday It was wet all day Friday, which gave us a chance to examine the new government document about the rapid decline of the Yellow-eyed penguin in the northern population – here. It is 162 pages long and designed to be balked at. Fortunately, with Dan here and the help of AI, we were able to unravel the key points and have put the summary, along with the link to the original article on our website https://www.penguinrescue.nz/spatial-risk-assessment-of-threats-to-yellow-eyed-penguinhoiho.html  Our oldest chick is thriving This will inform our actions over the next season and is why we uplifted the juveniles. Things have remained quiet in the field which does simplify things!  The first Pohutukawa bloom raised from seed sourced locally Have a great week! Rosalie  |
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