We’ve Had a Very Busy Penguin Season
During Mar and April it’s a good time to take a deep breath and reflect on our last season. The little blues have completed their breeding season, new chicks have fledged and adults are coming to the end of their annual moult. For these couple of months they’re foraging out at sea to bulk up again for the next breeding cycle. They’ll come ashore intermittently to roost so we still need to be vigilant of their presence around our beaches and bays.
From the start of the breeding season when the penguins started coming ashore in May/June to establish and renew nest sites, until the end of March when they completed their moult, we were very busy with our monitoring activities.
We regularly checked known breeding sites such as nest boxes, burrows and rock crevices and constantly kept an eye open for signs of new nest sites. We recorded egg laying, hatching and fledging dates and used trail cameras to keep an eye on the penguins’ comings and goings - and the comings and goings of any predators such as stoats, feral cats, weka and uncontrolled dogs.
We responded to many emergency situations when a penguin was in trouble, either injured or sick. We were notified by DOC or community members of the location so we could transfer the little blue to our amazing rehabbers, Mana and Frances. This last season we responded to many call outs. Tougher environmental conditions with warming sea temperatures have made foraging difficult, especially for first year adults who are still honing their hunting skills. Their food, small fish, are going deeper to cooler water, making them harder for penguins to reach. Helpless penguins were being found emaciated and exhausted on our beaches. Some could be saved with good care and were released back to sea. And sadly we had a number of call outs relating to dog attacks which never have a good ending for the penguins.
We spend these quieter months maintaining nest boxes and building new ones, renovating predator traps, catching up on our reporting and generally preparing for the next season ahead. We know it will get busy again very soon!
