Breeding season very positive: Doc

By Rebecca Fox on Sat, 5 Mar 2011

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University of Otago wildlife management student Matt Conley checks a yellow-eyed penguin that had been caught for weighing on Otago Peninsula. Photo by Mel Young.

While avian diphtheria hit some Otago Peninsula populations of yellow-eyed penguins hard, overall the breeding season on Otago's coast has been very positive, the Department of Conservation says. Doc recently finished its pre-fledge nest checks of yellow-eyed penguin populations along the coast from Oamaru to the Catlins.
Doc ranger Mel Young said avian diphtheria caused the death of about half the chicks at Boulder Beach and Sandfly Bay on Otago Peninsula, leaving only 70 chicks to fledge.
Overall there were about 485 nests along the coast which was similar to the previous year, she said.
Most of the eggs hatched, the majority survived to the pre-fledge check and had since fledged slightly earlier than normal, Ms Young said.
Their weights were mostly very good with a weight range of 1.9kg to 7.1kg. A weight of 5kg at fledging is considered optimal for the chicks' survival.
Those significantly lighter than 5kg were removed from the wild and transferred to Penguin Place's penguin hospital to be "fattened up" and to relieve the parents, which needed their strength for the upcoming moult, she said.
Penguin Place's Glen Riley said up to 50 birds had been in the hospital in recent times. Some 30 "patients", mostly younger birds with problems feeding, there at the moment. Ten were released last week.
"There's been a food shortage, with adult birds struggling to raise their chicks."
The aim was to fatten them up to 5.5kg to give them the best chance at survival and the birds had been arriving at the hospital weighing about 3.5kg to 4kg. It took up to six weeks to get them to the required weight, he said.
They were able to do this work thanks to Sanfords in Timaru, which supplied the fish, Mr Riley said. As each bird ate about five fish twice a day, the hospital needed about 500 fish a day.
Yellow Eyed Penguin Trust field manager Dave McFarlane said it had been a "pretty positive" season for the trust's reserves, with average chick weights slightly up on last year and nest numbers on a par with other years.
For the first time all of the chicks on the reserves were microchipped, he said.
Ms Young said most adults seen by Doc were in a good condition which was important for the moulting season when they did not go to sea until they had their new coat.
"The next couple of weeks will be really hard for them. They could turn up on any beach in Otago, which means they could be at risk of being killed by dogs."
The trust and Doc urged anyone who saw a penguin they believed was at risk, sick or dead to contact Doc in the first instance.
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Better after hospital stay

By Eileen Goodwin on Sat, 12 Mar 2011

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Glen Riley offers fish to a yellow-eyed penguin. Photo by Craig Baxter.

After a tough start to life, six yellow-eyed penguins will head back to the wild today. Glen Riley, of Penguin Place, said the birds had put on more than 2kg and now weighed up to 5.5kg, a safe weight for them to be released in the Catlins.
A lack of feed, possibly caused by the La Nina weather pattern, meant some penguins struggled to feed their chicks, Mr Riley said.
The 4-month-old penguins have spent nearly a month at the Otago Peninsula penguin hospital, after an initial fortnight with Department of Conservation Owaka ranger Cheryl Pullar.
They were fed three times a day when they first arrived, reduced to twice a day as their digestive systems improved. They had been handled as little as possible to protect their feathers.
It had been a busy summer for the hospital, with up to 50 injured or underweight birds staying at a time. Penguins were not social birds, which caused a few tensions between them.

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