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Happy Easter! Ka pā te karanga! We would like to wish you all a belated Happy Easter, share some stories, some interesting articles and news from our team.
We hope you all had a lovely Easter. Our first question to you all, with no surprise: Did you see any signs of penguins on your trips to the beaches, forests or rivers? We would love to hear about them if you did.
In the coming weeks, little penguins and Fiordland crested penguins will be returning to prepare burrows for this year's breeding season, with egg laying due in July-August. There can also be the possibility of a penguin using burrows at any time of year, so you may still come across a penguin or two out and about at this time of year. I came across some penguin tracks on the Hokitika town beach last weekend, which caught my eye as it was an unusual place to see them, so I will keep an eye out and see what they are up to. We are always keen to know about any experiences the community have, helping us to create the picture of the West Coast penguins.
March 4th brought us our dear Kerry-Jayne Wilson's farewell 'party' in Charleston, which was attended by people from far and wide. It was a lovely afternoon with stories shared and a good send off. Kerry-Jayne, you are already missed very much and you will continue to be forever. We will all take a pinch of your motivation, dedication and inspiration with us, to continue on the work you did for seabird conservation.
We shared with you our Ranger's reports last newsletter, which showed a rocky season for our blue penguins unfortunately, but quite the opposite for our tawaki. The question we are reflecting on now, is, why? What were the causes of a poor season for the West Coast little penguin? La Niña conditions? Marine heatwave? Lack of accessible food source? All of the above? These are the things we are always tuning into and will be investigating in more detail, aiming to link factors affecting marine ecosystems to our monitoring data.
The climate crisis is certainly at play. We are seeing reports from around the globe with lower than usual breeding success in some species, more attacks on humans closer to shore from animals such as eels and sharks, and other changes in habits from different species. We continuously aim to understand and then determine what if anything we can do to help penguins in future breeding seasons. Locally, for our penguins in particular, the standard of keeping your dogs under close control at and near the beach seems to be paying off with numbers of penguins being killed by dogs down last year compared to previous years. With dark evenings again, driving a little slower and keeping an eye out for penguins on coast roads will be safer and more economical for you and potentially save a penguin's life. We will continue to give you the DOC hotline each time so that it's handy if you come across an injured penguin or any wildlife that seems to be struggling whilst out there on the beach, river mouths or roads: 0800 DOCHOT (362 468), and again, do all you can to ensure sick or injured wildlife are safe from dogs.
Also, if you see or hear about a dead penguin, please let us know using our simple reporting form or drop us an email, ideally with a photograph, and, if you can have a look and it's obvious or apparent, your thoughts on possible cause of death. We can then add the information to our database - which informs our conservation actions.
Thank you again for your interest and support so far in 2023 and we wish you all a Happy Easter time. Lucy Waller Education & Awareness Ranger, West Coast Penguin Trust |
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Analysing
data, observations and questions to answer With only 35% and 45% breeding success rates at our two main monitored colonies in 2022, we believe the marine heatwave and La Niña conditions would have been to blame.
Read the updated report here. |
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| We say a farewell and a huge thank you to Ranger Linden ...
After two seasons of penguin monitoring and ranger duties for the West Coast Penguin Trust, we say a regretful farewell to Linden and wish him well for the future.
He has been rummaging around in our penguin colonies, monitoring, observing and recording our birds, and carrying out all the other challenges we set him, with a smile on his face.
Read our farewell here. |
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And we welcome our brand new penguin ranger Lucy to the team Our education ranger, Lucy Waller, is getting her wet weather gear ready to head into the coastal bush this coming penguin season, and she is very much looking forward to it. Lucy, with seven years as our education/ awareness ranger under her belt, has been appointed as our new Trust Ranger. The new role is a dream job for Lucy and she adds it to her existing ranger responsibilities.
Having introduced the education program and resource to children and teachers up and down the West Coast, including sharing the latest findings from our rangers with the school students and communities, she will now be able to deliver first hand experience from the field.
There will be an update from Lucy in the next newsletter, when she has settled in to her new role. |
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Preparation for the upcoming season underway
Penguins are mostly out at sea now, foraging and travelling, after a difficult breeding season followed by the usual stressful moult. New Ranger Lucy is getting her head around the ranger role, the penguin data and preparing equipment and plans for the coming breeding season, including some old nest box replacement if needed. If you would like to undertake a community or individual project to help our cause, take a look at our 'How to make a nest box' page on our website. We would always gladly receive a new nest box.
Read more here |
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A perfect project for schools
Nest boxes make a perfect conservation project for a class and can build on various penguin activities available in the Trust's education resource. West Coast schools have been fantastic in providing our newest nest boxes to put out into the local penguin colonies, where a little more protection and shelter may be needed.
It makes for a really fun, enjoyable and worthwhile project/activity. If you would like your students - at school or home school - to be involved in a project like this and embark on a penguin voyage of discovery, please contact us. Read about our education project here |
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Emperor penguin fan, the Pension Insurance Corporation, supports penguin conservation
This UK company, through a chance conversation, has shared its penguin love and appreciation of penguin qualities through a very generous donation.
Read all about it here. |
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| Farewelling Kerry-Jayne Wilson and her legacy It had been a year since Kerry-Jayne's passing and, close to what would have been her 74th birthday, a memorial event was held in Charleston on Saturday 4th March 2023. It was a lovely day sharing stories and laughs and a few tears as well. At the memorial 'party', it was announced that Kerry-Jayne wished a scholarship for seabird science to be her legacy for New Zealand and we'll keep you updated on that once more details become available.
We said a farewell but we are sure she will be with us in our seabird conservation adventures this year, we will strive to do her proud and we know her legacy extends far beyond the wonderful new scholarship.
If you missed it, you can read the obituary published last year in Notornis, the journal of the Ornithological Society of New Zealand.
And this is a final invitation to make a donation in Kerry-Jayne's memory, to be matched by a very generous sponsor. |
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We are off to Oamaru Penguin Symposium once again
Most of the West Coast Penguin Trust team is off to the biennial Oamaru Penguin Symposium next month. It is an opportunity to share research, observations, talk issues and problem solve and make connections in the penguin world.
By keeping up to date with the research, we ensure that all our work is based on sound science and, by being part of the penguin conservation community here in Aotearoa New Zealand, we learn from those more experienced than us and support the new kids on the block, so better outcomes all round.
We will report back in the next newsletter. Read about the symposium here |
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In other penguin news ... |
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DOC urges dog owners to keep their dogs under control after two hoiho deaths "Hoiho are one of the world's rarest penguin species and we are lucky to share our coastline with them. Their population is rapidly declining due to a range of threats on land and at sea. Disturbance and deaths from dogs is such a needless threat but one that our community can help to stop." DOC ranger Richard Seed reminds people to keep dogs under control, after a spate of incidents involving dogs and wildlife on Otago beaches since the beginning of the year.
Read the story here |
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Keeping an eye on the avian bird flu from the northern hemisphere We are still not sure the effect this avian flu might have on our seabirds in New Zealand, however we will keep you informed as and when we have the information.
This article follows Professor Craig Cary of Waikato University who has been monitoring the situation in the Antarctic. Scientific modelling indicates the likelihood of this avian flu, known as H5N1, reaching Antarctica by 2024, via migratory birds returning from the Northern hemisphere.
From early 2022 scientists have been tracking the increasing intensity of H5N1 outbreaks. Hundreds of thousands of seabirds have died and an estimated 140 million farmed birds have been culled.
Read more here including a short video of the Adelie penguins in the study |
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The largest ever penguin species has been discovered in New Zealand Two new species of giant penguin have been described from fossils found on a New Zealand beach.
One species, Kumimanu fordycei, weighed an estimated 150 kilogrammes and is currently thought to be one of the largest penguins ever.
Read more here |
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Following the marine heatwave
Marine temperatures are lowering but are still 0.5-1.5 deg C above normal and moderate marine heatwaves are still active in places but weakening.
A marine heatwave which has continued for over 100 days around Stewart Island is forecast to reduce in intensity, potentially seeing the end to the event.
Find out more here from the Moana Project. |
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Climate crisis pushing species onto endangered list and into new habitats Climate change is affecting our entire planet, including our marine ecosystems.
"As oceans heat up, entire ecosystems are being destroyed and forced to adapt. Fish are migrating where they've never gone before. Species' behaviours are changing. And, as the marine world transforms, sharks are following their prey and moving closer to shores popular with humans." Read the article from 7News here |
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Five reasons deep sea mining is bad news for the planet The depths of our oceans hide a unique living world that we barely understand – but these mysteries are already under threat from a controversial new industry: deep sea mining.
Read this article from Greenpeace here. |
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Fundraising is more important than ever
Our wonderful offer of matching donations in memory of Kerry-Jayne Wilson continues until the end of May thanks to a very generous donor. Please make the most of this!
Donations are going to be critical to complete projects such as filling gaps in our most valuable asset, our penguin fence along the Coast Road north of Punakaiki, as penguin colonies there are growing.
With better marine conditions, we expect penguins to have a better breeding season this year and we are hoping to extend our foraging study, tracking penguins at sea both where they go and how deep they dive.
Our education programme with West Coast Schools is highly valued and we need funds to continue to support teachers to use our education resource. Please help support our local tamariki in learning to become kaitiaki of our taonga species.
And our business as usual always needs support, including monitoring breeding success and analysing the data, so that we can put actions and strategies in place to protect their future.
Thank you very much - you can donate here.
Read more about our projects on the website |
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For those of you who would like to donate by buying a gift Stay warm this winter with these beautiful, handmade, personalised penguin hats, made by our very own Gorge River tawaki ranger Catherine Stewart, with a luxurious mix of NZ wool, possum, merino, mohair, alpaca, silk, dog, bamboo etc.
They are a bargain at $100, of which $50 goes to the West Coast Penguin Trust, $5 postage within NZ. (Please add $20 for International.) Adult plain version, baby and child sizes, $85.
Email us and we'll connect you to Catherine. |
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Or some gorgeous blue penguin and tawaki penguin earrings and magnets for sale by Meena of Meena.nzcraft.
These earrings with wonderful detail are $15 a pair, made from recycled rimu with stainless steel hypoallergenic hooks. Magnets are made from craft wood and only $8 each.
Meena generously donates 10% of every purchase of penguin earrings and magnets to the West Coast Penguin Trust.
Visit her facebook page here. |
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| We thank you for your support and look forward to a successful year for penguins and everyone! |
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| Don't forget to follow us on Facebook to keep up to date with all the important and fun local penguin news! And remember our website also has all the latest news, up-to-date information about the Trust, our projects and much more!
Stay connected.... www.westcoastpenguintrust.org.nz/ |
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Coming soon: - An update from our brand new ranger getting ready for the next season
- News from our local schools about their penguin projects
- News from Oamaru Penguin Symposium
- More on sea water quality
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And much more - local as well as some other penguin news and interesting stories from around the globe
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Follow us on Facebook and Vimeo and find out more on our website |
West Coast Penguin Trust info@westcoastpenguintrust.org.nz | www.westcoastpenguintrust.org.nz If you'd rather not receive emails from us, unsubscribe here. |
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