Kia ora!
We hope you are all enjoying the longer days and evenings, as we are. We are right in the middle of the penguin breeding season so we are very busy monitoring both West Coast penguins, working closely with schools and doing lots of advocacy, all to try to protect kororā, tawaki and other seabirds, such as the tāiko and tītī.
We have just published our Annual Report, including a message from our Chair, Robin Long, sharing her concern about the loss of community conservation funding from DOC. A review of all our projects for the 2022-23 year is the main focus of the report, along with our very grateful thanks to you and our other Supporters. Find out more, including a link to the report, here.
We share all our news below but first we need to appeal to you once again. Help by way of donations and sponsorship is essential and always so welcome; now we need them more than ever. We know you already provide our life blood, but if you can help a bit more, or encourage others to help with a donation, you would be doing us a tremendous service. There are other ways you can help too. We have just updated our volunteer opportunities, adding fundraising, with a vast range of things you could do, and sharing our stories via social media. And there are 99 volunteer roles here - something might be just your cup of tea! If you can help, we'd love to hear from you.
Back to the penguins. The kororā and tawaki had a late start to their breeding season this year, with kororā eggs reported in the last newsletter, but the majority were sadly abandoned later. Some second attempts were made so fingers crossed for them. News from all the colonies is quite different, so have a read of our reports to find out what is happening so far this year in the different locations. This is my first season as Ranger for the Trust as well as education and awareness ranger, and I'm thrilled to be bringing you first hand accounts of our field work.
We were keeping an eye on the new El Niño cycle after a dreadful season for tawaki in South Westland during the last one in 2015. However so far, we have been pleasantly surprised in all the tawaki colonies we monitor. It seems also more promising than we thought for the kororā as well. However, we will know more in the coming weeks and will update you all in the December newsletter.
We were lucky enough to have another visit from top penguin scientist, Dr Thomas Mattern, helping us with our GPS foraging study to track kororā this year; read on to find out more.
Sadly the famous Tāiko Festival will not be continued so the Westland Petrel Conservation Trust, along with DOC and The West Coast Penguin Trust, will be holding an exciting event in Barrytown on 4th November, to celebrate our tāiko. See details below.
Before that, some of our team will be in Westport at the Whitebait Festival tomorrow, Saturday 21st October 10am-3pm - come and say hello if you're there too!
Local schools have been doing their part for penguins too, with nest box projects and advocacy. Thank you to the great tamariki of the West Coast and their teachers, I love working with you!
Finally, as always, we have included a couple of penguin stories from around the globe to keep us all in the loop with what is happening outside New Zealand,
Thank you for reading and all your fabulous support, we couldn't do what we do without you.
Lucy Waller
Ranger, West Coast Penguin Trust
PS 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.