November 2004 - Margaret Suman

This month we’ve already started to collect seeds for 2005, said goodbye to one of our favourite volunteers and a long standing Trustee, had a great trip to Stewart Island, and have had some sad news about our yellow-eyed penguin chicks.

Stewart Island
In early November Anita went to Stewart Island to study and record the type of vegetation yellow-eyed penguins were nesting in. In most areas, Stewart Island has coastal forest right down to the sea, so this is as close as we can get to working out what the penguins originally nested in. We hope to use this information to recreate the same conditions on mainland New Zealand where at present most penguins are nesting in farmland.

The Yellow-eyed Penguin Trust (YEPT) has an ongoing monitoring programme on Stewart Island to follow the fate of chicks from hatching to fledging (going to sea), as despite the presence of natural vegetation, their numbers on the island are low.

It has been suggested that cats (the only mammalian predator on the island) are implicated, and that is what the study is trying to determine. It is clear that penguins choose nests with a strong solid back and base (for example a fallen log or base of a tree) and very shady cool places. It is also apparent that a variety of vegetation types are used.

Anita also took the opportunity to visit various community conservation initiatives on the island. The community Nursery was particularly interesting to see. It was set up by the local department of conservation staff but is largely run by volunteer labour. It was fantastic to see the involvement of the local community in growing native plants for revegetation projects and for their gardens instead of exotic species. It is also a focal point for the local school and the schools across the water in Invercargill. She was lucky to be there when a school group was visiting and was able to talk to the manager of the nursery about their operation.

Anita also visited the Stewart Island Environment Centre to deliver a display that Margaret had prepared as per their request on yellow-eyed penguins and the Trusts work on the Island. They discussed different aspects of the display and have requested more photos as well as additional posters to hang in the huts along with a special YEPT Stewart Island newsletter produced by the Trust. We are so pleased to be able to help support their work. We look forward to collaborative projects with them in the future.

Work Experience and goodbye
Our good news is that Shayne, our work experience teenager from Mirror Trust, has secured himself a job with Youth Grow. He has been a great worker and has proven to us that he will be an asset to anyone who would like to hire him. We wish him the best and all of us at the Nursery will miss him.

We also had to say goodbye to our Trust Accountant, Mervyn Cranefield. He is retiring after 14 years with the Yellow-eyed Penguin Trust. We wish him well.

Orokanui Wildlife Sanctuary
Went to a presentation given by the Orokanui Trust for a proposal for a mainland island sanctuary just 20 minutes North of Dunedin. This is very similar to the Karori wildlife sanctuary in Wellington. We were pleased to see such a variety of organisations and individuals interested in this project. It was great to see so many familiar faces from Polytech tutors to DOC employees to retired trampers as well as some of our Wednesday volunteers.

Future plans
We presented to the Board a preliminary plan to expand the Nursery. We have been given permission to explore costs for a larger stand out area as well as an education centre. Then we plan on looking for funding once approval is granted from the Board.

Up and coming plants
So far this year, we have pricked out mainly Pittosporum tenuifolium, Cordyline australis, Austrofesctuca littoralis, and pikao along with various plants from the duff. Plants from last year that are coming on are more kowhai, totora, wineberry, manuka and ngaios.

Visit from WWF
We had a great two days with Chris and Agnieszka of WWF-NZ. Many thanks to Sue for arranging land owner, Sam Neil, (no, not the movie star) to drive us up the hill at Otapahi (one of the YEPT reserves) to see the penguins. This was the best spot to take them as they could see penguins and our plantings at different stages as well as talk to one of the landowners.

Sad news
We left the saddest news for last. There has been a disease that has killed over 60% of the yellow-eyed penguin chicks on the peninsula, North Otago, South Otago and Stewart Island this season. From test results from Massy University they have determined that the penguin chicks have been dying from a virulent avian diptheria, an infection that occurs in wild species and causes respiratory problems and toxin poisoning. The adult penguins do not seem to be affected at this time and more tests are forthcoming as DOC tries to isolate the cause of the deaths.

It has been suggested that infections such as these are natural events that will happen from time to time in populations. The fact that the adults do not appear to be affected by the disease suggests that they have some immunity and have probably experienced it before. But for a species struggling to rise above its threatened status it is not good news.

Until next time
Anita and Margaret

PS. Best wishes to our Ranger, Dave McFarlane and his upcoming wedding.

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