Penguins, Pests and Plants in February

Monday 2nd February

My first day!  I start by having a look at some penguin breeding boxes.  

These have been placed at the port to provide shelter for the penguins to come and lay their eggs and keep their chicks safe.  Once they have done this they will moult (shed feathers) and produce 'feather bombs'.  

The penguins need to go out to sea each day to get fish.  They go out at dawn and return in the evening.  They will bring food back for their chicks and mate.

Penguin numbers are falling so they are protected.  The boxes have entrance tunnels.  It is important that we do not disturb the penguins and keep dogs away from the tunnels.  There are pest traps nearby to catch pests such as stoats which might eat the penguin eggs or hurt the chicks.

Some of these penguin boxes have aerials so that we can monitor any penguin activity in the nest.  There is a video camera in one of the boxes and you can look at what is happening inside the nest on the screen inside Chaddy's Charters!



Tuesday 3rd to Thursday 5th February

Back at the office I have been learning about what happens to information about penguins and pests.   When pests are caught in traps, the traps are cleared and more bait put inside (eggs for stoats and weasels).  Then a note is made about what was found in the trap, where it was and the date.  

These notes are put on a spreadsheet (like a table or chart) and then entered into a computer.  The computer programme can then show us where pests are a problem and if the way we control the pests is effective.  

Another computer programme records sightings of penguins.  You can enter the information about what you saw, when and where on a screen that looks like this: 

Then you can look a all the places where penguins have been seen.  This is one way we can see if the number of penguins is changing.


Monday 9th February

Today I went hunting for signs of penguins!  I was looking for penguin footprints.  Penguins go out to sea early in the morning and if the tide is low you can see their footprints.  We started looking down by the Wind Wand.  There are lots of foot prints on the sand when we look.

We used this model of a penguin foot to help us to check which footprints might belong to a penguin.  There were lots of dog paw prints.  People like to walk their dogs in the morning at low tide.  We saw lots of seagull prints too.

These prints were probably made by a rat or a stoat.

This was not a penguin footprint.

We moved on to East End beach by the playground.  We got out of the car and saw:

These prints head straight for the water which is a good sign that they might have been made by a penguin.

If you get close you can see the print properly, the faint lines are where the tail feathers touch the ground as it walks. 


When we got back to the office we recorded our penguin sighting on the computer.

These are duck footprints.

The culprits!

Tuesday 10 February

We walked from East End to Waiwhakaiho.  We saw lots of dog prints, seagull prints, horse hoof prints, but no penguin prints!



Wednesday 11 February

I drove with some botanists (plant scientists) to Purangi to do a vegetation plot survey.  This is where you measure out an area (this one was 20 meters long and 20 meters wide) and then divide it into 16 squares.  We had to write down the names and sizes of all the plants in each square.

The plots we were surveying were a long way from the road.  

This is how we got there.

This is some of the equipment we used.

This tape shows one boundary (edge).

This is the centre of a circle in which the seedlings were counted.

My job was to write down the names and sizes of saplings and trees.

Each tree had a tag with its own number (a bit like the number plate on a car).

This is my partner measuring a tree.

The view on the ride back! Wow!!

There were ten of us surveying two plots.  Both plots were in the same area and the same size.  The one I helped with was a goat exclosure.  This means it was inside a fence that the goats could not get through.  Goats and other pests destroy native plants.  These plants provide the habitat (place to live) for kiwis and other native birds.  

The second plot was not fenced.   It is likely that, when they compare the two surveys, there will be more plants in the goat exclosure.

This survey is done every five years so they can check to see how successful the pest control programme is. 



16 to 18 February

I have been making penguin footprints!  A plaster of paris cast has been made from a real penguin foot.  

I have put modelling clay into the cast and shaped it so that it will be easy to hold.

Messy work!

When it is nearly dry I trim it with scissors and smooth the edges.  

These feet can be used by school groups and others who are looking for footprints in the sand.  
It is best to look before the tide covers the footprints at the beginning or end of the day when they go out or return from sea.