Chris & Milton Smith of SCDECT at Curio Bay

Irish ecologist Dr Chris Smal probably never envisaged advising a New Zealand conservation project about the potential use of under passes or elevated road ways for yellow-eyed penguins, especially given that his experience to date has been with species such as badgers and deer in the northern hemisphere.

However because of  a chance  contact  made with the Yellow-eyed Penguin Trust  through his son, Bastian, studying at the University of Otago, he generously took time out of his  New Zealand holiday to do exactly that.

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The recent visit of members of the Department of Conservation’s Youth Development Programme to the Yellow-eyed Penguin Trust’s native plant nursery, was once again a fun day and a success.   The group was made up of nine young adults and two group leaders, who showed up, and were, as always, keen and interested to see how a plant nursery is run and to learn some plant propagation skills and put them straight into practice.  I really enjoy having the positive young energy at the nursery.  The good work ethic and good vibes of this energetic group, makes for a great day.  Between us we potted up over 900 pikau plants into root trainers, in just a morning!
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February marked the beginning of Volunteer Wednesdays 2012 at the Yellow-eyed Penguin Plant Nursery.  Volunteer Wednesdays have been around since 2003 and every summer we give our volunteers a well earned break, meeting up again when the school term starts in the New Year.

The Nursery is the powerhouse of the YEPT operations. It is often the first point of contact with the Trust. All sorts of conservation activities are carried out there and the Wednesday Volunteers are prepared to give them a go.
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The three-month old yellow-eyed penguin chicks have shed almost all their downy feathers and are getting ready to head to sea for the  first time where they will learn to fish for themselves. This is the time when various people at the different breeding locations give the chicks a final check over by weighing, measuring and marking them for future population studies.
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Last week the Trust supported the Department of Conservation to move a sea lion pup and its mum from Dunedin’s Tomahawk Beach to a quieter location. 
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The Yellow-eyed Penguin Trust made their inaugural appearance in Dunedin’s Santa Parade on Sunday 4 December 2011.  Over 25 volunteers, Trust staff and supporters donned penguin costumes, yellow beaks and masks in true penguin style and danced, skated, uni-cycled and drove mobile penguins along George Street.  Up to 40,000 spectators turned out on the day to experience the fun and Christmas atmosphere of this long standing community event. And, of course the big guy turned up too – in his traditional red and white. Thank you to everyone who supported the Trust’s parade – we plan on doing it again next year!
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Fonterra staff, from the Edendale factory in Southland,  planted 300 shrubs at Long Point on Thursday 17 November.

Despite a promising start to the day, (in spite of an atrocious forecast), the planters and Trust staff were eventually  rained off around lunch time. Some true grit and resolve were on display as the final few plants went in, amid the downpour!
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A limited number of native trees, grasses and plants are now for sale, with proceeds going to help save yellow-eyed penguins. The Yellow-eyed Penguin Trust’s not for profit and community based nursery has exceeded their planting production this year and have approx. 500 native plants and shrubs to off load by Friday December 9, 2011. Many of the natives were potted by Trust Ambassador and NZ rugby icon Kieran Read, on a visit to the nursery earlier this year.

Nursery Manager, Anita Pillai says the natives, grown from seedlings at the nursery by Trust volunteers are perfect ‘carbon suckers’ for planting before Christmas or into the New Year.  We’ve planted a huge number of these natives to establish and enhance our penguin habitats, however this year we have ended up with a surplus.

“I can’t bear to throw out or compost these ‘babies’ which we have nurtured from seed to this stage, so would love to find good homes for them”, says Anita.

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Wade in and join me, Anton Oliver Patron of the Yellow-eyed Penguin Trust to vote yellow-eyed penguin (hoiho) for Bird of the Year. http://www.birdoftheyear.org.nz/

Hoiho (yellow-eyed penguins) are the noisy penguins. Their name in Maori means ‘noise shouter’; their piercing calls can be heard over the crashing waves. For me there’s something really special about being on a beach at dawn and hearing the shout as they bid farewell and head off to sea for the day. As the sun rises they awaken for the days foraging to gather fish for themselves or for their chicks. These trips can see them swim as far as 50km off shore and then dive as much as 200 times each day to depths of 160m to catch the small fish on the bottom of our ocean floors. No wonder their scientific name also has significance, Megadyptes antipodes meaning large southern diver.

I feel a real affinity to these endangered birds of ours. They are majestic standing at 65cm and weighing in at up to 6kg. Bit like my old front row of the AB’s really, in the bird sense, although they’re far more dashing. Their yellow eye and its surrounding stripe and head back gives rise to their name and makes them stand out in uniqueness.

One has to wonder if their shouts are because Hoiho is the least social, preferring to nest out of sight of other penguins. They are forest or shrubland nesting birds, preferring to nest in a secluded site with their back against a tree or log. The breeding season begins with courtship in August until the two chicks fledge in March of the following year. The devoted parents share all the nest duties from incubating the eggs to feeding the ever-hungry chicks.

Their ‘Charlie Chaplin-like’ antics make them look almost human. And us humans have given them a pretty rough time. Their nesting sites were all but destroyed by our ancestors who removed vast areas of coastal forests. Now they can only be found along the south -east coast of the South island, on Stewart Island and in the sub-Antarctic Auckland and Campbell Islands.  Their natural predators at sea are a threat but so are all the nasties we Europeans introduced – dogs, stoats, cats etc
So come on all you bird lovers. These guys need our vote. Stand up and shout for our Noisy Penguins now…

Polls close 25 November, you need a current email address to register your vote. Tell your friends too!