RSNZ Teaching Fellow

Jim Young’s year as an Awarded Teacher Fellow from the Royal Society of New Zealand is drawing to an end and 2011 will see him returning to the classroom of the Catlins Area School which gave him a year’s leave to participate in this programme.

Jim was hosted by the Yellow-eyed Penguin Trust to undertake a project at the new reserve in the Catlin’s area titled ‘Whakaora Irahuka: restoring the white cliffs’. His objectives were to map seabird, vegetation and lizard distribution and determine the most effective trapping regimes to protect the local seabird species.

Here is a summary from Jim about his year:

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A bad taste in the mouth

A bad taste in the mouth – avian diphtheria in hoiho chicks. Rarebits December 2010/YEPT Newsletter December 2010 Prepared by Mel Young – Biodiversity Assets Ranger, Coastal Otago Area Office

In November 2010 routine nest checks for breeding yellow-eyed penguins/hoiho were carried out at locations within the Boulder Beach complex, southern Otago Peninsula. At the northern end of the breeding area, chicks were noticeably bald and lethargic, and on handling many had diphtheritic lesions in the mouth (diphtheritic stomatitis, avian diphtheria). Using the protocol for disease management, chicks and the attending adult were swabbed in the mouth and samples were sent to the New Zealand Wildlife Health Centre at Massey University in Palmerston North. In addition, authorisation from the local vet was given to treat chicks with noticeable lesions in Read the rest of this entry »

Avian diphtheria hits YEPs

Courtesy ODT By Rebecca Fox on Wed, 24 Nov 2010
An outbreak of avian diphtheria has hit southern Otago Peninsula yellow-eyed penguins. The outbreak comes at a critical stage for chicks that have recently hatched and is requiring some hands-on care by the Department of Conservation.

Doc ranger Mel Young said avian diphtheria seemed to hit the penguins every second year and samples from as many chicks as possible were being sent to Massey University’s wildlife unit for testing. It appeared the chickscaught a virus and then contracted the diphtheria as a secondary disease. In the meantime, affected chicks were being given antibiotics and fluids in an effort to encourage them to eat, as those who died usually suffered from renal failure or from not eating.

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NZ Ecological Society Field Trip

Monday 22 November, twenty one delegates attending the NZ Ecological Society conference in Dunedin took part in a stimulating and sometimes exciting field trip organised by the Yellow-eyed Penguin Trust. (click here for programme).

The coach trip from Dunedin was enlivened by commentary from botanist Peter Johnson,  and on arrival at the Westpac Royal Albatross Centre, delegates were welcomed by Irene Scurr  (Chair – Otago Peninsula Trust) and Lala Frazer (Founding Trustee – Yellow-eyed Penguin Trust). The delegates were then given an update of the albatross season by Lyndon Perriman, followed by a keynote presentation from well known author and conservationist Neville Peat. Read the rest of this entry »

Microchips used to ID penguins

In 2009-2010 the Trust began using transponders on fledging yellow-eyed penguin chicks at our Tavora, Okia and Otapahi Reserves. This will be extended to include Long Point/Irahuka in 2010-2011.

Transponders are used as a method of marking animals using a tiny microchip embedded in glass which is inserted under the skin with a needle, often at the back of the neck. They are widely used for cats and dogs, farm animals and wild animals, including various penguin species. The transponder is a passive tag and is scanned using a handheld or wand reader.

In the past the Trust has assisted the Department of Conservation with marking penguins on its Tavora and Otapahi reserves, using stainless steel flipper bands.  The bands have been suspected to cause injury through abrasion and entanglement, and also of negatively affecting foraging performance of some individuals and penguin species. Additionally they require ongoing checking and maintenance. Debate on the possible impact of flipper banding continues in the scientific literature. Read the rest of this entry »

Coastal Otago Conservation Award

Lala Frazer (photo by Peter McIntosh)

Well done to Lala Frazer, one of our founding Trustees,  for winning this years Coastal Otago Conservation Award!

ODT article follows (from Fri 17th September written by Rebecca Fox):

A founder of prominent conservation organisations such as the Yellow-eyed Penguin Trust and Save the Otago Peninsula, Lala Frazer is this year’s Coastal Otago Conservation Award winner. Rebecca Fox talks to her about three decades of work to conserve Otago’s environment.

She may be officially retired but Lala Frazer says she has just exchanged one full-time job for another.

“I’m a full-time conservationist,” the 68-year-old said.But it was not always that way.

It took the Aramoana smelter proposal and the possibility of an alternative site at Okia Flat to get her asking questions about the environment. Read the rest of this entry »

Conservation week with Balmac Intermediate

As part of Conservation week on September 14 the Trust was lucky enough to have 29 students from Balmacewen Intermediate Room 14 help the staff of the Yellow-eyed Penguin Trust plant pikao at Tavora reserve.

The Nursery has had a 4 year relationship with teacher, Lisa Shea. Each year (with the help of some very enthusiastic parents) she brings her year 8 class out to the reserve to do their part in conservation. They planted pikao, Coprosma acerosa (sand coprosma), Hebe eliptica and flax. The staff (Anita, Leith and Margaret) and trustee, Pat Mark, had an opportunity to talk to the students about yellow-eyed penguins, plants and the younger generations opportunity to make a difference in conservation.
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The Cons Corps and the YEPT Nursery

For many years the Department of Conservation Conservation Corps has joined us at the Yellow-eyed Penguin Trust Nursery to learn about plant propagation. DoC holds a 10 week course on conservation to students from the ages of 16 to 25.

The Cons Corps usually spend a day with us in the Nursery to learn about propagation or help our ranger out on the habitats with planting or weeding trees. On Tuesday 7 September they joined Anita and Margaret at the Nursery to learn about native plants.

We started the morning at Colinswood Bush, Macandrew Bay to learn about plant identification and seed collecting. Of course we get permission from the caretaker, Nigel McPherson, who often joins us to talk about one of the last remaining native bush areas on the Peninsula. We had a great (but wet) walk through this wonderful regenerating bush, then went back to the Nursery to clean and sow seeds, prick out flaxes and pot totara, hebes and Coprosma propinqua. Read the rest of this entry »

Mac Bay School trip to see the Penguins

On the 20th August field and nursery staff took pupils from year 6 Macandrew Bay School to Otapahi to view penguins. This was organised as a thank you to the class for their hard work painting our Nursery Buildings (this event was previously featured on this site). After a week of extremely bad weather, Friday afternoon turned out warm and sunny -we couldn’t have planned it better.

The students came all prepared and very excited, we were on an expedition! After a steep climb up the hill that was no problem for energetic little legs we were rewarded with views of penguins coming in after a full days fishing. One student counted around 28 birds during our time there. The pupils told us that they felt very special to have had the opportunity to see the birds at such a unique site. The smiles on their faces indicated a good time was had by all especially the YEPT staff. Thank you to volunteer Paula West and teachers of Macandrew Bay School for helping us make this happen. Read the rest of this entry »

Dune Planting at Okia

On the morning of 6th June, three Trustees were joined by seventeen volunteers to plant out another area of the fore-dunes at Okia. It was easy planting, partly because the ground had been prepared by staff, but also because we were digging into sand, and as well many of the plants were flax (Phormium tenax) and poroporo (Solanum aviculare) which required only a spade cleft rather than a square hole.

About 500 plants were swiftly put into the ground in time to return at lunchtime avoiding the rain. Plants were
placed together tightly to avoid sand blow and allow for some plant loss in the difficult sand environment.

Lala Frazer