Four more chicks were taken to Motuara Island last week, with just one remaining at Willowbank. This just had his transmitter attached.We had a few concerns on this trip. We needed to check the chicks that had been released from previous visits to ensure that they are OK. We found seven together in one penguin burrow, but four were missing! We ran around trying to find the transmitter signal but no luck. The next day we got faint signals from two of the chicks but Okka and one other were still missing. We were worried that the transmitters had failed. As the boat was leaving we asked the skipper to take us around the island so we could try one more time .... and yes, we got strong signals for them both. Phew!
Motuara Island is not just special as as a kiwi creche; robins and saddleback have also been reintroduced there. Other birds we saw on our trip were falcon, tui, bellbird, fantail, sooty shearwater and pied shag.
Bellbird having a bath
Juvenile saddleback at the hut. Do you know what an adult saddleback looks like?.jpg)
Robin checking out the kiwi box
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