We are now a few months into breeding season and I thought I'd dedicate this post to the penguins and let you know what - or what we think - has been happening.
Lucky and Bella
Lucky and Bella are back and we think they have chicks again. It is very hard to know as we cannot reach their nest however we have been seeing one penguin come in most nights and this suggests that the other is in the nest minding the chick(s). We don't know yet if there is one or two chicks (they rarely have 3) however if our calculations are correct, we should see the chick(s) emerging from the nest very soon!
Penguins have two clutches of eggs or two lots of chicks in a season, usually one or two each time so to have 4 last year was amazing!!! We are hoping for another good year this year.
Foxes not about
We had wardens on duty almost every night and thanks to the dedicated work or our wonderful volunteers, we did not loose a single penguin; well not that we know of.
This is a huge improvement from 2015 when 27 penguins were killed by a fox in just 5 days. Since then, the penguin wardening program has grown exponentially and we are able to call on volunteers with very late notice.
Sealife Sanctuary Penguins
These penguins are being moved to different aquariums and zoos and, unfortunately, will not be kept together as a group. It is easy to shuttle these birds around and forget that they are a family and we will be very sad to see them go.
It would have been nice to see them returned to the wild however this is not usually a possibility for animals which have spent long periods of time in captivity.