Friday the thirteenth seemed like a very auspicious day to go out with Reuben on his nest checking rounds at Charleston, and we were certainly lucky with the weather. It was a beautiful sunny day and I even managed to get some good photos of adult penguins sitting on their nests that weren’t too dark and blurry.
Reuben has a very-low impact, low-stress approach to it, disturbing the birds as little possible. A quick look inside the burrows with the burrow-scope is all it takes to sight the penguin, or an empty nest as the case may be. Some of the birds will try to attack the burrow scope, growling ferociously, as only a tiny penguin can. The wooden nest boxes seem to offer premium family accommodation as many of them were inhabited. They have been carefully positioned and constructed over the years to protect penguin families from floods, storms and predators.
The colonies at Charleston are the among largest on the West Coast, possibly because the old gold tailings provide such great habitat. It is honeycombed with little caves and tunnels, with plenty of bushy cover and is safe from storms, tides and flooding. They can swim up the Nile River to their rocky landing, then its just a hop up to their nest. Some of the tracks are so steep however, I wonder how they manage it.
Reuben seems cautiously optimistic the season is going well, despite the stormy weather so far this spring. I’m looking forward to going out again and seeing plenty of chicks.
We would love to hear about where else blue penguins are nesting on the West Coast, but if you find any nests please don’t disturb them unless there is a ranger present.
