Wednesday, February 10, 2010

There's A Little Yellow Eyed Penguin ...

On Monday we drove from Alexandra to Kaka Point in the Catlins. Here we stay with Lyn, Selwyn and Otto Cardno.

Our normal walk here is from Kaka Point to the lighthouse at Nugget Point, walking mainly on the beach - a round trip of 20 kms. We frequently see seals or sealions, as we did both yesterday and today.

An unexpected bonus today was seeing a yellow-eyed penguin less than a kilometre before we got back to base. The only snag is that they are not normally seen on this bit of beach, where people with dogs are allowed access. And it is unusual for a penguin to be on the beach in the middle of the day, when they are normally out at sea gorging themselves.

Lyn rang DOC - the Department of Conservation, who sent a lady out to scoop the penguin into a small cage and remove it to a safer place before a dog created havoc with it. But by this time the penguin had gone, hopefully into the safety of the sea.

No comments: