Adelie Penguin, Birdlings Flat

[Michael Szabo]

Anita Spencer of DOC has confirmed to Newshub that the Adelie Penguin was released back into the wild this morning at a "safe stretch of shoreline, Magnet Bay, at the southern end of Banks Peninsula".

Link to Newshub report: https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zeal ... ctica.html

[Michael Szabo]

Here's a DOC photo of the Adelie Penguin taken at the release site in Magnet Bay on Banks Peninsula this morning.

[andrewcrossland]

Niall Mugan his currently out birding along kaitorete spit, just in case the Adelie Penguin has come ashore. He reports a good number of albatross and snallerxseabirds passing by and suggests the akaroa head lighthouse might be good for sea watching. He’s found a freshly dead bullers shearwater and alive white-flippered penguin on the beach.

[ledzep]

The story of this Adelie Penguin was big enough to make it onto the Australian ABC radio news.

[Neil Fitzgerald]

Been busy lately and the first I heard of this was when Google suggested I might be interested in this NBC article.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/animal-new ... e-rcna5411

[Michael Szabo]

Here's another report. According to Harry Singh, the person who found the bird and watched over it that evening, it was eating small stones after it came ashore, so he called to report it to DOC and later that night it was taken into care. The vets reportedly assessed it as slightly underweight and dehydrated, so it was given fluids and electrolytes and a blood test was carried out to look for signs of infection before it was given the all-clear for release back into the wild.

Link to The Guardian report: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/ ... -from-home

[Neil Fitzgerald]

Eating stones doesn't sound unusual for an adelie. HANZAB notes that gastroliths may act as ballast, and eating stones has apparently been recorded in many other penguin species and is well. There is some suggestion that it may help alleviate hunger, which could make sense for a bird that is unable to feed for some reason. Whatever the reason, adelies are familiar with stones. They use them for nesting.

[Michael Szabo]

In this case, the person who found the bird - Harry Singh - told Newshub that he and his wife remained at Birdlings Flat beach for more than four hours to monitor the bird, and that it was "continuously eating stones", and he told BBC News that "It did not move for one hour... and [looked] exhausted".

This prompted him to call penguin rescuers as he was concerned the penguin was not getting into the water, thereby making it a potential target for dogs or cats on the beach. He told BBC News, "We did not want it to end up in a dog's or cat's stomach".

He called Thomas Stracke, who operates a Christchurch-based rehabilitation service for sick and injured penguins in the Canterbury region who has been caring for penguins for more than 10 years.

Anita Spencer, a senior biodiversity ranger at the Department of Conservation (and Birds New Zealand Canterbury Branch committee member), told Newshub that DOC had been liaising with the penguin rehab carers and providing support: "We do want to thank Thomas and Kristina for their efforts in looking after the bird over the last 24 hours. When they picked up the bird he was underweight, a bit dehydrated - and a little worse for wear," she said. "Thomas and Kristina fed the bird and got his fluids up. They were happy to take advice from DOC, South Island Wildlife Hospital and this morning, Kristina was part of the release of the animal into the wild."

[Neil Fitzgerald]

None of us were there. Other people were and it sounds like they made the decisions they are qualified to make, with a lot more detail and context than we see, especially in early or media reports.

tried several listed DOC rescue numbers and one person actually hung up on him mid conservation and after 2.5 hours he was given from another number, the number for the "rescuers

This is a bit of a worry though. 0800 DOC HOT is supposed to be staffed 24/7. Perhaps we can help by making sure people know this. I just realised it's not on the links page here. I'll fix that.
N

[Graeme T]

This article in Notornis provides evidence that some seabirds actively consume small stones to aid digestion.
http://notornis.osnz.org.nz/system/file ... 7_1_70.pdf
There is also the belief that regurgitating stones helps to clear the stomach of nematodes and other gut parasites. A penguin swimming through deep ocean water is not going to be able to reach the sea floor to consume stones so presumably this bird was topping up with small pebbles before heading back to sea. It is not necessarily a sign of ill heath or hunger.