This blog is on hiatus while I take time to re-evaluate my blogging direction.

A little visitor

03 February 2011

My neighbour knocked on the door this morning, beckoning me outside to see what she'd found in our front yard. So with The Dude on my hip (dressed in his glorious TT outfit of just a pair of jocks, how embarrassing!) we ventured outside. There in our front yard, hold up in the corner where the side fence meets the house was a little fairy penguin. He was so cute that The Dude shrieked with delight and scared the poor little guy so much that he took off underneath the house. Can you see him hiding?



I rang Parks and Wildlife and left a message. While I was doing that our little penguin friend ventured out from his hiding spot and took shelter underneath the massive cordylines in our front yard. He was very timid and wary of my presence, and scurried deeper underneath the plant with ever step I took. Snapping a picture of his was hard, but I managed to get this clear shot of his little face. Apologies for the weird flare on the lens, I was laying on the grass trying to get a clear photo and the sun wasn't co-operating.


Just as I took this one a lady from Parks and Wildlife rang back and I dashed inside to get the phone. As I spoke to her, he moved to the other side of the cordyline. After being given instructions ton how to capture and release our little friend, I came inside briefly to ring my father in law for a hand. He wasn't home so I came back outside to tackle the rescue on my own, but our little penguin friend was gone. He wasn't under the plants and I couldn't see him under the house.....We'll keep an eye out for the rest of the day though. I hope he gets home safely. 


7 comments:

  1. That's so cool! Wow a fairy penguin in the front yard is very exciting. I hope he's ok and not too far from home.
    Jxx

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  2. It's about 180m to the beach. Not far for us but quite a way for a little fairy penguin.

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  3. Oh the little sweetheart! Hope he made his way home safe and sound....

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  4. Wow - how exciting. My Doots LOVES penguins (actually I just posted about some penguin themed fun we had yesterday)

    We saw penguins in Bicheno before Christmas, and the guy at Diamond Island Resort said that they can nest 500 + metres from the beach. He showed us a baby who just about to leave the nest and head for the sea - it's nest was under some floorboards of a little old shed so I wonder if yours could be a juvenile who's not yet fledged (if that's the right term). Just thinking about how the adults are usually at sea during the day and return to land at dusk...

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  5. Wow Sarah, that's really intersting! We're going to have a look under the house tomorrow now and see if there's any evidence of a nest. Thanks for the info :)

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  6. Wow, you are lucky, a real live penguin under your house! People pay lots of money to see them in the wild!

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