St Kilda Breakwater Penguin Report 2007-2008
St
Kilda penguins have had a better year for food and weather although they are
taking a wider spectrum of prey. There have only been a couple of storms where
a few burrows were damaged and weights have generally been good. There were 184
instances of breeding and the chicks were well fed.
The first eggs were laid in July with a peak
in October and some healthy looking fledgelings matured. Almost all the penguins moulted in March which is a bit
unusual as moulting is usually spread over a longer period but we had fewer
struggling brown feathered moulting penguins this year.
Penguin
monitoring has some very long term volunteers and the number of volunteers has
had to be fixed at 25 with a waiting list for any new comers.
The
three penguin research teams continue to monitor the colony twice a month to
add to the 20 years of data. A big thankyou to all the people who regularly
give up their Sunday evenings no matter what the weather to brave penguin
beaks, penguin excrement, and rock hopping in the dark.
A
frame work for penguin and rakali research was created and can be viewed on www.stkildapenguins.com.au
Tiana Preston has been continuing her
research for her PhD and Darren Giling
wrote a paper on the distribution of penguins along the breakwater, plus
various students have written essays
and assignments.
Zoe
Hogg and Tiana Preston attended a penguin conference in Hobart and put St Kilda
penguins on the map along with a world wide study of all penguin species. A web
site for all penguin matters world wide was created and this can be accessed on
www.penguin.net.nz
The
Public Board Walk became a popular spot for penguin watching and generally the
public were respectful of the wildlife.
Parks
Victoria put in a new fence and gate on the breakwater which is keeping out
most of the unwelcome visitors to the colony. In the public area a small fence
was erected at the base of the rock wall and this is giving some protection to
the penguins in that area. Parks Victoria are currently looking at other
solutions to the growing number of visitors to the board walk.
Some
of the penguin team created a family tour called Beach Buddies which includes a
look at the penguin colony but also investigates the total environment of St
Kilda Harbour
Earthcare
Received a $2000 grant from the Foundation for National Parks and Wildlife to
be spent on microchips for the coming year.
We
have also received donations from Urban Penguin Tours.
Earthcare
is concerned about the impacts of toxic substances being released from the
mouth of the Yarra during dredging and is keeping a watchful eye on proceedings
Channel Deepening issues are still unresolved with no penguin monitoring of the St Kilda colony by PoMC. We are hoping to at least get toxic monitoring of the penguins but are at present relying on our own statistical analysis of the weights of the colony to give us an indication of any problems.
Two recently beach washed dead penguins have been sent for analysis to give us a benchmark of the types and quantity of heavy metals they are carrying, as well as DDT and other chemicals they may have stored over their life cycle.
The
St Kilda penguin website www.stkildapenguins.com.au
is getting a steady stream of visitors.
A
couple of our very old penguins have not been seen this year but we still have
on the breakwater some banded in 1991. They become better at avoiding us as the
years go by so we only rarely catch them. Peg Leg our one legged penguin raised
chicks again despite being on show to the public all day every day. I think he
will have a quieter time this year as he has had to move his burrow due to
storm damage and he now has a secluded spot higher up the breakwater wall,
although it must take him some time to get there with one leg.
|
Season |
Caught
Adults |
Caught
Chicks |
Caught Total |
Seen
but not caught Adults |
Seen
but not caught Chicks |
Seen
but not caught Total |
|
2007/08 |
845 |
54 |
899 |
1864 |
179 |
2043 |
|
2006/07 |
833 |
53 |
886 |
1662 |
182 |
1844 |
|
2005/06 |
880 |
59 |
939 |
1846 |
234 |
2080 |
|
2004/05 |
684 |
39 |
723 |
1788 |
244 |
2032 |
|
2003/04 |
426 |
38 |
464 |
1123 |
178 |
1301 |
|
Year |
Male |
Female |
Not
sure of sex |
Chicks |
Total |
|
2006-8 |
39 |
60 |
4 |
43 |
146 |
|
2006-7 |
48 |
50 |
3 |
42 |
143 |
|
2005-6 |
62 |
96 |
14 |
52 |
224 |
|
2004-5 |
61 |
93 |
12 |
26 |
192 |
|
2003-4 |
62 |
111 |
12 |
32 |
217 |
|
Number
of times caught |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
Total
number of penguin catches |
Number
caught irrespective of recapture |
|
2007-8 |
286 |
106 |
42 |
27 |
10 |
9 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
|
1160 |
485 |
|
2006-7 |
317 |
111 |
50 |
16 |
8 |
5 |
|
|
|
1 |
833 |
508 |
|
2005-6 |
346 |
107 |
56 |
28 |
13 |
2 |
2 |
|
1 |
|
939 |
555 |
|
2004-5 |
301 |
101 |
38 |
20 |
4 |
1 |
|
|
|
|
723 |
465 |
|
2003-4 |
225 |
66 |
17 |
6 |
4 |
2 |
|
|
|
|
464 |
320 |
A new program for analysis of population estimates is currently being researched. This will give us a better formula than the current method therefore population estimates may change during 2008.
|
Season |
No.
Breeding Sites |
Population
Estimate |
|
2007-8 |
184 |
854 |
|
2006-7 |
177 |
821 |
|
2005-6 |
221 |
1025 |
|
2004-5 |
146 |
677 |
|
2003-4 |
112 |
520 |
|
2002-3 |
92 |
427 |
|
2001-2 |
93 |
432 |
|
2000-1 |
95 |
441 |
|
1999-0 |
67 |
310 |
|
1998-9 |
71 |
329 |