March 7th, 2011

Earthcare and Penguins

by Alex Hallatt

I went to the Penguin Symposium yesterday and learned a lot more about penguins. Like how St Kilda penguins eat mostly anchovies, whereas the ones at Phillip Island have a more varied diet. And how iron dust and magnets is now being trialled as a way to clean oil from penguins without harming the structure of their feathers (unlike detergent).

Earthcare is looking for committed volunteers (we had a huge number this year, but I would guess that two thirds of them were flaky and wouldn’t show up half the time) to look after the penguins on the breakwater. If you are in the St Kilda area, I highly recommend becoming a penguin volunteer. I can email details to anyone interested.