Out With the Little Penguin Research Team

This is my fourth year of volunteering with Earthcare to look after the penguins on the breakwater. Last night, I took up the invitation to go out with the research team which goes out every second Sunday to measure the penguins. This involves rock-hopping and trying to grab the penguins as they run for cover. Not easy and I didn’t catch any (frankly, I was happy just to watch and help pass on the caught birds), but the team caught a lot and microchipped all the birds which didn’t have a chip and were big enough (over 650g – fully grown birds are about a kilo) to be injected with one. Just like dogs, the chip is injected into the scruff of the neck.