Jean

The final tawaki that ended up in rehabilitation because it decided to moult in a place where it would not find the peace and quiet it needed, is a one-year old female. Unlike some of the other penguins that chose ‘silly places’, this one had the right idea, but still chose a bad spot.

Jean, as she would later be named by the staff at Penguin Place helping her through the moult, came across these really inviting looking caves that were embedded an impressive rock walls topped by dense New Zealand flax patches. At high tide, the water would go all the way past the entrance of the cave, which is probably was probably the case when Jean arrived. She likely swam straight into the dark cave, thinking how lucky she was to find such majestic yet secluded and silent spot to go through a feather change.

Problem is, at low tide the water retreats exposing a flat sandy beach stretching for a couple of hundred metres to the water’s edge. With very few exceptions, tawaki avoid landing on sandy beaches like the plague. They prefer to emerge between rocks that provide shelter if needed. So, it seems doubtful that Jean would have walked into the cave at low tide.

Another problem with Jean’s choice of a moulting spot is that majestic caves found along a sandy beach in New Zealand generally are major tourist attractions. And this certainly applied here, for Jean chose the famous Cathedral Caves in the Catlins.

To make matters worse, January to March is peak season for tourism in the Catlins, and at low tide, hundreds of people walk over to the caves and explore them thoroughly. Which is the worst thing that could happen to a young and little tawaki girl that has just started to drop her feathers.

Luckily, it did not take long for Cheryl Pullar, the local DOC ranger to get wind of Jean’s predicament. Equipped with a crate she rescued the bird from the cave and gave it an exclusive ride to Penguin Place, where Jean would spend the rest of her moult.

On 27 February, it was Jeans day to be released. Thomas and Richard provided her with a transmitting parting gift before she was released where all the other Penguin Place tawaki had been send on their journeys in the previous weeks. After one more night on the beach, she was off on the 28th.

But then she did something unexpected. She swam north! She made it all the way to Oamaru before it dawned on her that this wasn’t the way she was supposed to go. After a couple of days she turned back and solely made her way back down to where she had started her journey. On 3rd March she swam past Penguin Place and continued south-westwards until she was halfway between The Snares and Auckland Islands in mid-March.

Since then Jean has been on a mission to prove her individuality. She keeps going south east and has since crossed the entire Campbell Rise. For the past two weeks she has been dawdling around some 200 km east of Campbell Island.