Kolonijas jaunumi
Tiešraides ligzdas mazulis tagad sver 1,2 kg
Sakarā ar kontroles programmu pār plēsējiem albatrosu kolonijā...
Fotoattēlā redzami svētdien noķerti sermulis/tēviņš un zebiekste/mātīte. Izskatās līdzīgi, lai arī atšķirīgi lielumā, bet sermulim astesgals ir tumšs.
Kaut zebiekstes ir diezgan izplatītas dažās citās valsts daļās, Otago pussalā tās ir reti, programmas ietvaros notvertas mazāk nekā 10 zebiekstes 50 gadu periodā.
Plēsēju kontrole nav patīkama programmas darba sastāvdaļa, diemžēl nepieciešama, lai nodrošinātu jūras putnu kolonijas dzīvi. Reizēm gandrīz 10 000 jūras putnus ligzdo Toroa ragā pa vasaru un visi ir neaizsargāti pret šiem plēsējiem.
COLONY UPDATE
Toroa and KGO's chick will hopefully get its first feed sometime this morning at the foster nest. It is hungry and begging but still needs a little more strength in its neck to hold its head up.
Web cam chick weighed 1.2kgs this morning with the older chicks now around 2kgs.
The attached photo is of the introduced predators Sharyn caught on Sunday. The top one is a stoat, these are larger than weasels (below) but smaller than ferrets (not pictured) and have a couple of identification marks that differ from the similar looking weasel. A) Black tip to the tail and B) nice tidy lines where the brown meets the white on side of the belly.
The weasel is somewhat smaller than a stoat (although here in this photo we have a male stoat which is a little bigger than a female stoat and the weasel is a female), no black tip to the tail and has brown patches on the sides of the white belly.
While weasels are fairly common in some other parts of the country, they seems uncommon on the Otago Peninsula and we have caught less than 10 here in the 50 years of the Pukekura/Taiaroa Head daily predator control programme. It is possibly that their small numbers is due to being either out competed or predated by the larger predators (stoats, ferrets or cats).
Predator control isn't a nice part of the job but it is unfortunately necessary to ensure a thriving seabird colony (At times there are nearly 10 000 seabirds on or near the headland over summer and all are vulnerable to predation by introduced predators).
Cilvēks pats ir tas,kurš izveido šo postu,tad citiem cilvēkiem ar to jātiek galā. 
