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<\/a>Having given my friends boat a run the other day, I had a fit of conscienceand thought I had better do the same for ours. Winter time doesn’t see much in the way of guided walks for me, so the boat doesnt get much running. And if you have ever had much to do with boats they do seem to need a regular run.
\nSo off we went into Paterson Inlet. Beautifully calm, with odd patches of mist. A real busmans holiday I suppose, but also a chance to see what was about.<\/p>\n
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Blue Penguins<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
Lots of Blue Penguins, mostly in rafts of socialising birds. . This time of year they are seriously into nest preparation, and courtship of course.<\/p>\n I called in on an old Blue Shag nesting site, but nothing. I’ve noticed that these… our smallest shag…. will nest for several years in an area and then all will up sticks and relocate. So when that happens it’s a big search until I find their new dormitory.<\/p>\n Across at the Bravo Islands a small pod of Bottle Nosed Dolphins came to investigate and played around the boat for a few minutes.<\/p>\n Pied Shag Rookery<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n Back to Ulva Island and a large Pied Shag rookery in a big old Rata tree overhanging a small inlet. Pied shags are tree nesters, and when they move into an area it’s the kiss of death for the roost trees, and everything below. Their droppings are enormously corrosive and nothing seems to survive it. The nests are just big loose structures made of sticks and occasionally kelp. They look as if a good shake would collapse them, but they are immune to our storms. So must be more too them than meets the eye. They appear to mate right through the year as nests will have young all seasons, and other birds appear to be brooding as well.<\/p>\n Pied Shag Calls. The softer calls are juveniles in the nest.<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n pied shag<\/p>\n Blue (Spotted) Shags<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n\n
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