African Penguins successfully rehabilitated and released
By Jake Keeton

Tuesday, 5th October 2021

African Penguins successfully rehabilitated and released following Storm in Algoa Bay.

It was in July 2021 when a storm passed through Algoa Bay bringing heavy rains and unusually cold temperatures for this time of the year. Most of us welcomed the rain as the Eastern cape is experiencing drought and water shortages, little did we know what a terrible effect it was having on the Penguin Colony on Bird Island at the far end of Algoa Bay. With the island being mostly flat, many penguin nests were flooded by the persistent downpour. The adult Penguins abandoned the flooded nests along with many young chicks which were left to fend for themselves. Juvenile Africans penguins do not yet have a waterproof coat of feathers and rely on their parents for food. Sadly, many of the abandoned chicks perished. Luckily for the remaining birds South African National Parks (SANPARKS) and the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB) quickly took up the massive task of rescuing close to two hundred abandoned and emaciated chicks to be taken to SANCCOB’S rehabilitation facility situated at Cape Recife in Port Elizabeth.

Under the excellent care of SANCCOB employees and volunteers it was not long before the chicks had grown into waterproof ‘Blues’ (a term used for young adult African Penguins who now have a waterproof coat of feathers that has a blue shine to it in the sun) who were ready to be released back on Bird Island. We received a call from SANCCOB and began planning the first release for 25 September 2021. The weather played it’s part and 48 healthy Blues were released onto the island with a second chance at life. Together with the Penguins we dropped of Dr Laura Roberts who is currently doing her PHD study on bird flu. Laura was accompanied on the island by SANCCOB Vet Dave Roberts and expert penguin Handler Jenni Roberts. Laura, Dave and Jenni spent 9 nights on the island. Their work on the island involved taking samples and body measurements from the African penguins to look for signs of the bird flu virus or previous flu infections, but also to start investigating other diseases and health challenge that these marine birds face. Laura and her team are sampling penguins from all the major colonies in both South Africa and Namibia. During this excursion they sampled over 50 penguins.

On 4 October we made the next trip to Bird Island with another 40 Blues ready for release. At the same time, we collected Dave, Laura, Jenni, and a Gannet chick in need of some medical attention as it was the last weather gap for the next week. There are still another 42 Penguins at SANCCOB which we are planning to take back to Bird Island next week once the forecasted Easterly winds have passed. (This release too was successful, together with 3 seals from Bayworld). After witnessing it first-hand, we at Raggy Charters would like to commend SANCCOB for their passion and dedication towards their work in conserving marine birds.

On the way back from the island yesterday we could not resist the temptation of going inshore to see the Alexandria Dune field where we came across a mother and calf pair of Southern Right Whales. The Calf proceeded to breach repeatedly just behind the backline allowing us the rare opportunity to photograph a breaching Southern Right with a background of rolling sand dunes. We are nearing the end of the season for the Southern Right Whales but are hopeful that we will continue to see them during our tours over the next few weeks.