After four days offline - and days of worry for those tracking Takaraha the juvenile yellow-eyed penguin's incredible journey - it reappeared about noon yesterday. Zoology PhD candidate Mel Young, who is leading the marine tracking study, said she was ''quite relieved'' after Takaraha appeared back online. From Thursday night when it was near Blenheim to Sunday morning, the juvenile was foraging east of Cape Campbell. And because only 20% of juvenile yellow-eyed penguins survive their first year it was ''a reality'' that not all birds would survive the study. Takaraha's transmitter was paid for by the South Otago branch of Forest & Bird and branch chairman Roy Johnstone said yesterday branch members had been worried.

Source: Otago Daily Times March 21, 2018 16:30 UTC