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Category Archives: Birds

The global penguin – Part 12. The final word?

17 January 2013 – 1.20pm

Te Papa’s curator of terrestrial vertebrates Dr Colin Miskelly tells the 12th, and probably final, instalment of the story of the emperor penguin that went where none had gone before. Previous blogs on the penguin were posted between 23 June 2011 and 24 April 2012.

For those of you interested in seeing the official account of the emperor penguin’s discovery, care, release and post-release monitoring, the following paper was published in the December 2012 issue of Notornis (the journal of the Ornithological Society of New Zealand):

Miskelly, C.M.; Simpson, P.M.; Argilla, L.S.; Cockrem, J.F. 2012. Discovery, care, and post-release monitoring of a vagrant emperor penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri). Notornis 59 (3&4): 116-122.

Abstract We report on the discovery, care, release, and post-release monitoring of the 2nd vagrant emperor penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri) recorded from New Zealand. An immature male emperor penguin came ashore at Peka Peka Beach (40° 50’ S) 56 km north-east of Wellington on 20 Jun 2011. Its condition deteriorated over the following 4 days, and it was taken into care at Wellington Zoo on 24 Jun. Following 72 days of rehabilitation, the bird was released at sea at 51° 42’ S, 78 km north of subantarctic Campbell I, on 4 Sep 2011. He was tracked, via satellite transmitter, moving south-east for 113 km until 9 Sep, after which no further signals were received. The arrival, care and release of this penguin attracted unprecedented levels of public and media interest for a vagrant bird to New Zealand.

The paper is accessible online to members of the Ornithological Society of New Zealand at http://notornis.osnz.org.nz/publications, and will be freely available to all 12 months after publication.

Previous blogs on this topic:

The global penguin – Part 1. How a lone emperor ventured into superstardom

The global penguin – Part 2. The young emperor penguin pushes the boundaries and is taken into care

The global penguin – Part 3. No latitude for error: a young emperor penguin a long way from home

The global penguin – Part 4. How to track a wandering emperor penguin

The global penguin – Part 5. The rocky road to fame

The global penguin – Part 6. Hitching a ride south

The global penguin – Part 7. The wandering emperor penguin enters the technological age

The global penguin – Part 8. Free at last!

The global penguin – Part 9. Heading home, or heading east?

The global penguin – Part 10. It’s only a game

The global penguin – Part 11. How old was the Peka Peka emperor penguin?

By Colin Miskelly | Also posted in Biodiversity, Penguins | Tagged Emperor penguin, Happy Feet, Our Far South, Sirtrack | Comments (10)

Life through a burrowscope lens – subterranean Titi Island

16 January 2013 – 4.27pm

By Sarah Jamieson & Colin Miskelly

Over the past two (southern hemisphere) summers, Te Papa seabird researchers have been investigating population trends and foraging behaviour of flesh-footed shearwaters. These all-dark seabirds are well known to recreational fishers around the North Island and in Cook Strait, as the birds have the annoying habit of sitting behind boats and diving after bait. This behaviour puts the birds at risk of being hooked and drowning on both commercial and recreational fishing lines. There is also evidence that some birds are deliberately killed by fishers, presumably after they become angry with the birds interfering with fishing. Added to this is the alarming revelation that some New Zealand flesh-footed shearwaters tracked on migration were found to have foraged within a few kilometres of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on the east coast of Japan. All this means bad news for flesh-footed shearwaters, which appear to be declining throughout their range.

Flesh-footed shearwater extracted from its burrow in order to be fitted with a tracking device. Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa

Our study has two main parts – estimating numbers on land, and tracking where the birds go at sea. Flesh-footed shearwaters nest in deep burrows that they excavate in soft soil, and both parts of the study require a means to see what is under the ground. Other animals also live underground on the islands where flesh-footed shearwaters nest, and so estimating numbers requires both counts (or estimates) of the number of burrows, and measurements of occupancy rates, i.e. what percentage of burrows is occupied by flesh-footed shearwaters. In addition, to track the birds at sea, we need to not only attach tracking devices to the birds, but to re-catch the same birds some weeks later to remove the device and down-load the data. This requires selecting birds that are incubating eggs, and will have a high motivation to return to the same site after having a tracking device taped to their back feathers.

A burrow on Titi Island – but what lies within? Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa

In order to see what species is in a burrow, and whether it is sitting on an egg, we use a device called a burrowscope. This is similar in principle to a surgeon’s endoscope, though of rather more robust design to cope with use in the field. A small camera lens surrounded by a cluster of lights is mounted on the end of a long flexible tube, which is carefully inserted into the burrow. An image from the camera is transmitted to a small video monitor screen, which allows the researcher to see what is in the burrow.

Te Papa researcher Dr Sarah Jamieson using a burrowscope on Titi Island. Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa

Flesh-footed shearwater egg inside a burrow on Titi Island, as seen on the burrowscope monitor. Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa

On Titi Island in the outer Marlborough Sounds we found three bird species and one large reptile species living in the burrows. The accompanying images show some of the views we had on the burrowscope screen. Our target species (flesh-footed shearwater) looks very similar to its cousin the sooty shearwater, which also nests on Titi Island. The main distinguishing character through the burrowscope is whether the bird has a slender dark bill (sooty shearwater) or a large pale bill with a dark tip (flesh-footed shearwater).

Flesh-footed shearwater inside a burrow on Titi Island. Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa

Sooty shearwater inside a burrow on Titi Island. Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa

Several burrows were found to contain little penguins, which had climbed up the steep slopes from the rocky shore below. These birds had finished breeding for the year, and had returned to shore for their annual moult. The presence of a moulting penguin in a burrow was usually evident from shed feathers at the burrow entrance even before the burrowscope was inserted.

Little penguin inside a burrow on Titi Island. Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa

The rarest of the burrow inhabitants was the tuatara – an iguana-like reptile unique to New Zealand, and with no close living relatives anywhere else on earth. Tuatara mainly eat large insects and also lizards, but occasionally take small seabirds and their chicks. They seemed to have an uneasy truce with the two large shearwater species, and we found some burrows occupied by both a tuatara and a shearwater.

Tuatara inside a burrow on Titi Island. Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa

Information on the Sextant Technology Ltd ‘Taupe’ burrowscope used

By Colin Miskelly | Also posted in Biodiversity, Conservation, Field trips, Penguins, Reptiles | Tagged flesh-footed shearwater, little penguin, sooty shearwaters, tuatara | Comments (5)

Ruapuke Island – 1941 and 2012 – In the footsteps of Edgar Stead (Part 9)

8 January 2013 – 11.22am

Te Papa’s curator of terrestrial vertebrates Dr Colin Miskelly is researching the life and work of the Canterbury naturalist Edgar Stead (1881-1949). This includes re-taking Stead’s photos from the same photo-point, taking other images to illustrate his diaries, and describing how the ecology and wildlife of each of 10 islands has changed since Stead’s visits.

Edgar Stead, Robert Wilson and Percy Elworthy visited Ruapuke Island in eastern Foveaux Strait for a day at each end of their stay on nearby Green Island, in Nov-Dec 1941. They didn’t have time to explore much of this privately-owned 1600 ha island, with most time spent in the south-east between Old Ruapuke and Henrietta Bay. They did, however, visit the main podocarp / rata / kamahi forest patch in the hope of finding saddlebacks. I was privileged to be hosted on Ruapuke Island for 4 days at the very end of 2012, and also to visit Green Island.

Lagoon Bay on the west coast of Ruapuke Island. Image: Colin Miskelly

It is unclear what predators were on Ruapuke Island in 1941. Mice and weka were definitely present, and feral cats likely. Stead and his companions found a large colony of white-faced storm petrels in sand dunes along the east coast. This small seabird is highly vulnerable to rat predation, and the presence of a colony then indicates that rats were absent or recent arrivals. Rats are reported to be present now, and we found no sign of the storm petrels

Ruapuke Island from the south-east, with Bluff Hill in the distance. Image: Colin Miskelly

Forest birds were similar in 1941 and 2012, with bellbirds and tui widespread, and tomtits and red-crowned parakeets in the main forest. The brown creepers that Stead recorded appeared to have died out, but we recorded New Zealand pigeon / kereru, a species overlooked or absent in 1941.

The weka on Ruapuke Island are presumed to be Stewart Island stock. They are unusual for Stewart Island weka in having retained both the blackish and red-brown colour morphs. Although we saw more of the brown birds, several mixed pairs were seen, and both birds were black in one pair. The only other weka populations that have the black (or blackish) morph are in Fiordland. We also found both morphs present on nearby Green Island, but with fewer dark birds present.

A pair of weka on Ruapuke Island, December 2012. Dark morph female on left, brown morph male on right. Images: Colin Miskelly

A surprising find in 2012 was that fernbirds were common on Ruapuke Island. Stead did not record fernbirds in 1941, yet they are now present in areas that he visited. It is possible that they have sinced colonised from Bird Island 3 km away, where Stead found them during a brief visit at the end of his trip.

Fernbird carrying insects to its young, Ruapuke Island, December 2012. Image: Colin Miskelly

Both Ruapuke and Green Islands remain important breeding sites for the rare yellow-eyed penguin. The inaccessibility of the islands to anyone other than landowners is undoubtedly of ongoing benefit to this shy species.

A pair of yellow-eyed penguins on Ruapuke Island, December 2012. Image: Colin Miskelly

By Colin Miskelly | Also posted in Biodiversity, Field trips, Mammals | Tagged fernbird, weka, yellow-eyed penguin | Comments (10)

Green Island (Papatea) – 1941 and 2012 – In the footsteps of Edgar Stead (Part 8)

8 January 2013 – 11.19am

Of all the islands that Edgar Stead visited, and for which his diaries exist, Green Island in eastern Foveaux Strait is the least well known. Green Island lies to the east of Ruapuke Island, and should not be confused with the much smaller homonymous Green Island near Dunedin. All the Ruapuke Island group are privately owned, mainly by descendants of the Kai Tahu chief Tuhawaiki. Some of the owners have huts on Green Island and harvest muttonbirds / titi (chicks of the sooty shearwater) each year. We were privileged to be granted access to the island, and were accompanied by two of the island’s owners during our 10 hours ashore.

Green Island from the south-west. Image: Colin Miskelly

It is not clear what motivated Stead to visit Green Island, other than the hope of finding rare birds on a ‘new’ island. He and his companions (Robert Wilson and Percy Elworthy) discovered that the island was free of introduced predators apart from weka, and this remains the case today. Birdlife was and is abundant, but there have been some notable changes over the ensuing 71 years.

Muttonbirding hut in Ruapuke Island, with Ruapuke Island in the background. Upper image taken by Edgar Stead in 1941 (courtesy of Canterbury Museum 2001_59_319); lower image by Colin Miskelly

Muttonbirding hut on Green Island, with Ruapuke Island in the background. Upper image taken by Edgar Stead in 1941 (courtesy of Canterbury Museum 2001_59_319); lower image by Colin Miskelly

Stead and Wilson estimated there to be 1.5 million pairs of fairy prions / titiwainui and broad-billed prions / parara breeding on the island in 1941, but we saw little evidence of them in 2012. They are both still present, but clearly in much reduced numbers. It is not clear why the population has crashed, as the weka population does not appear large enough to have caused such a massive decline. Perhaps the decline has been driven by at-sea conditions, rather than by conditions on the island.

Dark morph weka on Green Island, December 2012. Image: Colin Miskelly

Another species that has declined or disappeared on the island since 1941 is the southern skua, which should be the top predator on the island. About 10 pairs were present and breeding in 1941, but we saw none and found none of their distinctive middens of seabird remains.

Flowering southern rata and Stewart Island tree-groundsel (Brachyglottis stewartiae) on Green Island, December 2012. Images: Colin Miskelly

The landbirds on the island were much as Stead found them, with the brown creeper the most abundant species, and bellbird, tomtit and robin all being common. We also found tui to be numerous, probably attracted by the spectacular flowering of southern rata.

Brown creeper on Green Island, December 2012. Image: Colin Miskelly

We recorded over 20 New Zealand pigeons / kereru – a species not recorded by Stead. They are strong flyers and could easily cross the 2 km from Ruapuke Island. More surprising was that we found fernbirds to be common, when Stead specifically noted their absence. In 1941, fernbirds were found only on Bird island 3 km west of Ruapuke Island. Usually considered poor flyers and unlikely to cross water gaps, these furtive birds have apparently colonised both Ruapuke and Green Islands since Stead’s visit.

Fernbird photographed on Ruapuke Island, December 2012. Image: Colin Miskelly

One feature of the island that has not changed since Stead’s time was the abundance of geckos around the dwellings. We also saw several common skinks, but failed to find the green geckos reported from the island.

Geckos (Woodworthia ‘Otago large’) on Green Island, December 2012. Image: Colin Miskelly

The only seal species that Stead and his companions noted in 1941 was a single male sea lion. We did not see any sea lions, but there are now several hundred fur seals breeding on the island.

New Zealand fur seal cows and pups on Green Island, December 2012. Image: Colin Miskelly

By Colin Miskelly | Also posted in Biodiversity, Conservation, Field trips, Mammals, Reptiles | Tagged brown creeper, edgar stead, fernbird, fur seal, weka | Comments (8)

Birds of a feather

13 December 2012 – 8.39am

The Te Papa Store has just taken possession of a range of new stock inspired by the museum’s natural history collection. Dead Set is by textile designer Genevieve Packer, and is based on Te Papa’s haunting and strange collection of bird skins.

DEAD SET | KOTARE CUSHION, Digital print on hemp / organic cotton

For the novice, of which I am in the case of natural history, bird skins are collected for research purposes, and are just that – boneless skins, stuffed with a bit of padding and a stick. Te Papa holds multiples of native bird skins. Collected over time and en masse they enable scientists to compare and contrast specimens.

Page from the British Museum’s 1970 guide for collectors on preparing bird skins.

Grouped en masse, where difference suddenly comes to the fore, Genevieve Packer saw a design opportunity. She writes:

‘This new range of printed textiles and paper continues to expand on my ongoing interest in how we package and sell our culture and history – not only to foreigners, but to ourselves. It takes native New Zealand birds commonly used on souvenir / gift products – such as the Tui and Pukeko – and presents them in the rarely seen form of ’skins’ from Te Papa’s bird collection, exposing the care and beauty involved in preserving our natural history.’

DEAD SET | MIROMIRO SCARF, digital print on silk/cotton

The little birds above are tomtits or miromiro, of which there are five different subspecies. Te Papa has 169 miromiro skins plus a few wings and tails. A mix of male and female, adults, immature and juveniles, the oldest specimen was collected on Chatham Island in 1871 and the latest donated from Karori Wildlife Sanctuary (now Zealandia) in 2002. Today, Te Papa does not actively collect live birds, but we do accept donations of deceased birds from Department of Conservation staff or members of the public.

The bird skins are stored in drawers, arranged very much as you see above. It was an image of drawers upon drawers of colourful bird skins and their keepers at the Smithsonian, that inspired Genevieve to pick up the phone and ring Te Papa. She was put in contact with Gillian Stone who looks after the bird collection, and who soon found herself in the role of stylist. Genevieve worked with Gillian to curate and ‘style’ the drawers – removing any odd or particularly damaged birds, arranging their labels etc and giving consideration to overall composition. They were then photographed under Genevieve’s direction by Te Papa photographer Kate Whitley.

DEAD SET POSTER | PUKEKO, offset print on 170gsm

Genevieve chose to primarily focus on Pukeko, with their wonderful balletic legs, Miromiro and Kakariki skins, along with the Kotare and Tui. She has produced a range of products from cushion covers and scarves to postcards, that have already provoked quite a reaction.

‘The response has been quite polarising. Some viewers get it and love it. Others not so much! But it has certainly been a conversation starter.’

Bird skins have long been the subject of conversation and debate, especially in regards to the international trade of bird skins, or as it was known ‘plume traffic’. In New Zealand Victorian ornithologist Walter Buller, from whom the national museum acquired its first collection of bird skins in 1871, has long been at its centre. The controversial Buller features as the suspect in a Tales from Te Papa episode entitled Who Killed the Huia? and in the exhibition Buller’s Birds: The art of Keulemans and Buchanan (on at Te Papa until 27 January 2013). The latter features a number of skins collected by Buller, and coincides with a brand new publication from Te Papa Press – Buller’s Birds of New Zealand: The complete work of JG Keulemans.

Buller’s Birds of New Zealand by Geoff Norman

Both Buller’s Birds of New Zealand and Genevieve Packer’s provocative Dead Set collection are available from the Te Papa Store - Christmas gifts perhaps for bird lovers, conversationalists or provocateurs. Whether or not Dead Set is to everyone’s taste, it has been wonderful experience having a designer use our collections as a design resource.

PS: for more on the history of Walter Buller’s collections of New Zealand birds read Sandy Bartle and Alan Tennyson’ in-depth article here.

By Claire Regnault | Also posted in Art, Exhibitions, Te Papa Press, Textiles | Tagged Bird skins, Buller's Birds of New Zealand, Dead Set, Genevieve Packer, Geoff Norman, kakariki, kotare, miromiro, pukeko, Tales from Te Papa, Te Papa Store, textile design, tui, Walter Buller | Comments (0)

DNA finds kiwi’s origins: Introducing Stewie

10 December 2012 – 12.35pm

A number of biological specimens in Te Papa’s collection, particularly old specimens, lack information about when and where they were collected. This information may have been lost since the specimen was collected or was simply not recorded at the time.

However, all is not lost! Sometimes we can use DNA to determine where a specimen was collected. We recently used DNA sequences to examine the provenance of a number of Te Papa’s unlabelled kiwi specimens.

One particularly stunning specimen we looked at is this articulated kiwi skeleton.

Articulated kiwi skeleton from Te Papa’s collection. Photo by Lara Shepherd.

As I mentioned in an earlier blog on kiwi the bones of great spotted kiwi and the three species of brown species are very similar in size and shape and can’t be distinguished. Therefore, this kiwi skeleton could have potentially belonged to any of these four species.

To obtain bone material for our genetic analysis we drilled a small hole underneath the pelvis. Our aim was to minimize the visible damage to the skeleton.

Close-up of the hole we drilled in the pelvis to obtain bone for DNA analysis. Photo by Lara Shepherd.

We compared the specimen’s DNA sequence to sequences previously obtained from kiwi from known locations around New Zealand.

The results showed that this kiwi skeleton is a Tokoeka (also known as Southern brown kiwi) from Stewart Island. This result increases the scientific value of this skeleton and is particularly exciting because there aren’t many kiwi from Stewart Island in museum collections.

Link to our study.

By Lara Shepherd | Also posted in Biodiversity, Fossils | Tagged ancient DNA, Apteryx, genetics, kiwi | Comments (1)

Te Papa Researcher awarded a Rutherford Fellowship

20 November 2012 – 3.09pm

Dr Lara Shepherd, who’s been working with us on genetics research since January 2012 has just been awarded a prestigious Rutherford Fellowship.

Dr Lara Shepherd at the Garden of the Sleeping Giant, Nadi, Fiji. Photo: Leon Perrie. © Leon Perrie, Wellington

Only 10 fellowships are awarded each year, with a total of $8 m granted. The fellowships are awarded on the basis of the excellence of the candidates work as well as the research topic they propose.

Lara’s project is to explore the influence of human activity on evolutionary processes for New Zealand species. This includes further work on plants brought by Maori to New Zealand during early colonisation and the changes in these plants since that time. She’ll also examine how data on species changes can be used to better manage conservation of species and prevent population losses.

By Susan Waugh | Also posted in Biodiversity, Plants | Tagged biodiversity, Fellowship, genetic, Lara Shepherd, research | Comments (3)

Westland Petrels circumnavigate South Island

21 September 2012 – 10.37am

Te Papa scientists Dr Susan Waugh and Dr Lara Shepherd recently completed a study of foraging movements of Westland Petrels. The birds were studied in 2 years and during 3 parts of the breeding season (pre-breeding, incubation and chick-rearing). This gave great insights into which ocean areas the birds are using, and where they concentrate their efforts.

GPS logger deployment on Westland Petrel

BirdLife’s Mark Miller and Susan Waugh from Te Papa deploy a GPS logger on Westland Petrel Procellaria westlandica to track its movements at sea. Photo: Clara Peron.

Birds fed very close inshore along the entire west coast of the South Island of New Zealand, and also spent considerable time in Cook Strait, off Wellington’s south coast, and in the Kaikoura area. Birds were mainly feeding over the continental shelf areas, in water depths of less than 200m. Looking at some of the tracks, you could imagine you’d see the birds from the coast, on the right day. They were flying very close to shore, which is fairly rare for petrels.

There were distinctive behaviours of visiting areas nearby the nesting colony near Punakaiki in Westland, where birds travelled slowly in meandering flight and spend 2 – 4 days at sea. They visited BruceBay, the Karamea Bight, and areas off central Westland in the Tasman Sea during these trips. This differed from birds travelling to more distant locations such as Kaikoura or Cook Strait where the birds appeared to travel more directly, and birds that went further away spent longer at sea.

One bird rather dramatically flew around the entire south island, before cruising home to visit its nest-mate.

Westland Petrel foraging trip, June 2012

Westland Petrel which circumnativaged the South Island of New Zealand during a foraging trip in the incubation period in June 2012 Graphic: D. Filppi, Sextant Technology Ltd.

We developed a new way of examining the movements of birds, in collaboration with Dr Dominique Filippi of Sextant Technology. We plotted the bird locations for our group of tracked birds, and simultaneously showed the day or night conditions. This showed some spectacular results with birds moving quite synchronously at times, and clearly as active at night as during the day. The preliminary results for this dataset are available to see as a short movie.

During early September 2012, colleagues from the CNRS France, Clara Peron, and from BirdLife International in UK, Mark Miller assisted with the field work.

Westland petrel on the breeding colony checks out a fern. Photo: Lara Shepherd.

There was rather a lot of rain, and over one weekend alone over 120 mm of rain fell! We were glad of the extra help, as we were catching birds visiting their chicks between dusk and dawn, and a fair amount of staying up in the small hours was done.

Westland Petrel field team having a moment enjoying the rain

Field team taking a break from the mud on our way home. From left to right: Lara Shepherd (Te Papa), Clara Peron (CNRS), Susan Waugh (Te Papa), Mark Miller (BirdLife International) Photo: Mark Miller.

This study was conducted by Te Papa in collaboration with Dr John Arnould of Deakin University and Dominique Filippi of Sextant Technology Ltd. We thank Department of Conservation for their assistance with aspects of the field programme and Ngati Waewae for consent to carry out the programme.

By Susan Waugh | Also posted in Field trips | Tagged Native Wildlife, petrels | Comments (1)

Don Binney 1940 – 2012

18 September 2012 – 5.41pm

Don Binney, 1977-79?, Auckland. Marti Friedlander. Purchased 2007. Te Papa

In the recent death of Don Binney New Zealand art has lost a major contributor to its diverse tradition of landscape painting. Binney began painting his stylized images of birds in the landscape in the early 1960s. These unique and startling images quickly established his reputation. The ‘oversized’ birds combined a personal take on hard-edged abstraction with conservationist and painterly concerns. The design and structure of his paintings emphasised the shape and contour of the bird while integrating it with similar forms in the landscape. A dynamic tension was established between these elements which underlined a complex interaction between stasis and implied movement, latency and potential. The style worked with and against the energy it both created and contained.

Hard edges did not preclude emotional and spiritual depth however – the cry of the tui from McCahon’s Northland Panels is given a startlingly physical presence in Tui over Te Henga 1964 or Colonial garden bird 1965.

Colonial garden bird, 1965, Auckland. Don Binney. Purchased 1971. Te Papa

While a central place is now occupied by the bird images in Binney’s oeuvre, his practice also embraced the landscape itself and its particular New Zealand characteristics. He integrated these with political concerns relating to settlement and ownership in the decade of the 1980s. The wider Pacific context also appeared in paintings such as Pacific frigate bird I 1968 in a treatment akin to that in Rita Angus’s Rutu 1951 and was referenced again in works in the 1990s. Stylistically his work maintained a continuum with nineteenth century topographical artists John Kinder and Alfred Sharpe and earlier twentieth century artists such as Christopher Perkins. Binney was a contemporary of Rita Angus, Bill Sutton, Michael Smither, Robin White and Michael Illingworth. He, like them, combined in his work a passionate engagement with the landscape with exploration of its formal and symbolic capacity.

Te Papa’s collection of Don Binney’s work will help to inform future generations of the important position this artist holds in the crucial period when international modernism was becoming integrated into the fabric of New Zealand’s visual and artistic heritage.

The art team and the staff at Te Papa would like to extend our deepest sympathy and aroha to Don’s family and friends in this time of loss and sadness for the New Zealand art community.

Fatbird, 1964, Auckland. Don Binney. Purchased 2002. Te Papa

-Tony Mackle, Collection Manager Works of Art on Paper

By Lissa Mitchell | Also posted in Art, Collections Online | Tagged landscape painting, NZ art | Comments (0)

Farewell Don Binney

16 September 2012 – 1.02pm

We are saddened to hear that contemporary New Zealand artist Don Binney has passed away. Our thoughts are with Don’s family and friends.

Don Binney, ‘Pacific frigate bird’, 1968, Te Papa

By Sarah Farrar | Also posted in Art, News | Tagged Art, artists, Collections Online, contemporary art, New Zealand | Comments (0)

Te Papa's Blog

Category Archives: Birds

The global penguin – Part 12. The final word?

Life through a burrowscope lens – subterranean Titi Island

Ruapuke Island – 1941 and 2012 – In the footsteps of Edgar Stead (Part 9)

Green Island (Papatea) – 1941 and 2012 – In the footsteps of Edgar Stead (Part 8)

Birds of a feather

DNA finds kiwi’s origins: Introducing Stewie

Te Papa Researcher awarded a Rutherford Fellowship

Westland Petrels circumnavigate South Island

Don Binney 1940 – 2012

Farewell Don Binney

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