Category Archives: Penguins

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, Birds | Tagged , , , | Comments (11)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Related blogs
Critters of Titi Island Nature Reserve, Marlborough Sounds
Te Papa seabird researchers in the field
Life in the burrow
Plant communities of Titi Island, Marlborough Sounds
Life through a burrowscope lens (Part 2) – subterranean Poor Knights Islands

Information on the Sextant Technology Ltd ‘Taupe’ burrowscope used

By Colin Miskelly | Also posted in Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Field trips, Reptiles | Tagged , , , | Comments (6)

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

24 April 2012 – 10.28am

Te Papa’s curator of terrestrial vertebrates Dr Colin Miskelly tells the 11th 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 and 12 September 2011.

One of the unknowns regarding the emperor penguin that came ashore at Peka Peka last June was how old it was. The bird did not have the jet-black chin and brightly-coloured auricular patches of a breeding adult, indicating that it was less than 4 years old. But its chin was darker than those in published images of fledgling and one-year-old emperor penguins, suggesting that it had completed at least one moult after fledging.

The emperor penguin on the beach at Peka Peka. Photos A & C, Colin Miskelly, Te Papa; B & D, Richard Gill, Department of Conservation

Most wild emperor penguins hatch in July and go to sea in December when about 5 months old. This first set of juvenile feathers last until the birds moult the following December-January, when about 17 months old. Because the Peka Peka bird came ashore in June, it would have been 11 months, 23 months or 35 months old. But which age class was it?

New light on this question has been shed by Lauren DuBois, assistant curator of birds at SeaWorld San Diego. Lauren has provided images of a captive bred bird that hatched in September 2010. By January 2012 (at 15 months old) this bird had completed its first moult, and looked the same as the adult that it is standing next to.

15-month-old emperor penguin (foreground) at SeaWorld, San Diego. Image: Lauren DuBois, SeaWorld, San Diego

Ten wild-caught juvenile emperor penguins from the July 2011 hatch were taken into captivity in December 2011. These birds came from the Cape Washington rookery on the western side of the Ross Sea, south of New Zealand. The ten birds were photographed in January 2012 when about 6 months old, and show a range of chin plumage colouration from the usual off-white through to birds as dark as the Peka Peka bird.

Based on these images, there is now little doubt that the emperor penguin that stepped ashore at Peka Peka on 20 June 2011 was about 11 months old.

Confirmation of his age supports the decision to release the bird near Campbell Island. A satellite-tracking study of fledgling emperor penguins in the Australian Antarctic sector in 1996 and 2007 managed to follow a few birds through to May and June, when they would have been 10-11 months old. One of these birds tracked as far north as 54.2 degrees south, and several others were not far behind. The last signal received from the Peka Peka emperor penguin after release was at 52.3 degrees south, within 200 km of the minimum latitude recorded in this small scale tracking study (17 birds), and 1250 km of latitude south of Peka Peka.

Also relevant is the sighting of three emperor penguins at sea east of Argentina by Maurice Rumboll on 15 September 1975. These birds were at 40.5 degrees south, which is slightly further north than Peka Peka.

When released, the Peka Peka emperor penguin was within the latitudinal zone of the Southern Ocean where juvenile emperor penguins live.

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

For a later blog on this bird:

The global penguin – Part 12. The final word?

By Colin Miskelly | Also posted in Birds | Tagged , , , , | Comments (12)

Our far South – Antipodes and Bounty Islands: dots of importance

8 March 2012 – 7.40am

I awoke on the morning of 6 March to discover that we had very rapid progress over night and were approaching the rugged columnular basalt cliffs of the Antipodes Island, crowned with green tussocks. The home to the Antipodean albatross,the Antipodes Island parakeet and the erect-crested penguin (to name just a few of the birds!). It is almost pest free, but sadly mice still live in this barren place.

Bounty Island shag. Photo Anton van Helden, copyright Te Papa.

Furseal. Photo Anton van Helden, copyright Te Papa.

The only native mammals found on shore here are elephant seals and the New Zealand and Sub-Antarctic furseals. 1804 saw the first sealing gang arrive at the Antipodes. This American gang killed about 60,000 seals over the course of the year they were stationed on the islands. While the location of prime sealing grounds was jealously guarded at the time, the evidence they took home led to a sealing boom on the islands.

After 1807 sealing was occasional and catches small. By the 1830s seals were all but wiped out and sealing in the Antipodes came to an end.

Incredibly sealing in the Southern oceans saw some 7 million furseals (Arctocephalus spp.) were killed for their skins. Essentially by 1830 all populations of furseals were so depleted to make fursealing unecomonic.

Bounty Island shag. Photo Anton van Helden, copyright Te Papa.

Populations of furseals have bounced back, but interestingly it seems that the Bounty Islands may be the main breeding area with the Antipodes islands being primarily a haul-out area.

The erect-crested penguins endemic to the islands, and like many penguin species, they are showing signs of decline.

Once again after a night of travel we found ourselves in the early hours of the morning at our next location, the jagged and totally inhospitable looking Bounty islands.

Bounty Islands.

These are projections of rock sticking out of the sea, yet home to numerous furseals, Salvin’s albatross and their very own shag.

Sadly we could not go ashore on Spider island in the group to look for the species of Spider that Phil Sirvid would have liked me to collect.

Sadly our trip now is coming to an end and this will be my last blog post from the boat. It will be weird to be on land again in just a couple of days.

Salvin’s albatross. Photo Anton van Helden, copyright Te Papa.

By antonvanhelden | Also posted in Biodiversity, Birds, Field trips, Mammals | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (1)

Our far South: all at sea

1 March 2012 – 9.48am

In the early hours of the 25th, we were awoken and called to the bridge to see the biggest wall of ice that I will probably ever see.

The Ross Ice Shelf, and enormous slab faced Ice sheet stretching over 700km from Cape Crozier to the Bay of Whales. The height of the visible face of the Ice sheet is about 40m high, being that bit of it that sticks out of the water.

Ross Iceshelf.

This sheet ice loses chunks at the face that float off, these are called calves, and every so often huge pieces break off forming tabular icebergs which can be kilometres in length.

Tabular iceberg. Photo Anton van Helden, copyright Te Papa

From there we turned to head West towards Terra Nova Bay on the Antarctic continent. Well that was the plan, we got to within about a kilometre when we were forced to abandon the attempt due to Ice build up.

This was the theme then for the next couple of days. We would head east to get out of the ice and then attempt to get to the continent, next stop Cape Hallet, then Cape Adare, all attempts to land proved impossible.

A final ditch effort for another shore landing came on the 27th at the Islands of Possession and Foyn (named for the gentleman that invented the exploding harpoon!).

Foyn Island. Photo Anton van Helden, copyright Te Papa.

Once again we were foiled with the only access point left on the island being a very slippery iced up beach of large boulders. Possession Island was where Sir James Clarke Ross planted the flag for Queen Victoria and the British Empire.

Breaking through sea-ice

The weather was relatively calm and so a polar plunge was organised for those who had the need to prove something. Which I will admit was fairly entertaining.

When we left from there it was really our farewell to Antarctica as we started to head north and out of the Ross Sea. Not the end for Antarctic animals though, with further sightings of Minke whales and Emperor penguins.

Emperor penguin. Photo Anton van Helden, copyright Te Papa.

Out in the forming sea ice, on some of the larger floes tracks of Emperor penguins were often seen, with the occasional Crabeater seal now also making an appearance.

Emperor penguin & tracks on sea ice. Photo Anton van Helden, copyright Te Papa.

Crabeater seals Lobodon carcinophaga, do not actually eat crabs, they do however eat krill. The genus name lobodon, means lobed teeth as they have multicusped teeth in the upper and lower jaw that come together to strain krill from the water. Krill are small shrimp-like crustaceans and form an imporatnat part of the Antarctic food-chain. In the Southern Ocean, one species, Euphausia superba, makes up an estimated biomass of over 500,000,000 tonnes - over half of this is eaten by whales, seals, penguins, squid and fish each year!

Crabeater seals are also regarded as the most abundant large mammal on the planet after humans, with a population at last census was about 15,000,000. However it should be clear that it has been a while since anyone counted.

Crabeater seal. Photo Anton van Helden, copyright Te papa.

True Antarctic seals (principally crabeater seals) were also killed in small numbers to be used as dog food at scientific stations until the early 1980s. The possible threat of renewed exploitation of Antarctic seals, especially by Norway after they mounted a pilot sealing expedition in 1964 persuaded the Antarctic Treaty Parties that specific protection was needed for them. The Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Seal (CCAS) was agreed in 1972 and came into force six years later. In its Annex, the Convention specifies that up to 175 000 Crabeater seals, 12 000 leopard seals and 5000 Weddell seals can be taken. The Soviet Union took some 4000 seals (mostly Crabeater seals) with two vessels during a hunting expedition from December 1986 to February 1987 in the eastern D’Urville Sea and around the Balleny Islands. No further catches have been reported.

Leaving the Ross sea: Franklin Island in the distance. Photo Anton van Helden, copyright Te Papa.

By antonvanhelden | Also posted in Biodiversity, Birds, Field trips, Mammals | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

Our Far South: a tale of two huts

27 February 2012 – 8.16am

Not Lower and Upper Hutt, but instead the story of two attempts at the pole. That of Sir Ernest Shackleton and the voyage of the Nimrod, and Captain Robert Falcon Scott and the Terra Nova expedition.

Sunset on Mt. Erebus. Photo Anton van Helden, copyright Te Papa.

We awoke to another extraordinary day at anchor off Cape Royds. The lunar landscape, derived from the explosive outpourings of Mt Erebus and the glacial action of some 20,000 years, producing remarkable scenery to walk through from Black sand beach to the Nimrod hut, or Shackelton’s hut as it is also known. This hut was a delight to look inside.

Shackleton's Nimrod hut. Photo Anton van Helden, copyright Te Papa.

There is something about Shackleton that inspires, although he came some 90 miles short of getting to the pole on this expedition he did say on his return “better to be a live donkey, than a dead lion”. The hut situated in a great sheltered location adjacent to an Adelie penguin colony was sturdy and brilliantly maintained.

We had the great fortune of seeinga pod of about nearly a dozen Type-C killer whales just off shore . Three Killer Whale types have recently been documented in the Antarctic. Type A looks like a “typical” Killer Whale, living in open water and feeding mostly on Minke Whales. Type B is smaller than Type A. It has a large white eyepatch and a patch of grey colouring on its back, called a “dorsal cape”. It feeds mostly on seals. Type C is the smallest type and lives in larger groups than any other type of Killer Whale. Its eyepatch is distinctively slanted forwards, rather than parallel to the body axis. Like Type B, it has a dorsal cape. Its only prey observed so far is the Antarctic Cod. DNA work is currently being carried out to determine if these different types represent separate species.

Type C killer whale. Photo Anton van Helden, copyright Te Papa.

After regrouping we moved again South to Cape Evans and the Terra Nova hut, the base from which Scott and his men left from on their ill fated attempt on the pole.

It was great to be able to get out and really stretch our legs.

Terra Nova hut. Photo Anton van Helden, copyright Te Papa.

 

 

It was extraordinary to stand in the very places where these extraordinary characters from history once stood and to see the beds they slept in.

Even with all our modern gear on a very calm and pleasant day it was still bightingly cold.

Scott's bunk. Photo Anton van helden, copyright Te Papa.

Whatever anyone could ever say about them, they were people of remarakable bravery and courage.

By antonvanhelden | Also posted in Biodiversity, Birds, Field trips, Whales | Tagged , , , | Comments (1)

Our Far South: McMurdo Sound

27 February 2012 – 8.00am

 

Scott Base, as South as we go:

McMurdo Sound, Mt. Discovery. Photo Anton van Helden, copyright Te Papa

In a place where the sun sets at 12.30 and rises at 2.30 sights just get more and more incredible. At 1am the sea around the boat started to freeze, the water became grainy and and looked like grease, slowing as the ship carved through it, the ripples and wake of the boat like just flowing golden syrup in the setting sun light.

When I awoke we were anchored off McMurdo Station with Scott’s Discovery hut to our left and Observation hill to our right. We were surrounded by ice. As the first of the crews made their way by zodiacs, carving a fine channel to the shore, I watched for whales off the stern of the boat. What a sight, whale after whale apearing and blowing in the distant channels in the ice.

McMurdo Station. Photo Anton van Helden, copyright Te Papa.

They appeared to be Minke whales and Sei whales. The minke whales, the smallest of the rorquals at about 8m were dwarfed by their biger cousins the Sei whales that are about double the size.

Soon it was my turn to go ashore. The outboard churned through the icy water making a giant slushy. We were greeted by two of the over wintering team from Scott Base, and transported on the right hand side of the road to Scott Base. They drive on the right because the Americans at McMurdo Station maintain the roads.

Scott base is contrastingly petite compared to McMurdo Station, which is like a small town. Scott base with it’s uniformly green buildings, is supplied with energy from the nearby wind turbines, that produce enough power to not only run the base but contribute to the running of McMurdo Station as well.

We visited the conservation lab where they are working on the objects and materials removed (and to be replaced back in) the huts from the heroic age of exploration.

Made me think about Robert Clendon, Te Papa’s object conservator who had done this work in the past.

Scott Base. Photo Anton van Helden, copyright Te Papa.

We climbed to the top of Observation hill, where there stands a memorial to Scott and his team who perished in their ill fated trip to claim the South Pole.

It also afforded the crew a good vantage point to watch minke whales in the waters of McMurdo sound.

Discovery Hut was remarkable, as the conservation teams had obviously worked hard to maintain it as much as possible as it was. The environment down here being cold and dry providing the conditions to keep 100 year old mutton!!

On returning to the boat I spent some time whale watching and saw to my absolute amazement a large pod of Arnoux’s beaked whales in the free water on the far side of ice channel, breaching and porpoising. I estimate that there would have been between 20 and 30 animals. I tried to take photos, but sadly they are not the best, but still a record. Watching them through the binoculars was a spectacular sight.

The decision was made to spend the evening cruising the sound and looking for animals on our trip upt to Cape Royds where we would spend the night. Well that was some trip, perfect still conditions and animals at every turn. Weddell seals and a couple of Crabeater seals, appearing as if from nowhere in the channels in the ice created by the ship. as we broke the ice we got very close to a very confused lot of Emperor penguins.

Ross Sea at midnight. Photo Anton van Helden, copyright Te Papa.

On the trip up the sound we saw minke whales spy hopping through holes in the ice, killer whales in small pods, adelie penguins running like mad across ice flows. It was an incredible night.

By antonvanhelden | Also posted in Biodiversity, Birds, Field trips, Whales | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

Our Far South: Land at last!

24 February 2012 – 8.11am

After 6 days at sea, we finally sighted land, Franklin Island, with it’s glacial snow cap looked like Eden after the roller coaster ride of the Ross Sea.

Franklin Island. Photo Anton van Helden, copyright Te Papa.

Franklin Island is home to a large colony of Adelie penguins and is the hangout for a few Weddell seals. Weddell seals generally live by the fixed ice where males will vociferously defend their breathing hole against other males. Not here though, here they were hauled out on the beach and adjacent snow clad rise.

Weddell seals are quite a deep diving seal, with known dive depths in access of 700m. This species was once hunted around Ross Island.

Weddell seal. Photo Anton van Helden, copyright Te Papa.

Weddell seals were harvested in small numbers and used to feed sled dogs on the Antarctic stations. But they are considered to have recovered to pre-exploitation numbers.

Moulting Adelie penguin. Photo Anton van Helden, copyright Te Papa.

The Adelie penguins that were present were moulting, and much like the king and royal penguins on Macquarrie Island were largely unphased by our presence. They were however somewhat wary of the Antarctic skuas. A number of penguin carcasses had been meticulously pecked over and reduced to clean bones by the skuas.

We are now at about 76 degrees south and heading further south towards McMurdo sound. Sightings of some 50-60 Killer whales in the region has a number of the crew pretty excited, me among them!

By antonvanhelden | Also posted in Biodiversity, Birds, Field trips, Mammals | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Our Far South: Roaring Forties, furious fifties and Screaming sixties…

20 February 2012 – 3.14pm

Heading south from Macquarie Island we have had some relatively calm seas, pretty remarkable for this part of the world.

Furious fifties. Photo Anton van Helden, copyright Te Papa

Leaving the Roaring Forties which gave us a pretty slow rolling sea the fifties gave us a small taste of what it had to offer with some mild five-metre seas. Passing past 60 degrees south was significant as that is the line of latitude that marks the start of the Antarctic Treaty, the international piece of legislation that New Zealand is a signatory to.

The treaty was established in 1959 to dedicate Antarctica to peace and science.

What passing into the sixties has also provided us with our first icebergs. I guess I had imagined that the first ones we would see would be small….I could not have been more wrong. The first ones I saw were enormous, like large land masses that completely dwarfed the ship.

Iceberg. Photo Anton van Helden, copyright Te Papa.

I was awoken this morning by the call of “Whale”, I did not get to see this animal but a photo revealed the dorsal fin of a Sei whale, a rorqual that can get up to 20m in length. This species has very fine baleen, and is thought to feed on very small crustaceans called copepods, but probably also the smaller krill species.

As we head now for the Antarctic circle at 66.33 degrees south ( ETA 5.20pm), the line where on the longest day the sun does not set. We have been keeping a vigil on the bridge looking our for whales and icebergs. We have so far seen about six humpbacks, none at terribly close range, but still visible with the naked eye and confirmed by looking at them with binoculars and some rather spectacular camera shots.

Tabular iceberg probably broken off from the Ross Ice Shelf. Photo Anton van Helden, copyright Te Papa.

Seeing humpbacks down here is pleasing, as they were once hunted so fiercely as to nearly wipe them out. In the 1961-62 whaling season the Russian whaling fleet took nearly 28000 humpbacks out of the population south of New Zealand, which spelled the end to the whaling industry in New Zealand.

This species seems to be recovering well of the East coast of Australia, sadly very few are still passing by New Zealand, let’s hope that improves. The Japanese still have them on their list of species to take in their “scientific whaling” programme, which is a concern.

A single humpback whale represents US$1,000,000 to the whale watching industry in Tonga over it’s lifetime.

Iceberg. Photo Anton van Helden, copyright Te Papa

This afternoon we have been passing more and more icebergs, each shape as extraordinary as the next. From small little floaters that they call “growlers”, which get their name from the sound they make if the collide with the ship, to great monuments like this one that looks like the Arche Du Triomphe.

Ok I am heading back to the bridge to keep looking out for whales!

By antonvanhelden | Also posted in Biodiversity, Birds, Field trips, Mammals, Whales | Tagged , , , | Comments (3)

Our Far South: What it boils down to

17 February 2012 – 9.09am

King penguins surrounding the zodiac. Photo Anton van Helden, copyright Te Papa.

We arrived at Macquarie Island - the sheltered waters in the lee of the island provided a welcome relief from the open ocean we had crossed between here and the Auckland Islands.

The cool subantarctic summer did not detract from the spectacular wildlife – elephant seals and penguins everywhere! Until 1920 the elephant seals and penguins of Macquarie Island were boiled down for oil. A single Royal penguin would produce about 600ml or one pint of oil.

The Australian antartic explorer Mawson petitioned for Macquarie Island to be classed as a wild life sanctuary. A recent publication reported in New Scientist shows that the population has recovered surprisingly well over the last 80 years, and now numbers are back to half a million after dropping to around 4,000; and genetic  diversity is close to pre-slaughter levels – vital to long-term survival.

Gentoo penguin, Macquarie Island. Photo Anton van Helden, copyright Te Papa.

Four species of penguin now breed on the island as do 2 species of fur seal and of course the giant elephant seals.

Although we did not get a chance to see any Antarctic or sub-Antarctic fur seals, we did get a chance to see more king penguins, swimming and on shore and the much smaller Gentoo and Rock-Hopper penguins that were close in around the Australian base at the northern end of the island.

The base is used forvarious scientific experiments and monitoring and is also the base for the hunters who are working to finally eradicate all the introduced rabbits.

The have not seen any sign of rabbits now for two months, but this monitoring will go on for probably another 2 years.

Yearling elephant seal. Photo Anton van Helden, copyright Te Papa.

Although all of this years Elephant seal pups have already left to go to sea, there are a few yearlings from the previous year, tiny compared to the enormous males that are still hanging out in their wallows. The few females scattered amongst them are dwarfed by the males as they are only about a quarter of their size.

The project of pest eradication on the island is an amazing success story, as they have now succesfully removed all the mice, rats, cats and hopefully now all of the rabbits.

The areas that were fenced off to keep rabbits out are full of the tussock plants that would have once covered the island.

Elephant seals and regenerating tussock. Victor Anderlini.

We are now heading out to sea and leaving the lee of the islands for a four day journey down to Antartica itself.

This island shows how fragile this ecosystem is but also that with considerable effort what can be done to restore them.

Aurora australis - the Southern Lights. Photo WWF.

By antonvanhelden | Also posted in Biodiversity, Birds, Field trips, Mammals, Whales | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)
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