Posts categorized as Conservation

A Day in the Life of a Natural History Curator – the intern’s view!

Posted by & filed under behind the scenes, Birds, Collections Online, Conservation, Mammals, Museums, Penguins.

  • Westland Petrel at the breeding colony near Punakaiki, Westland. Photo, Lara Shepherd.
  • This box contained the bones of a sea lion found at the Chatham Islands. Photo, Mathilde Meheut.
  • Mathilde helped to handle petrels during the deployment of GPS loggers. The logger is visible taped on to the birds back feathers with brown sticky tape. Photo, Susan Waugh
  • A miniature GPS logger used by scientists to follow the movements of Westland Petrels at sea. Mathilde helped with note-taking and field work. Another specialist writing job for Te Papa! Photo, Susan Waugh.

I’m Mathilde Meheut, a French biology student travelling in New Zealand who had the chance to do some voluntary work at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. In this blog, I’ll tell you about some of the work I got involved in at Te Papa during a few weeks in June and July… Read more »

Conservation of a Micronesian textile

Posted by & filed under Collections Online, Conservation, Pacific, Textiles.

Recently I completed a two year project to conserve a unique Micronesian textile.  It was such a pleasure to get acquainted with this very rare object with distinctive features–I was amazed to see that the colour changes in the patterned end of the cloth had been created by either interlinking or knotting  warps of two colours together (photomicrograph image below), indicating a high level weaving… Read more »

Conservation Intern Liisi Hakala

Posted by & filed under Art, Borrowing and Lending, Collections Online, Conservation, Exhibitions, Museums.

Liisi Hakala treating the verso of a Monrad print. Photo by Jennifer Cauchi © Te Papa.

The paper conservation section of the Conservation and Object Support team at Te Papa was pleased to host Liisi Hakala, from Helsinki’s Metropolia University in Finland, for a three month internship from March to June this year. Liisi is about to enter her final year of a four-year bachelor’s degree in paper conservation. Prior to… Read more »

Critters of the Poor Knights Islands

Posted by & filed under Biodiversity, Bugs, insects and spiders, Conservation, Crustacea, Field trips.

  • Purple rock crabs (Leptograpsus variegatus) scavenge the corpse of a Buller's shearwater, Aorangi Island, Poor Knights Islands Nature Reserve. Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa
  • Turbott’s weevil (Anagotus turbotti) on ngaio, Aorangi Island, Poor Knights Islands Nature Reserve. Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa
  • Flax weevil (Anagotus fairburni) feeding on flax/harakeke, Aorangi Island, Poor Knights Islands Nature Reserve. Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa
  • Adult clapping cicada (Amphipsalta cingulata), Aorangi Island, Poor Knights Islands Nature Reserve. Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa

Te Papa’s curator of terrestrial vertebrates Dr Colin Miskelly recently visited the Poor Knights Islands Nature Reserve, off the Northland coast, as part of a research team tracking the at-sea movements of Buller’s shearwaters. The project is led by Graeme Taylor of the Department of Conservation, and is intended to identify the marine environments used… Read more »

Reptiles of the Poor Knights Islands

Posted by & filed under Biodiversity, Conservation, Field trips, Reptiles.

  • Suter's skink, Aorangi Island, Poor Knights Islands Nature Reserve. Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa
  • Moko skink, Aorangi Island, Poor Knights Islands Nature Reserve. Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa
  • Shore skink, Aorangi Island, Poor Knights Islands Nature Reserve. Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa
  • Hardy's skink, Aorangi Island, Poor Knights Islands Nature Reserve. Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa

Te Papa’s curator of terrestrial vertebrates Dr Colin Miskelly recently visited the Poor Knights Islands Nature Reserve, off the Northland coast, as part of a research team tracking the at-sea movements of Buller’s shearwaters. The project is led by Graeme Taylor of the Department of Conservation, and is intended to identify the marine environments used… Read more »

Birds of the Poor Knights Islands

Posted by & filed under Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Field trips.

  • Juvenile spotless crake, Aorangi Island, Poor Knights Islands Nature Reserve. Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa
  • Adult spotless crake, Aorangi Island, Poor Knights Islands Nature Reserve. Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa
  • Female bellbird, Aorangi Island, Poor Knights Islands Nature Reserve. Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa
  • Male bellbird, Aorangi Island, Poor Knights Islands Nature Reserve. Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa

Te Papa’s curator of terrestrial vertebrates Dr Colin Miskelly recently visited the Poor Knights Islands Nature Reserve, off the Northland coast, as part of a research team tracking the at-sea movements of Buller’s shearwaters. The project is led by Graeme Taylor of the Department of Conservation, and is intended to identify the marine environments used… Read more »

Life through a burrowscope lens (Part 2) – subterranean Poor Knights Islands

Posted by & filed under Biodiversity, Birds, Bugs, insects and spiders, Conservation, Field trips, Reptiles.

  • Flax snail (Placostylus hongii) inside a shearwater burrow on Aorangi Island, as viewed through a burrowscope. Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa
  • Flax snail (Placostylus hongii) inside a shearwater burrow on Aorangi Island, as viewed through a burrowscope. Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa
  • Two fully-grown kingfisher chicks inside their burrow on Aorangi Island, viewed through a burrowscope. Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa
  • Kingfisher burrow entrance, Aorangi Island, Poor Knights Islands Nature Reserve. Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa

Te Papa’s curator of terrestrial vertebrates Dr Colin Miskelly recently visited the Poor Knights Islands Nature Reserve, off the Northland coast, as part of a research team tracking the at-sea movements of Buller’s shearwaters. The project is led by Graeme Taylor of the Department of Conservation, and is intended to identify the marine environments used… Read more »

Critters of Titi Island Nature Reserve, Marlborough Sounds

Posted by & filed under Biodiversity, Bugs, insects and spiders, Conservation, Field trips, Reptiles.

  • The carnivorous snail Rhytida stephenensis on Titi Island. Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa
  • Sarah Jamieson eyeballing one of several holes chewed through her bedroll by ground weta on Titi Island. Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa
  • Ground weta (Hemiandrus sp.) on Titi Island. Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa
  • Female Wellington tree weta (Hemideina crassidens) on Titi Island. Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa

Titi Island is a 32-ha reserve administered by the Department of Conservation and situated in the outer Marlborough Sounds. The island’s fauna was impacted by introduced Norway rats until these were eradicated in the early 1970s. The island has since been free of all introduced predators. Two species of large flightless insects plus tuatara were… Read more »

Life through a burrowscope lens – subterranean Titi Island

Posted by & filed under Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Field trips, Penguins, Reptiles.

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

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… Read more »

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

Posted by & filed under Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Field trips, Mammals, Reptiles.

  • New Zealand fur seal cows and pups on Green Island, December 2012. Image: Colin Miskelly
  • Geckos (Woodworthia 'Otago large') on Green Island, December 2012. Image: Colin Miskelly
  • Fernbird photographed on Ruapuke Island, December 2012. Image: Colin Miskelly
  • Brown creeper on Green Island, December 2012. Image: Colin Miskelly

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…. Read more »