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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 | Posted in Biodiversity, Birds, Field trips, Mammals, Penguins | Also tagged Antarctica, ice, Our Far South, Seals | 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 | Posted in Biodiversity, Birds, Field trips, Penguins, Whales | Also tagged Antarctica, Our Far South, Whales | 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 | Posted in Biodiversity, Birds, Field trips, Penguins, Whales | Also tagged Antarctica, McMurdo Station, Our Far South, Whales | 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 | Posted in Biodiversity, Birds, Field trips, Mammals, Penguins | Also tagged Antarctica, Our Far South, Seals | Comments (0)

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 | Posted in Biodiversity, Birds, Field trips, Mammals, Penguins, Whales | Also tagged Antarctica, conservation, elephant seals, Macquarie Island, Our Far South | Comments (0)

Our far South: Return to Enderby

14 February 2012 – 12.13pm

Sandy Bay, Enderby Is 1995. Photo Anton van Helden, Copyright Te Papa

I visited Enderby in 1995 as part of the DOC Sealion project. The project is still going today. Sadly the most noticeable thing on my return was the much smaller numbers of sealions and pups.

It is very saddening to hear from Louise Chilvers (DOC’s sealion biologist) that the population has decreased by 50% in the last 12 years alone. In part because of disease epidemics, but probably also because of other factors such as fishing and climate change which may be having an impact on these remarkable animals.

Sea lion pup suckling. Photo Anton van helden. Copyright Te Papa.

New Zealand sealions Phocarctos hookeri, are the deepest diving eared seals in the world. They have been recorded to dive to depths in excess of 700m. They are sadly, now the rarest sealion in the world, with a population of only about 10,000 animals.

The island vegetation has recovered however. After the removal of cattle, rabbits and all other mammalian pest species the undergrowth in the southern Rata forests and the tussock fields that ring the island have bounced back vigourously.

Southern Royal albatross, Auckland Islands. Photo Anton van Helden, copyright Te Papa.

The yellow-eyed penguins seem to be doing well, which is heartening.

Yelloweyed penguin. Photo Anton van Helden. Copyright Te Papa.

One Southern Right whale was seen, a reminder that in the winter months they come into Port Ross in the Auckland Islands to calve. At nearly 18m these animals feed on tiny swarming crustaceans called Copepods that they sieve through the water with their long baleen.

Right whale, Port Ross, Auckland islands. Image WWF.

Louise Chilvers and Anton van Helden, Enderby Island.

The Te Papa Fish team will be coming down here in the next week or so to investigate the animals that live deep down in the waters around the island.

By antonvanhelden | Posted in Birds, Field trips, Mammals, Penguins, Uncategorized, Whales | Also tagged albatross, Auckland Islands, Enderby Island., Our Far South, sealions | Comments (0)

Our Far South: The Snares

13 February 2012 – 9.04am

After leaving the port of Bluff, we took our sunset cruise down past Stewart Island on towards the Snares, our first port of call in Our Far South.

Snares Island. Photo Antonvan Helden, copyright Te Papa.

The first marine mammal spotting of the trip was a small pod of Southern right whale dolphins, these spectacularly sleek animals have no dorsal fin and gave the imprssion of being giant penguins porpoising along. They are just one of the many species of marine mammal which inhabit our rich southern waters.

Snares crested penguins. Photo Anton van Helden, copyright Te Papa.

Into the zodiacs we went to explore the rugged coastline of these islands. Devoid of any introduced predators they are remarkable for the abundance of bird, from the tiny black tomtits and fern birds to the soaring Buller’s Mollymawks. The islands with their tree daisy and leatherwood shrub coverings are home to a massive number of Sooty Shear waters whose burrows festoon the island. Groups of Snares crested penguins could be seen gathered along the rocky coastal cliffs, while the exposed coastline is covered with massive clumps of bull kelp.

Sea lion, Snares Is. Photo Anton van Helden, copyright Te Papa.

The islands are also home to New Zealand Fur seals, hunted in vast numbers in the late 1790′s to about 1830 when it was no longer economic for sealers to hunt them.

A few sub adult male New Zealand Sealions also call it home and swam around with inquistive looks.

Next target the Auckland Islands, we should reach there in the early hours of Sunday morning. I am looking forward to this as I spent the summer of 1995 there as part of the Department of Conservation Sealion Recovery project.

By antonvanhelden | Posted in Birds, Field trips, Mammals, Penguins, Uncategorized, Whales | Also tagged Our Far South, Seals, Whales | Comments (1)

Rena oil spill – update on bird mortality

28 October 2011 – 2.10pm

The team of Te Papa bird specialists is continuing to help at the wildlife recovery centre in Tauranga as both live and dead oiled birds continue to come ashore 3 weeks after the grounding of the M.V. Rena.

Our job is primarily to make sure that dead birds are correctly identified and, working with Massey University vets, to make an assessment about whether or not they are victims of the oil spill.

Alan Tennyson holding an oiled penguin. Photograph by A. Tennyson, Te Papa

A dead little penguin covered in oil. Photograph by A. Tennyson, Te Papa

The biggest surprise during the last week was finding a dead Chatham Island albatross – a rare species confined to nesting on a single island in the Chatham group. After careful examination, we determined that it was a breeding female but it was not oiled, so its death was probably a natural event unrelated to the grounding of the Rena.

A Chatham Island albatross that apparently died of natural causes being dissected by Massey vet Stuart Hunter. Photograph by A. Tennyson, Te Papa

While more than a thousand dead birds were recovered in the first 2 weeks after the grounding, the number found during the last week has now, fortunately, dropped to about 20 per day. While nearly all the live oiled birds found have been little penguins, the most common dead birds (of the approximately 1,300 examined) continue to be petrels – in particular diving petrels, which make up about half of those found. The next most common victims are two species that only breed in New Zealand: fluttering shearwater (about 20%) and Buller’s shearwater (about 10%).

These little penguins are recuperating in a purpose-built swimming pool. Filmed by A. Tennyson, Te Papa

The most common victims of the oil spill: hundreds of diving petrels have died. Photograph by A. Tennyson, Te Papa

We also examined a dead northern giant petrel that had eaten a lot of milk powder, which we suspect caused its death. Giant petrels are the size of small albatrosses and are well known for their scavenging habits. Many of the containers onboard the Rena contain milk powder, so this may be another unexpected danger for birds resulting from the grounding.

Shane Baylis with a giant petrel that appeared to have died from eating milk powder that spilled from one of the Rena's containers. Photograph by A. Tennyson, Te Papa

As salvors continue to battle to remove the remaining oil and stabilise the wrecked Rena, we don’t know how much more oil (and milk powder) is going to end up in the sea. It will be difficult to determine the impacts on seabird populations but the information that we are gathering will be a crucial part of this.

A little blue penguin covered in oil. Photograph by A. Tennyson, Te Papa

Alan Tennyson holding a dead little penguin covered in oil. Photograph by A. Tennyson, Te Papa

By Alan Tennyson, Curator Natural Environment

By Te Papa | Posted in Bay of Plenty oil spill, Biodiversity, Birds, Disasters | Also tagged diving petrels, M.V. Rena, oil spill | Comments (1)

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

8 September 2011 – 12.48pm

Te Papa’s curator of terrestrial vertebrates Dr Colin Miskelly tells the ninth instalment of the unfolding story of the emperor penguin that went where none had gone before. Previous blogs on the penguin were posted between 23 June and 5 September.

Time to take the plunge! Photo: Lisa Argilla, Wellington Zoo & NIWA

It is four days since the world’s most famous penguin escaped down the stern ramp of the Tangaroa. After two months of intense scrutiny, you might think that he was slipping into the obscurity of being a speck in the great southern ocean, and the anonymity of being one of over 300,000 emperor penguins on the planet. No such luck! Thanks to the Sirtrack KiwiSat 202 satellite transmitter glued to his back, his every move is watched by millions of adoring spheniscophiles around the world. But that is hyperbole; the duty cycle of the transmitter has it turned on for only 7 hours per day. This means that for 17 hours a day he can swim wherever he likes without anyone telling him that he is swimming in the wrong direction (as long as he ends up further south when the transmitter turns on again).

The emperor penguin's track for the first 4 days after his release. Image courtesy of Sirtrack

What does his track tell us after 96 hours? Overall, he has travelled about 100 km in a south-easterly direction, travelling at a rate of about 1.2 km per hour (29.3 km per day). But where would he have ended up if he had floated passively on the surface, allowing currents to carry him like inanimate flotsam? We have the answer to that due to the known movements of 30 Global Drifter Program buoys that have passed near Campbell Island (data from NIWA).

Campbell Island sits in the path of the mightiest oceanic current on the planet, far more massive than the Amazon River. Driven by strong westerly winds, the Antarctic Circumpolar Current south of New Zealand flows eastward at a rate of nearly 150 million cubic metres per second. This is about 150 times the water flow of all the world’s rivers combined.

Tracks of 30 Global Drifter Buoys past Campbell Island. Image courtesy of NIWA

On average, the drifter buoys near Campbell Island moved in an east-northeast direction at an average rate of 10.5 km per day. This means that if the penguin had not been actively swimming, he would now be about 42 km east-northeast of his release point. If passive movement due to the Antarctic Circumpolar Current is allowed for, the distance that the emperor penguin has travelled by active swimming is approximately 91 km in a south-southeast direction at a rate of 1.1 km per hour (26.9 km per day).

If he keeps on this track and speed, he will reach the pack ice off Marie Byrd Land (between the Ross Sea and the Amundsen Sea) about the end of November. Will he find other emperor penguins there? Yes – as the attached map shows, there are two known and two probable emperor penguin colonies along this remote stretch of the Antarctic coast. The probable colonies have never been visited by humans; they were discovered by satellite imagery detecting faecal staining on the fast-ice, known to be characteristic of emperor penguin colonies.

Locations of emperor penguin colonies around Antarctica. Image courtesy of Barbara Wienecke, Australian Antarctic Division

This strong easterly drift also raises the question of where the peripatetic Peka Peka penguin came from. If he travelled as far east as he did north on his way to New Zealand, then it is likely that he came from one of the colonies in the Australian Antarctic sector, rather than from one of the cluster of colonies on the western side of the Ross Sea.

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!

For later blogs on this bird:

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

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

The global penguin – Part 12. The final word?

By Colin Miskelly | Posted in Biodiversity, Birds, Penguins | Also tagged Emperor penguin, Happy Feet, Our Far South, Sirtrack | Comments (175)

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

23 June 2011 – 4.36pm

Te Papa’s curator of terrestrial vertebrates Dr Colin Miskelly tells the first part of the unfolding story of the emperor penguin that went where none had gone before (at least in the age of digital media).

Colin and the emperor penguin face the media. Photo: Alan Tennyson (Te Papa)

An ordinary Tuesday morning. Logged on to the Te Papa server, downloading emails, waiting for the first caffeine jolt of the day to kick in. And then a Department of Conservation colleague rang “What do you know about identifying large penguins?” This was my introduction to the surreal story of the emperor penguin of Peka Peka Beach – a tale that continues to build media momentum as I type.

“Weirdest seal I ever saw”. One of many new experiences for the penguin. Photo: Colin Miskelly (Te Papa)

Emperor penguins are superlative birds on so many counts: the largest penguin, the deepest diving (to 550 m or 1800 ft), the only bird that doesn’t breed on land (they breed on ice), the only bird that stays to endure the most severe winter conditions on the planet…it is no wonder that they capture the imagination. It was over 20 years since I last saw emperor penguins (Prydz Bay, Antarctica), and it was an almost unbelievable experience to see one so close to home.

On the shortest day of the southern calendar, adult male emperor penguins should be huddled together in the middle of the long Antarctic winter night, each incubating the single egg that will produce the next generation. But where are the younger birds? Hold that thought.

The males will not leave the egg for a solid 2 months. When you add on the time it takes to court their mate and to get from and to the distant sea, this equates to close to 4 months without a bite to eat. That is one serious, body-wasting diet. The males lose over 40% of their body weight, dropping from a colossal 38 kg (89 lbs) to a svelte 23 kg (50 lbs). After laying, the females return to sea (after about 40 days of fasting) to fatten up in time to return to feed the newly-hatched chick. In the Ross Sea (south of New Zealand), the eggs hatch mainly in August. The parents then both feed the chick for another four months until it is ready to go to sea. After eight stressful months it is time for the adults to fatten up again for the next hurdle – getting through their annual moult. Like all penguins, emperor penguins shed all their feathers in one go once a year, staying ashore for 30-40 days until their new coat is sleek and waterproof again.

By the time the breeding birds have completed their moult, they have only a couple of months to spare before it is time to return to the breeding colony for the next breeding season. This leaves little time to wander far from the Antarctic coastline.

The young birds have more freedom to explore. They go to sea at the height of the Antarctic summer (December-January), and do not need to return to the colony until they are about 4 years old. During this time they typically stay among the pack ice – the floating fringe of the Antarctic continent – learning to catch fish, squid and krill, trying to avoid leopard seals and killer whales, and hauling out on ice floes whenever they are tired or it is time to moult. This is the natural world of the emperor penguin – an ever changing vista of white ice and blue-grey sea, with the water at a constant temperature just above freezing.

And ice-fields, by and large, are where the young emperor penguins stay. But not all of them. Very rarely, the occasional bird ventures north. Two have reached Macquarie Island (1100 km south-west of mainland New Zealand), and once, a very long time ago, one came ashore near Invercargill, New Zealand’s southernmost city.

“Which way is south?”. Photo: Colin Miskelly (Te Papa)

Oreti Beach 1967. World famous in New Zealand as the training ground for the world’s fastest Indian (Burt Monro broke flying half-mile records here between 1957 & 1971). In the midst of this, in an era long before cell phones, internet, email, txting, facebook and tweeting, an emperor penguin stepped ashore, and barely made a ripple.

Forty-four years later, another came ashore, 800 km to the north-east, literally and figuratively waddling into new territory for a penguin. Not only was it within a 45 min drive from New Zealand’s capital city (Wellington), but within 48 hours of discovery, this penguin was known about by millions, its story running on at least 920 media sites globally.

The Peka Peka emperor penguin is about 3.5 years old. When I saw it on the morning of 21 June it appeared uninjured, and it had good fat reserves. It was clearly confused by its strange sandy environment. While not fazed by people (as long as they kept a respectful 5 metre distance), it was startled by a horse and rider passing 20 metres away. And when it got thirsty, it tried to swallow wet sand, no doubt expecting it to melt like snow.

We do not know how long it is since this penguin last saw an iceberg, about 2200 km to the south. We don’t know how long it will stay, or where it will go next. In the meantime it is being kept under the watchful eye of the Department of Conservation and Peka Peka community members. It was still there on the morning of 23 June, with an ever-growing throng of admirers.

In the next blog, I’ll provide an update on the penguin’s whereabouts and welfare, and explore some of the management options for this role-reversed Antarctic explorer. Including explaining why it is not a good idea to try to take it ‘home’.