Tag Archives: snipe

Pukeokaoka / Jacky Lee Island – 1932 and 2012 – In the footsteps of Edgar Stead (Part 7)

27 March 2012 – 9.48am

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.

Jacky Lee Island (Pukeokaoka) is one of a cluster of islands lying off the north-east coast of Rakiura / Stewart Island. Edgar Stead became interested in the island after studying snipe on Big South Cape Island in 1931. Jacky Lee Island was the only other island off Stewart Island where snipe were known to occur; they had been seen there by John McLean and Herbert Guthrie-Smith in 1911.

The landing bay on the south side of Jacky Lee Island in 1932 and 2012, viewed from near the hut site (the hut is now derelict). Top image: Edgar Stead photograph 2001.59.382, Macmillan collection, Canterbury Museum. Below photo: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa

Unfortunately, weka had been introduced to Jacky Lee Island since McLean & Guthrie-Smith’s visit. Weka were abundant when Edgar Stead and Major Robert Wilson stayed on Jacky Lee Island in December 1932, as they were 79 years later when I visited. Weka predation caused the extirpation of snipe, mioweka (banded rail) and fernbird from Jacky Lee Island, and also huge reductions (if not extirpation) in populations of broad-billed prions, fairy prions and common diving petrels.

A weka fossicking among tidewrack on the shoreline of Jacky Lee Island, March 2012. Photo: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa

Stead found other bird species to attract his attention on Jacky Lee Island, particularly the abundant population of brown creepers (pipipi). Brown creepers are the main host of the long-tailed cuckoo in the South Island and Stewart Island, and Stead & Wilson found several brown creeper nests containing long-tailed cuckoo eggs and chicks. As a result, Stead was able to sort out long-standing confusion over what the egg of the long-tailed cuckoo looked like. This confusion resulted from Walter Buller having been given a pullet’s egg that was reported to be a cuckoo egg – possibly as a deliberate hoax.

A brown creeper on Jacky Lee Island, March 2012. Photo: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa

My visit to Jacky Lee Island was approved by the Rakiura Titi Islands Administering Body, with boat support provided by the Department of Conservation. Together they were assessing the feasibility of eradicating weka from the island.

The Maori name for Jacky Lee Island – Pukeokaoka – means ‘hill of stinging nettle’. The name is apt! As in Stead’s time, the island’s vegetation is a horrible tangle of tree nettle, Muehlenbeckia vine, bush lawyer and supplejack. I concur with Major Wilson’s observation that “it [is] the worst bush to get through of any island we have been on”.

A tangle of ongaonga (tree nettle) and pohuehue (Muehlenbeckia vine) on Jacky Lee Island, March 2012. Photo: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa

Other posts on this topic:
Taranga / Hen Island – 1933 and 2010 – In the footsteps of Edgar Stead (Part 1)
Nukuwaiata / Inner Chetwode Island – 1936 and 2011 – In the footsteps of Edgar Stead (Part 2)
KundyIsland – 1929 and 2011 – In the footsteps of Edgar Stead (Part 3)
Whenua Hou / Codfish Island – 1934 and 2011 – In the footsteps of Edgar Stead (Part 4)
Rerewhakaupoko / Solomon Island – 1931 and 2012 – In the footsteps of Edgar Stead (Part 5)
Taukihepa / Big South Cape Island – 1931 and 2012 – In the footsteps of Edgar Stead (Part 6)
Green Island – 1941 and 2012 – In the footsteps of Edgar Stead (Part 8)
Ruapuke Island – 1941 and 2012 – In the footsteps of Edgar Stead (Part 9)

Related topics:
Surveying snipe on Putauhinu Island
Are muttonbirds radio-active?

By Colin Miskelly | Posted in Biodiversity, Birds, Field trips | Also tagged , , | Comments (9)

Taukihepa / Big South Cape Island – 1931 and 2012 – In the footsteps of Edgar Stead (Part 6)

27 March 2012 – 8.41am

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.

During their November-December 1931 stay on Rerewhakaupoko (Solomon Island), Edgar Stead and his companions used a small boat to visit nearby Big South Cape Island (Taukihepa) whenever sea conditions allowed. Taukihepa is the largest of the muttonbird islands at 939 ha, and lies off the south-west coast of Stewart Island.

Rerewhakaupoko (Solomon Island) at rear, and Pukeweka Island viewed from the tops of Taukihepa (Big South Cape Island). Top image taken in 1931 (Edgar Stead photograph 2001.59.380, Macmillan collection, Canterbury Museum), lower image in 2012 (photo: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa). Stead and companions stayed in one of the cluster of huts visible near the south coast of Rerewhakaupoko.

The main attraction for Stead and companions on Taukihepa was the snipe breeding among the low ‘pakihi’ heathland vegetation on the tops of the island. There were no snipe on Rerewhakaupoko. It was my long-term research on New Zealand snipes (genus Coenocorypha) that led to the discovery of Edgar Stead’s long lost diaries in Canterbury Museum in 2006.

Stead’s diaries had been in the private collection of Dr David Macmillan (who was related to Stead through their wives being cousins). Macmillan intended writing a biography of his famous friend and relative, but this was never published. Macmillan himself died in 1983, but his archive (including excised pages from Stead’s diaries, and many of Stead’s photographs) were not donated to Canterbury Museum until 2001, when his daughters sold the family home.

Putauhinu Island viewed from the summit of Taukihepa. Edgar Stead studied the now extinct South Island snipe breeding among the stunted manuka and inaka on the tops of Taukihepa in 1931. Snares Island snipe were successfully introduced to Putauhinu Island in 2005. Photo: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa

The South Island snipe (also known as the Stewart  Island snipe) was one of the species that became extinct when ship rats invaded Taukihepa and adjacent islands in 1964. The last two birds died during an unsuccessful rescue attempt in August-September 1964, and are now in the Te Papa collection.

South Island snipe at its nest on the tops of Taukihepa, December 1931. Edgar Stead photograph 2010.75.158, Canterbury Museum

The closely related Snares Island snipe was successfully translocated to Putauhinu Island 1.4 km north-west of Taukihepa in April 2005. This was the first deliberate replacement of an extinct New Zealand bird with a near relative. A survey of Putauhinu Island in March 2011 revealed that snipe were thriving, with over 300 birds present.

A Snares Island snipe on Putauhinu Island in March 2012. Photo: Ray Moss

Other posts on this topic:
Taranga / Hen Island – 1933 and 2010 – In the footsteps of Edgar Stead (Part 1)
Nukuwaiata / Inner Chetwode Island – 1936 and 2011 – In the footsteps of Edgar Stead (Part 2)
KundyIsland – 1929 and 2011 – In the footsteps of Edgar Stead (Part 3)
Whenua Hou / Codfish Island – 1934 and 2011 – In the footsteps of Edgar Stead (Part 4)
Rerewhakaupoko / Solomon Island – 1931 and 2012 – In the footsteps of Edgar Stead (Part 5)
Pukeokaoka / Jacky Lee Island – 1932 and 2012 – In the footsteps of Edgar Stead (Part 7)
Green Island – 1941 and 2012 – In the footsteps of Edgar Stead (Part 8)
Ruapuke Island – 1941 and 2012 – In the footsteps of Edgar Stead (Part 9)

Related topics:
Surveying snipe on Putauhinu Island
Are muttonbirds radio-active?

By Colin Miskelly | Posted in Biodiversity, Birds, Field trips | Also tagged , | Comments (9)

Surveying snipe on Putauhinu Island

7 April 2011 – 8.58am

Putauhinu Island is a 141 ha muttonbird island south-west of Stewart Island. The muttonbirders on Putauhinu have worked closely with the Department of Conservation (and its predecessor the New Zealand Wildlife Service) to restore the island’s ecology, including eradicating Pacific rats in 1995, and translocating and releasing South Island saddlebacks in 1974 & 1976, Codfish Island fernbirds in 1997, and Stewart Island robins in 1999. Te Papa’s Curator of Terrestrial Vertebrates Dr Colin Miskelly was part of a team that translocated Snares Island snipe to Putauhinu in 2005. The muttonbirders invited him back in March 2011 to see how the birds were doing; Colin here provides a progress report on the survey.

Muttonbird islands from the north. Taukihepa (Big South Cape Island) on the left, Putauhinu Island on the right, Kaimohu in the foreground.

Muttonbird islands from the north. Taukihepa (Big South Cape Island) on the left, Putauhinu Island on the right, Kaimohu in the foreground.

The translocation of 30 Snares Island snipe Coenocorypha huegeli to Putauhinu in 2005 was the first deliberate attempt to replace an extinct New Zealand bird with its nearest living relative. The South Island snipe C. iredalei became extinct in 1964 when ship rats invaded its last stronghold on Taukihepa (Big South Cape Island), about 1 km from Putauhinu. The 2005 translocation was the first attempt to bring snipe back to the Stewart Island region.

Handheld Snares Island snipe on Putauhinu Island

Handheld Snares Island snipe on Putauhinu Island

The 2011 survey was a chance to team up with James Fraser and his bird dog Percy again, following our search for Campbell Island snipe in 2006 (see New Zealand Geographic July 2006, pp 104-112). Snipe are small ground birds that live among dense, low vegetation, and using a trained dog greatly increases encounter and capture rates.

James Fraser and his bird-finding dog Percy, an 8-year-old English setter

James Fraser and his bird-finding dog Percy, an 8-year-old English setter

We were on the island 22-29 March, travelling by helicopter, and staying with the muttonbirders, who were preparing for the 2011 titi (muttonbird = fully-grown chicks of sooty shearwaters) harvest that started on 1 April.

Snipe were abundant on Putauhinu. We saw over 80 individuals, and caught and blood-sampled 53 of them. As all 30 birds released in 2005 had been genotyped for both mitochondrial DNA and nuclear DNA (using microsatellites), we had a rare opportunity to assess the effect of the translocation on the genetic structure of the new population. This information should guide decision making on whether any further snipe translocations could use the secondary population (Putauhinu) as a source versus returning to the original population on the Snares Islands Nature Reserve 110 km to the south-west.

Adult South Island saddleback on Putauhinu Island.

Adult South Island saddleback on Putauhinu Island.

The survey relied greatly on Percy’s fine nose, and James’s expert handling. We are grateful to the Putauhinu muttonbirders (and especially the Davis, Lee, Spencer, Pennicott and Fisher whanau) and the Rakiura Titi Island Administering Body for inviting us to their island, hosting us, and the interest that they showed in the survey.

By Colin Miskelly, Curator Terrestrial Vertebrates

All photographs by Colin Miskelly

By Colin Miskelly | Posted in Biodiversity, Birds, Field trips | Also tagged , | Comments (4)
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