A team comprised of staff from Te Papa and the Department of Conservation (DOC) recently spent a week surveying islands in northern Fiordland. In this second blog based on the trip, vertebrates curator Colin Miskelly describes some of the sites visited and discoveries made.Read more
Five Te Papa staff recently joined Department of Conservation colleagues on a boat-based survey of islands in central and northern Fiordland. One of the species they were hoping to learn more about was the mysterious grey-backed storm petrel. Vertebrates curator Colin Miskelly explains why this tiny bird was on their radar, and what they found.Read more
Te Papa bird curator Colin Miskelly describes a recent (pre-COVID lockdown!) attempt to solve a mystery that he has pursued in several remote parts of Fiordland over the past four years.Read more
COVID-19 lockdown restrictions mean that much conservation work around New Zealand is on hold. But in a remote part of Fiordland, restoration efforts are continuing every night, regardless of access constraints, social distancing, and weather conditions. Te Papa vertebrates curator Colin Miskelly describes the pioneering efforts being made to attract seabirds back to Coal Island/Te Puka Hereka in Preservation Inlet.Read more
How has the wildlife on these islands responded to more than 30 years without rats? Vertebrates Curator Colin Miskelly reports on a recent field trip to find out.Read more
Until 2016, flax weevils (large flightless protected beetles) were known from a single island in Fiordland. Recent surveys by Te Papa and Department of Conservation staff have now found evidence of them on a further 56 Fiordland islands. Here, Te Papa scientist Dr Colin Miskelly reports on the latest findings from remote southern Fiordland.Read more
Te Papa scientists Alan Tennyson and Colin Miskelly recently joined a Department of Conservation-led survey of seabird colonies in remote Chalky Inlet and Preservation Inlet in southern Fiordland. The team made the most of an extended spell of fine weather to land on an astonishing 77 islands. Colin Miskelly summarises some of their more notable discoveries.Read more
When did you last get excited about finding a weevil? They get a lot of bad press as pests of crops and stored food, but finding two rare weevil species was one of the highlights of a recent Te Papa expedition to Dusky Sound in Fiordland.Read more
Have you ever wondered which New Zealand bird was the first to be given a published scientific name? The unlikely answer is the broad-billed prion, named as ‘Procellaria vittata’ by a 22-year-old Georg Forster in 1777.Read more
