Rangers and volunteers recently went searching for yellow-eyed penguin/hōiho nests on the Otago Peninsula.
Continue Reading...Archives For 30/11/1999
By Paul Pope, Deputy Chair of the Otago Peninsula Community Board
Paul Pope
One of the great things about living on the Otago Peninsula, and having children at a local school, is you get to do some of the cool things that they do as well.
I was one of two parents who took a group of children from Portobello School to Okia Reserve for World Ranger Day with the Yellow-eyed Penguin Trust.
Getting children out of the classroom, and providing a genuine ranger experience, was a great concept. Having pupils from the three Peninsula schools was pure genius.
Like it or not there is a need for conservation groups to be prepared to pass on the mantle of stewardship onto a younger generation, and the earlier we do this the better.
Out at Okia Reserve—located next to Victory Beach
Peninsula kids are fortunate that they grow up in a landscape inhabited by iconic wildlife species. We can only hope that this experience, and their own inquiry, will develop either empathetic citizens or active conservationists.
“Pyramids” at Okia Reserve
What I really enjoyed about the ranger day was the hands on activities that provided a genuine wildlife management experience.
From exercises in measuring and identifying birds, to pest control and habitat creation, each activity was designed to show what really needs to be done in wildlife conservation.
Hands on. Take aim!
So much of what actually goes on in the field is unknown to the public, and to be able to provide that experience for our school children was great.
I’m sure many of the pupils will share their experience with their parents and family.
Planting at Okia
After events like this it’s good to pause and reflect. One of the things that stood out for me was how much the Peninsula relies on voluntary organisations and citizen conservationists to protect and advocate for our wildlife and landscape.
The voluntary hours, fundraising and hard work put into places like Okia is quite staggering. It also highlights my view that we all have a stake in nature and a role to play in protecting it.
After my experience at Okia it’s not difficult to understand just how important that role is and how rewarding it can be for our children today and in the future.
This abridged post is from the story ‘Home on the Range’ on Paul Pope’s blog.
Thanks Paul for letting us share it here on the Conservation Blog.
Today’s photo of the week was taken at Taiaroa Head/Pukekura—located on the end of the Otago Peninsula.
With nearly 10,000 seabirds residing on Taiaroa Head/Pukekura—including the only mainland colony of albatross in the Southern Hemisphere—the wildlife viewing opportunities here are immense.
The area is also home to a historic lighthouse (1864) and a number of spectacular coastal walks.
Photo by Matti Masivaan | CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Dave supports biodiversity programmes anywhere between Auckland and the Auckland Islands, but specialises in the Chatham Islands and penguins.
Using a band or ring has been vital to the monitoring and conservation of birds for more than 100 years. Yellow-eyed penguins were first fitted with leg bands as part of a landmark population study by schoolteacher-biologist Lance Richdale in the 1930’s.
A flipper-band on a yellow-eyed penguin
Unfortunately, leg bands proved to be difficult to read and also caused some injuries so, by the late 1950’s, flipper bands became the standard for marking penguins.
The current banding programme for yellow-eyed’s started in the 1970’s and has enabled the monitoring of penguin survival (to a ripe old age of 24 years) and allowed researchers to know the age and history of the individuals at the focus of their research.
Flipper bands are not without problems. They decrease the underwater efficiency of the bird and, particularly if poorly fitted or maintained, can cause feather wear and injury. Alternatives to bands have been explored and one under investigation at the moment is the use RFID tags of the same type used in dogs and cats. While safe and long-lasting, they do have the downside of requiring electronic readers to find out if a bird is marked and who it is.
Yellow-eyed Penguin Trust staff inserting a RFID tag into a penguin chick
Whichever method used, it is important to ensure that those applying the tag are doing so correctly in order to minimise the risk to the bird and maximise what we learn as a result. Penguin chicks get tagged just before they go to sea and I recently took the opportunity to join DOC staff, Yellow-eyed Penguin Trust and Massey University Veterinary students and oversee the tagging of this season’s batch of chicks on the Otago Peninsula.
Ranger Mel Young showing Wane Begg and Jim Fyfe the best way of measuring head length
Assisted by volunteers willing to crawl through flax, gorse and nettle, we visited several sites, going to nests found earlier in the season, before locating and capturing the chicks. Bags are used to restrain the birds while they get weighed, measured and tagged before being released back at their nest site. The weight tells us how good the food supply is (5-6 kg is the normal range) and measuring the head and feet of the chicks gives us an indication of the sex – the males are slightly larger.
Volunteer Monika Fry with penguin chick ready for weighing
Also along for a day was Jeff Corwin of “Animal Planet” fame, filming for the third series of “Ocean Mysteries”. Jeff, trailed by his camera crew, enthusastically crawled through the shrubbery, helping capture and measure chicks. Later in the day he assisted researcher Dr Thomas Mattern with the retrieval and deployment of GPS/dive loggers attached to the parents of some of the chicks we tagged as part of a long-term project looking at where the birds feed.
Ranger Mel Young talking penguins with Jeff Corwin
The opportunity to assist with this work, and spend a few days on the beautiful Otago Peninsula in no less than spectacular weather, was very much worth the being stung by nettle, scratched by gorse, bitten, beaten and pooped on by penguins.
Dr Thomas Mattern and Jeff Corwin waiting for a GPS-fitted penguin to return
Postscript
Since my visit some 57 adult yellow-eyed penguins on the Otago Peninsula have died suddenly, possibly due to a marine biotoxin. Birds found dead on the beach have been identified by their tag, enabling rangers to locate the nest and keep a close eye on their almost-fledged chicks. Understanding how the penguins encountered the bio-toxin will be helped by the GPS and dive logger data.
Yellow-eyed penguin foraging tracks. Credit: Dr Thomas Mattern
By Lyndon Perriman, head ranger at Taiaroa Head Nature Reserve
Taiaroa Head/Pukekura, at the end of the Otago Peninsula, is home to an impressive number and diversity of seabirds. With nearly 10,000 birds, the area has significant populations of gulls, shags, penguins and shearwaters, but is most well known for the iconic albatross.
Toroa, Taiaroa Head’s 500th chick (hatched 2007) with his dad
Weighing 6-8 kg and with a 3 metre wingspan, the northern royal albatross are one of the largest of the albatross species. The small population at Taiaroa Head is significant as it is the only mainland breeding colony for any albatross species in the southern hemisphere.
Studying foraging strategies
For the northern royal albatross, the beginning of autumn is the start of a phase we call ‘post guard’, where both parents forage at sea for food, leaving the chick alone for several days between meals.
There are many questions about foraging adults that we would like to know the answer to: Are longer trips at sea more productive for the adults? Do foraging areas used by males differ from females? Do the foraging areas change throughout the season?
Ranger Lyndon Perriman monitoring an albatross nest
Junichi Sugishita, a PhD student with the University of Otago, is studying the foraging strategies of the breeding adults at Taiaroa Head and, for the first time, adult birds are being tracked during the post guard stage. The research involves a number of devices situated on land at Taiaroa Head, and also attached to birds.
GPS and radio transmitters
The rangers have a good working relationship with (most) of the albatross at Taiaroa Head, so we were able to attach GPS and radio transmitters to the back feathers of the adult birds without the need for restraint. The combined weight of these two units attached to the feathers is less than 0.6% of the adult’s normal body weight.
Albatross carrying a GPS unit
Weight platforms
Weight platforms were also installed at selected nests. These platforms consist of electronic scales connected to a data logger situated under a plywood base. We had hoped to monitor changes in the weights of adults throughout the breeding season but the albatross had other ideas.
During installation of the scales the birds on the nests showed absolutely no interest, with some adults even choosing to sleep throughout the installation process. However, when they returned from sea to change nest duty with their partner they reckoned there was something decidedly fishy about the platforms. They avoided standing on the scales by choosing an alternative access to their nest.
Skylark on the albatross weighing platform
We then thought we could dupe them by painting the plywood so that it blended in with the surroundings. However, they still weren’t convinced and continued to choose an alternative route into and out of the nest which avoided crossing the scales.
Next we tried coercion by erecting a plastic mesh fence around the nest, so that the best option for access would involve walking over the scales. However, the albatross decided they would rather climb over the fence than cross those scary looking scales.
We finally realised that the albatross would continue to outsmart us. We removed the fences and let them be. It was a gentle reminder to us that what we perceived as non invasive wasn’t considered so by the albatross!
Slow breeders
The royal albatross is a slow breeder, with only one chick raised every two years.
Breeding takes a full year — from mating in October, to incubation of the egg from November to January, followed by nine months of feeding until the chick fledges in September.
Chicks that fledge successfully won’t be seen on the headland again for another five years, when they return to find a mate — and they can be quite picky, taking 2–3 seasons to make a choice. They finally start to breed at around eight years old.
It is this naturally slow breeding biology, coupled with complexities of life on a mainland site, that has restricted the population growth at Taiaroa Head which by 2011 was around 160 individuals.
Albatross have a long memory
Over-handling and restraining of albatross can affect their behaviour and trust of people. As conservation managers we need to weigh up handling, research and manipulation against the negative effects on the bird and their breeding success. This is particularly important at Taiaroa Head as a huge part of management involves manipulation of eggs and chicks at the nest to achieve a high success rate. The success rates are due, in part, to having adult birds tolerant of staff while they inspect their egg or chick.
Flies threaten newly hatched chicks
One of the greatest threats to newly hatched chicks is fly strike. Flies can lay maggots directly onto the hatching egg. Of the 21 chicks hatched in the 2011/12 season, only one died and this was from fly strike. Our best protection against flies during this vulnerable time is to move the hatching eggs into an incubator during the day, returning them to the nest at night.
Hatching eggs in the incubator
Like most years, the hatching/guard stage this season hasn’t been without issue. Three chicks lost significant weight. This indicated a microbial infection in the gut, which a course of antibiotics fixed. All three chicks are now several weeks old and growing rapidly.
One of this season’s sick chick’s in a brooder
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