September 2016

Day 1 – Empty Jackson Head

September 17, 2016 at 8:25 pm


[vrview img=”https://www.tawaki-project.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/20160917_360.jpg” width=”500″ height=”450″]

We carried out nest searches and showed a camera team from NHNZ round Jackson Head. Nest numbers appear way down this year with lots of empty nests being guarded by one or two adults. It seems that many birds decided to give this season a miss and just hang out in the breeding area. Could also be that some birds died over the winter migration and left single mates that are now waiting for a partner that will never return. El Niño took a significant hit on the Jackson Head tawaki’s breeding success last year and probably also affected their foraging success during the winter. So it will be interesting to see what the breeders do this season while at sea.

The first chicks have hatched – and are pretty big