Mandy & Abbo

On our second day out on East Shelter Island, it was the 18 February, we managed to deploy satellite tags on five tawaki. The first two likely candidates were hanging out in a root cave together. One of the penguins was a male with an impressive bill, the other one a female with a determined look. The birds were huddled up together side by side and sitting in what obviously was an active nest only a few weeks ago.

You did not have to be a penguin expert to quickly assume that we had run into a pair that moulted together in last season’s nest. Successful breeders tend to come back to moult in their nests, primarily to show nosy neighbours or young punks that this site is taken. Even when we extracted the female to fit her with a satellite tag, the male did not move.

Of course, we couldn’t pass up the chance to deploy satellite tags on a pair. So once the epoxy had dried on the female’s device, it was the male’s turn to be fitted with a tag. The female peeped out of the burrow while we were attaching the device, obviously interested to have a look at the procedure we went through from the outside. They both were reunited in their nest sporting sat tags 197041 and 197042.

Of all the tawaki that we had to come up with names for during this study, those two were the easiest. The similarities between the two penguins and the Tawaki Project’s hosts in Doubtful Sound/Patea were almost uncanny.

Mandy and Richard ‘Abbo’ Abernathy own and run Fiordland Expeditions that provide sharter cruise services throughout Fiordland. Abbo takes care of the skippering business, while Mandy looks after the books and catering. Abbo, the penguin, is a somewhat rotund male while Mandy, the penguin, came across as rather curious and observant. Indeed, quite comparable to their human counterparts.

Both penguins remained together for a few days after the deployment, then Abbo left on the 22 February. Mandy spent another five days, probably to make sure the books of their nesting operation were in order, before she too left on her journey on 27 February.

Abbo left Doubtful Sound in a westerly direction but over the first week arched round to the South, as if swimming along a quarter circle. When he reached about 50° South, he changed course and headed west-southwest until reached is current position some 1,200 km south of Tasmania.

Amazingly, when Mandy left, she travelled along almost the exact same arc as Abbo had done five days before her. Mandy changed course, just as Abbo did, at around 50° South and has literally been hot on Abbo’s tail ever since. So far, the two penguins’ travel paths are incredibly similar especially when you consider the variability we see in the other tawaki’s movements.

Coincidence? Or perhaps, the pair bond between Abbo and Mandy, that transcends the 500 km of ocean that currently separates them.