General news

The Tawaki Project’s Fiordland season wrapped up in the current issue of the Advocate South (also known as Fiordland Advocate).

In the face of environmental change, the tawaki is at last receiving the scientific attention needed to protect one of the world’s rarest penguin species.

Many New Zealanders know the little blue penguins that live and breed along most of our mainland coastlines, and we hold the yellow-eyed penguin that adorns our $5 bill in our hands every day. But faced with a photo of a Fiordland crested penguin/tawaki, most of us likely wouldn’t recognise it as another native species. Tawaki belong to the group of crested penguins that boast striking yellow feathers above their eyes. Unfortunately, most crested penguin populations have been declining during the last century, and tawaki do not seem to be an exception. The population is estimated to range between 5,000 and 6,000 birds, and at some sites their numbers are believed to have declined by as much as 30 percent over just 10 years.

But there is considerable uncertainty about the numbers. Unlike other crested penguins, who breed in densely packed colonies, tawaki breed in scattered colonies, mostly in forests along the rugged coastlines of South Westland, Fiordland, Stewart Island/Rakiura and outlying islands. They are true forest penguins that epitomise the wrongness of the penguins-on-ice stereotype. It also means that it is no mean feat finding – and counting – these penguins in the remote and wild areas they inhabit.

There be tawaki – remote coastlines of South Westland

Their nesting habitat ranges from sea level to 100m elevation, and they like to breed in impenetrable vegetation. Some pairs have even been found breeding in sea caves with access only through submerged entrances. This means it is next to impossible to get accurate estimates of tawaki populations throughout their entire range.

In 2014, Robin Long surveyed a 60km stretch of coastline between Haast and Milford Sound to identify and accurately census tawaki breeding colonies in the area. She found at least 870 pairs – a stark contrast to the 150 pairs reported in a 1994 survey. However, this likely represents an underestimate in the earlier census rather than an increase in actual penguin numbers. By repeating her 2014 survey during the next 10 years, Robin will record changes in penguin numbers, which will be used to extrapolate trends of the entire tawaki population.

Determining tawaki population size and trends is one thing. Coming up with conservation measures to ensure the survival of the species is another. It is equally important to determine which key threats affect the penguins and what options we have to mitigate these threats.

Tawaki Chicks. Photo: Robin Long

Tawaki breed on land but find their food at sea. On land, introduced predators – stoats, possums and dogs – may prey on the penguins and their offspring, while human activities can disturb breeding birds and cause them to abandon sites. At sea, rising ocean temperatures probably disrupt prey availability, fisheries may compete for resources or result in accidental bycatch, and pollution in the wake of proposed oil exploration could also become a major problem for the tawaki.

To date, very little is known about tawaki ecology. For decades, the inaccessibility of their breeding sites was a major barrier for scientific investigation. However, by using new technologies to observe and track the penguins, two research groups from the West Coast Penguin Trust and Otago University have joined forces to fill in significant gaps in our knowledge about the species.

Using motion-sensing cameras at nest sites, the trust is carrying out a study to determine the impact of introduced predators on tawaki. In the past two years, thousands of videos have been recorded. Although most video clips show penguins preening or gathering nest material, occasionally intruders – stoats, possums and rats – enter the scene. While it appears that possums and rats keep a respectful distance from the breeding birds, stoat attacks on chicks caused some monitored nests to fail.

The Tawaki Project is studying the penguins’ marine biology. Using miniaturised GPS dive loggers, Otago University researchers Thomas Mattern and Ursula Ellenberg study tawaki’s foraging ranges and diving behaviour. First results indicate that climate substantially influences the birds’ foraging success, but apparently this depends largely on the region in which the penguins breed. During the strong 2015 El Niño, tawaki from Jackson Head, Haast, had to travel hundreds of kilometres to find food for their chicks while others in Milford Sound could obtain ample food without leaving the fiord.

Both projects will significantly expand our knowledge of tawaki and provide much needed information for fact-based management of New Zealand’s unique and enigmatic forest penguin. To find out more, see www.tawaki-project.org and www.bluepenguin.org.nz.

The Tawaki Project in the Winter 2016 edition of Forest & Bird Magazine

The moderate earthquake that hit Fiordland last week is reminder that tawaki have chosen a particularly precarious stretch of coast to breed. The species’ entire breeding distribution follows one of New Zealand major geological boundaries, the Alpine Fault.

Tawaki breeding range (red), Alpine Fault and our three study sites. Maybe we should be worried too?

Here the Pacific Plate meets the Indo-Australian Plate, two of the earth’s major tectonic plates. Or more specifically, the Pacific Plate moves over its counterpart, pushing it downwards while lifting itself up  – forming the Southern Alps in the process. It’s a pretty lively zone where earthquakes are a common occurrence. So tawaki live in a pretty shaky region.

That wouldn’t be half so bad, if they would breed in earthquake proof burrows. But a lot of them don’t. Many tawaki establish their nests under rocks or boulders, sometimes along the course of old landslips which in itself is a reminder of the violent forces of earthquakes. As researcher, it is a pain to find your way through this jumble of rocks because not every stone you step on is as stable as it seems. Even larger boulders may give way and start to roll when you try to climb over them. Obviously, that is the last thing you want as there might be tawaki breeding under that very same rock.

It does not take much to imagine what an earthquake might do to this tawaki nest

What does this mean for tawaki when there is an earthquake?

Well, first of all, as stated before earthquakes are a common occurrence along the Alpine Fault. So we can probably assume that a lot of the rocks the penguins have decided to breed under have been shaken into place already and are unlikely to be moved by another wee quake.

However… there is a very big earthquake waiting to happen. The Alpine Fault has ruptured four times in the past 9 centuries, which is about one big earthquake every 225 years. And the last rupture dates back to 1717 – almost 300 years ago. So the next big one is overdue. In fact, geologist estimate the next rupture of the Alpine Fault to occur in the next 50 years. And it will create a massive earthquake of magnitude 8 or more, at least as violent as the 2015 Nepal earthquake. If not more so. To put that into perspective, the devastating earthquake that hit Christchurch in February 2011 was of  magnitude 6.3.

Predicted isoseismals & consequences for the next Alpine Fault rupture (source: http://bit.ly/1DZWvK1).

The predicted epicenter is about half way between Jackson Head and Harrison Cove. Actually the isoseismals (blue lines in the graph above) forecasting the spatial distribution of seismic activity, neatly cover the core breeding areas of West Coast and Fiordland tawaki. So penguins occupying this stretch of coast will be in for a wild ride indeed. And it is safe to assume that the rocks under which tawaki are breeding will move once more when that happens.

If the quake hits during the breeding season tawaki might indeed be in trouble. In this case, a lot of penguins attending their nests may be crushed by shifting rocks or buried under the rubble of landslides. With such a big earthquake, tsunamis are probably to be expected as well so that birds not breeding under rocks may get washed away. So it could be quite bad. But tawaki would have to very unlucky for that to happen.

Two adults in front of their nest at Jackson Head. Will these rocks stay where they are in a quake?

How likely is it that tawaki will be at home during quake?

Tawaki spend most of their lives at sea. So the timing of the quake would have to be spot on and coincide with the penguins’ breeding season (August to November) or moulting (February), the only periods of the year the birds spend substantial time on land. This means that the penguins are only in the region for four months every year. That’s only a 1:3 chance of tawaki witnessing the quake first-hand. It’s more likely that they come back from their migration to find their breeding site layout altered substantially.

If it happens during the breeding season, will it be enough to wipe them out completely?

Highly unlikely, as there will be a lot of non-breeders and juveniles as well as foraging parents at sea and therefore likely spared from quake-related misfortune. And at sea, those birds can handle all kinds of turmoil…

https://vimeo.com/109104158

The original shot used for the 2015 season field report cover

Although this season’s field work is long over – and, in fact, tawaki are currently going through their annual moult after a grueling and fantastic season (depending if you’re a penguin from Jackson Head or Harrison Cove, respectively) – we only now managed to compile or field report for the season. It can be found as PDF on our Download page and is easily reconginzed by the awesome and overwhelmingly green cover shot.

We have a good excuse for the late publication though. We have been busy with other penguin work on the Otago Peninsula where we trialled novel camera loggers on Yellow-eyed penguins. And despite a few organisational set-backs the trials went well and provided us with truly fantastic underwater footage of a penguin searching for and catching prey. Not strictly tawaki but too awesome not to share it here:

https://vimeo.com/149393078

Finally a break in the weather. Up until lunchtime we had fish swimming past the living room windows of our Neils Beach domicile. But within half an hour or so it all disappeared and made room for blue skies. And sunshine, actual real sunshine! Miracles do happen!

In the morning Ursula and Junishi drove down to Queenstown to pick up Klemens Pütz from the airport. Jun will be heading back to Dunedin. Klemens will take care of the Jackson Head tawaki tracking when we head over to Milford Sound in about two weeks.

We’re swamped down in Neils Beach. A heavy rainfall warning is in place for Westland with 130mm expected to fall until tonight. Not good news for us – and probably not good news for the penguins either.

Around midday a gap in the clouds opened up and the sun even peeped through it for a moment. But when it counted – in the evening – the rain returned with full force and reached almost biblical proportions.

Boring picture taken from our base at Neil’s Beach – nobody wants to be out in this kind of weather

Deploying data loggers in these conditions is really difficult. The adhesive side of the tape we use to attach the devices to the penguins will inevitably get wet and won’t stick that well. Once the tape is stuck to the devices it can withstand weeks in ocean water. But use damp tape during deployment and you have a recipe for disaster.

We called off today’s nest searches for obvious reasons. We will still try to get the first set of data loggers deployed on willing tawaki tonight. With breeding further advanced than we’d hoped, we haven’t got any time to waste.

https://youtu.be/J9Mr2FGK4zc

***

The weather wasn’t on our side this morning with heavy rainfall throughout most of the day. Nevertheless, we used a break in the weather to head out to Jackson Head after dinner tonight. Armed with three GPS logger/TDR packs we made our way along the coast to a site we call “Popi’s Plaza” (named after Popi Garcia-Borboroglu, president of the Global Penguin Society, who’s discovered it).

It’s densely vegetated with kiekie and bush lawyer, two plants that drive humans crazy because it’s so easy to get entangled in the former and ripped to shreds by the thorns of the latter. Once you have struggled through the nasty stuff, you’ll reach broadleaf forest where some tawaki breed in small caves and crevisses in a steep bank.

Off we go down South. Our team will travel down to Invercargill today to catch the first ferry to Stewart Island tomorrow.

Next item on the list – underwater filming off tawaki off the Anglem coast.

Another cracker of a day on the West Coast. Have I ever experienced cloudless skies on the West Coast? Probably, but somehow I mainly remember the rain. Seems like this about to change as the forecasters on tele (an impressive TV set adorns one of the walls in my hotel room) only stick suns onto the West Coast portion of their maps. I do not complain. Not a bit.

First thing this morning, the whole crew – Sam, director Ida-san, camera man Hongo-san, the camera technician ‘Kay’ and I – headed down to Jackson Head. To have a look at the access to their designated film site. As it happens it is also the site where we will start our research in a bit more than two weeks.

The original idea was for the crew to film on a beach about half an hour to the North of Haast, which is a lot more scenic and easier to access than Jackson Head. But DOC changed their minds in the eleventh hour and condemned the poor guys to film on the steepest slopes only accessible via the treacherous rocky shoreline of Jackson Head.

And, as could be expected, I noticed a few furrowed brows when my companions laid eyes on the sharp and pointy rocks that we had to climb over for half an hour before reaching the site. But it wasn’t half as bad is it first appeared. Hongo-san and Kay dropped of some gear in water proof bags. And of course, all of them got to meet their first Tawaki. Some birds were boulder hopping just like us. Seeing the penguins really upped their spirits. As penguin usually do.

We headed back to town around lunch time before continuing on North, past Knights Point to Moeraki River. Ida-san was armed with the book by a Japanese photographer who indeed had taken photos of a Fiordland penguin swimming up what looked like a creek. I had my doubts that this could be Moeraki River, which is reasonably wide and deep and a whitebaiter paradise. Sam brought a map which had some ball point pen markings that seemed to indicate a footpath to the river mouth from the Monro Beach track. That turned out to be a dud – the area is an impenetrable swamp dominated by Kiekie. So we carried on all the way to the beach where we were greeted by a battalion of sandflies running a full attack on our exposed body parts. And the revelation that there is no access to the river mouth around the steep headlands to the West of the beach.

But it was a nice walk regardless.

Almost back where we left our car, we followed another track leading towards the river. After a short tramp through swampy forest we found an old whitebaiter’s hut with access to the river. And here wet met the hut owner himself as we was just about to tie his dinghi to a ramshackle jetty. He said his name was Syd and, no, in all his 40 years on Moeraki river he had never seen penguins swimming upstream. But he offered us a ride to the river mouth so that we could have a look ourselves.

So far I have only ever seen the bit of Moeraki river that is visible from the Highway, with Lake Moeraki to the east and the river disappearing in the forested hills to the west. In my imagination, Moeraki river was this crystal clear water way that gently solled through the West coast rain forest. Of course it did. But what I never pictured was the massive array of whitebait stands that lined both sides of the river. Every 50 metres there were the jetty like structures all pulled up out of the water by steel wires – the whitebaiting season only starts on 1 September.

One thing that blew me away was a majestic Kotuku, the New Zealand white heron, that took flight as we chugged downstream. I thought these rare birds could only be seen at the Okarito lagoon.

“No” Syd said. “That fella’s been here a few years now all by himself. But you guys want to see penguins. How about some shags?”

Well, yes, but no.

So… here we are. On the West Coast.

After a solid 5 hours drive I pulled over at the Haast Visitor centre to have a quick chat to Jac Amey from DOC. It turned out to be a nice and relaxed one-and-a-half hour cuppa and catch-up that was quite welcome. One bit of important news was that the Tawaki double counts at Jackson Head had to be postponed by a couple of days and were only going to happen tomorrow and the day after. And that she was one searcher short for the second day. Of course I volunteered. Will give me an excellent chance to have a look at our study site, the types of nests we will be working with and the state of the breeding season.

The postponement also means, that I have to find something to do for the Japanese film crew I will be supervising during their Tawaki documentary project over the next few weeks. They actually wanted to get into it from tomorrow onwards. But if we don’t know the location of Tawaki nests, there is no point carrying tons of camera equipment around the Heads.

I actually met the team for the first time when I headed over to the Heartland Hotel which will be our base (courtesy of NHK) the next three weeks. Ida-san the director approached me as I entered the restaurant to greet me, the production assistant and interpreter Sam in tow. The whole team of four are a really nice bunch and we had a fruitful discussion about what to do the next few days, now that starting at Jackson Head the next day was out of the question.

So… tomorrow we will head up North to Moeraki River where they hope to film penguins swimming up the water way to their nests. I had long email conversations about this topic in the preceeding weeks. I had never heard of penguins swimming up that river, but Ida-san had photographic proof. Although I gotta say, that the river on the photos seems more like a creek to me. But, well, we’ll see what Moeraki River looks like.