For 4 years I was fortunate enough to visit a number of offshore island nature reserves around the Hauraki Gulf, New Zealand. This spectacular archipelago is chock full of endemic New Zealand critters, seabirds, and a rich cultural history. Many of these islands belong to the Ngāti Hei, Ngātiwai, Ngāti Whanaunga, Ngāti Awa, and other Hauraki Gulf iwi (Māori tribes). Each have their respective traditions, but one common thread is the importance of muttonbirding (harvest of petrel chicks).
Part of my PhD research was examining how petrel populations recover after rodent eradication. Rodents were introduced by both Māori and later Europeans and are thought to suppress petrel populations by eating eggs and chicks – and if the seabird species is small enough – adults. Recovery of petrels is central to the restoration of New Zealand islands – both ecologically and culturally. When we visited a predator-free island, the importance of petrels was immediately apparent, with thousands of birds calling and crashing through the canopy, tuatara darting in and out of seabird burrows, and weta and geckos crawling around the lush forest.
Thanks to the local iwi and my supervisory team at MWLR I feel so lucky that I had the privilege of studying these taonga (treasures) of Aotearoa (New Zealand)!
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- The trusty F/V Wildgoose dropping us off at Korapuki Island
- Pohutukawa flower
- A burrow scope finds a flesh-footed shearwater on an egg
- A grey-faced petrel fledgling
- Our favourite swimming hole, Korapuki Island
- Sunset at Korapuki Island
- The view from Ruamaahuanui Island
- Stick insect
- Shore skink
- Scaleworms infest trees and produce honeydew (from white strands), feeding an entire foodweb
- Common gecko snacking on honeydew (a sugar produced by scale insects)
- Jelly fish
- Extreme plot measurements. All in the name of science.
- Stanley Island
- Pycroft’s petrel
- Weta!
- A seabird monitoring plot, Ruamaahuanui Island
- Fur seal
- Tuatara, Ruamaahuanui Island
- Little shearwater climbing a tree
- Duvacel’s Gecko
- Whakairo, Ohinau Island
- Little blue penguin
- The Mercury Islands
- Urchins for dinner!
- Blooming flax
- Caspian Tern
- Ohinau Island at sunset
- Seabirds at sunset
- Flesh-footed shearwater
- Seals playing at sunset
- Life is rough – Kayaking around Moutohora Island
- Kakariki
- Gecko tracks
- A box of geckos! Basking in the black rodent tunnels
- Grey-faced petrel, attracted by vocalization playback
- Taranga Island and fluttering shearwater, Whangarei
- Kaka
- Wahine (old woman) Bay, Taranga
- Anemone Stinkhorn, Taranga
- Green dog tree, Taranga
- Pied Shag
- Tired seal
- Black-billed gull
- The always terrifying tusked weta, Korapuki Island.
- Invasive species legacy – a rabbit skull on Ohinau Island
- Kaitiaki (Maori guardian) David finds some dinner