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We're having a déjà vu! Different species (Erect-crested penguin), much closer to home (NZ mainland), but same story as yesterday. 🤪 www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin...

submitted 13 days ago • 0 comments

News about the Snares penguin in South America has hit the national news too. 🐧🌎 www.nzherald.co.nz/the-country/...

submitted 13 days ago • 0 comments

CNN Chile: A Snares penguin has appeared in Punta Arenas. Described as a 'historic sighting', it might not be as unusual as it seems. We do know of Snares penguins on the Falkland Islands. In recent years, other tawaki species were spotted in Argentina. Still cool!! www.cnnchile.com/pais/pinguin...

submitted 16 days ago • 0 comments

Tawaki are showing up along the southeast coast of the South Island for their annual moult. They should be pretty difficult to spot - unless they come out of their hideyholes for a quick drink. In that case, it's important to give them room and leave them in peace.

submitted 18 days ago • 0 comments

Not bad... the news page of Science reports on the camera loggers we developed to be able to see what tawaki do underwater... www.science.org/content/arti...

submitted 23 days ago • 0 comments

Just a week ago we were packing and prepping for pick up from Antipodes Island. 2.5 months of exhausting field work flew by with this amazing team. Couldn’t ask for better people to study penguins with. Thanks for another great season @tawaki-project.org

submitted 68 days ago • 0 comments

Last day of streaming from the Antipodes Islands. We're going home tomorrow. tawaki.cam/antipodes

submitted 76 days ago • 0 comments

Some of the penguin colonies on the Antipodes Islands are pretty inaccessible. This is particularly true for most of the sea cave colonies. To get an idea about the number of penguins we use small #fpvdrones to take a closer look. It becomes a virtual visit without the disturbance of a human.

submitted 81 days ago • 0 comments

Coming home to the Anchorage Bay colonies can be challenging for Erect-crested penguins even on relatively calm days. Slithering through kelp to get to the rocks beyond while the surge is trying to pull you back out is an art form in itself.

submitted 95 days ago • 0 comments

The choir. We're not quite sure what this trumpeting is for - other than perhaps making one's presence known. The urge to trumpet bounces between birds so that it is hardly ever quiet in an Erect-crested penguin colony.

submitted 96 days ago • 0 comments

Antipodean albatross youngster practicing its moves. It's another few months before the first take-off.

submitted 96 days ago • 0 comments

Easterly storm at the Reef Point Erect-crested penguin colony, Antipodes Island.

submitted 98 days ago • 0 comments

Dead straight!

submitted 98 days ago • 0 comments

I guess that's why they call it Stack Bay?

submitted 100 days ago • 0 comments

Mapping new tawaki nests on Many Islands in Dusky Sound. Year after year we find penguins in new spots, often because people spotted a bird scrambling ashore somewhere. Slowly we are filling in the gaps on the map of tawaki breeding sites. At this rate we need several life times to find them all.

submitted 161 days ago • 0 comments

Somewhere along Acheron Passage...

submitted 167 days ago • 0 comments

The film star is back. The male tawaki from nest SE70c is guarding a new chick. He was featured in the tawaki segment of season two of 'Our Planet' on Nerflix.

submitted 169 days ago • 0 comments

A rock solid tawaki nest in Thompson Sound, Fiordland

submitted 170 days ago • 0 comments

A pretty wet start to the field season proper. After loading our gear and food onto the Tutoko (and after a couple of rigs were installed for a film crew that will join us in a few days) we were off. When we got to Seymour Island the rain stopped just long enough to do nest checks on the island.

submitted 171 days ago • 0 comments

This is a tragedy! The base for our tawaki work in Piopiotahi / Milford Sound has taken a major hit. Luckily this happened when no one was at the observatory. But, boy, that is heartbreaking... www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...

submitted 174 days ago • 0 comments

After successful beta test of our Zooniverse project 'Penguins From Above' we are scrambling to get all our drone data ready for the power of AI - Actual Intelligence! The power of the crowd helps us count penguins! -> www.tawaki-project.org/2024/05/19/p...

submitted 284 days ago • 0 comments

Meet Peter, one of the Erect-crested penguins that volunteered in our pre-moult satellite tracking study this January. The penguin left its fledgling chick and went on a 1,000 km journey. Peter returned on 29 February, just in time for the albatross team to take off the device!

submitted 293 days ago • 0 comments

Our work in the subantarctic region relies on the use of drones. We are incredibly lucky to partner with Drone Deploy who have the best flight app on the market, process our data in the cloud and now have implemented AI counting of penguins! Awesome!! www.dronedeploy.com/blog/countin...

submitted 297 days ago • 0 comments

Utterly hypnotic. The Erect-crested penguin colony at Orde Lees on the Antipodes Islands from above.

submitted 328 days ago • 0 comments

If you want to learn more about our work on the subantarctic islands so far, here is a fantastic podcast by RNZ and New Zealand Geographic! www.rnz.co.nz/programmes/v...

submitted 336 days ago • 0 comments

While we are analyzing data, our good friend Jeanette Goode is putting finishing touches on her latest children's book titled "Penguins Don’t Send Postcards". And best of all, it's about tawaki. Help her get it published! www.boosted.org.nz/projects/pen...

submitted 338 days ago • 0 comments

A one-year old female Erect-crested penguin just chillin' away from the buzz of the more crowded part of the Orde Lees colony.

submitted 374 days ago • 0 comments

Two islands, different story. The apparent difference in timing of breeding in Erect-crested penguins from the Bounty (Pics 1&2) and Antipodes Islands (Pics 3&4), is likely another puzzle piece that we need to understand, why penguins are doing better on the Bounties.

submitted 375 days ago • 0 comments

Want to hear about some of the work we're doing on the subantarctic islands? Well, thanks to @RNZScience and @cconcannonsci producing another great episode of the 'Our Changing World' podcast you can now do so. www.rnz.co.nz/national/pro...

submitted 379 days ago • 0 comments

With all these recent subantarctic adventures, here's a link to this year's Seaweek campaign to remember the real tawaki in the house! seaweek.org.nz/creature-con...

submitted 380 days ago • 0 comments

One thing we did not quite expect was the speed at which Eastern Rockhopper penguin chicks developed. Even though "Rocky chicks" hatched 3-4 weeks after the Erect-crested penguins, the chicks moult into their juvenile plumage at the same time as the Erect-crested penguins.

submitted 381 days ago • 0 comments

Erect-crested penguins are an inherently aggressive species. Probably understandable given the limited space available for breeding. So bloody territorial disputes are quite common. Even moulting juveniles on the Bounty Islands have minor squabbles that generally amount to nothing.

submitted 382 days ago • 0 comments

While many of the older Erect-crested penguins on the Bounty Islands are still looking after chicks (the Bounty penguins are 3-4 weeks behind their Antipodes cousins), non-breeding birds have started their annual moult. Rather than dropping feathers 1-by-1, plaques of old feathers sometimes drop.

submitted 384 days ago • 0 comments

The Evohe at the Bounties. With storm delays causing a late departure from the Antipodes, we had one shot at getting on to deploy satellite tags, fly drone missions, maintain time lapse cameras, and perform disease screening. We couldn't have picked a better day than 31-Jan-2024!

submitted 385 days ago • 0 comments

Fledging is imminent on Antipodes Island. The Erect-crested penguin chicks by now have all moulted into their blue juvenile plumage and are ready to go. The first of the parent birds have left the island in their pre-moult trips and are heading south towards the polar front.

submitted 388 days ago • 0 comments

Perfectly timed photobomb by a Salvin's albatross during our 8-hour stop-over on the Bounty Islands. We got a lot of work done from deployments of satellite transmitters on Erect-crested penguins and drone surveys of the archipelago's main group, to disease screening in albatrosses and penguins.

submitted 391 days ago • 0 comments

All good things must come to an end. We're on our way back to civilization. Still 500 km from home the Tawaki Project already made the news. www.rnz.co.nz/national/pro...

submitted 393 days ago • 0 comments

If images could smell... A Stack Bay Erect-crested penguin colony on Antipodes Island.

submitted 399 days ago • 1 comment

Do penguins ever sweat? Well, no. But when they get hot they have their way of coping with the heat. On a sweltering day (like it was in Stack Bay today) the birds stand there flippers outstretched, feet red to pass some of the heat off via their circulation, and panting.

submitted 399 days ago • 0 comments

Female Erect-crested penguins are having an increasingly hard time. Her partner is also out at sea finding food for their chick. This makes her very attractive to any unpaired males that are trying to stake their claim for the next breeding season. Feeding a chick while fending of suitors is no fun.

submitted 400 days ago • 0 comments

The Erect-crested penguin chicks are on their way to become proper penguins. Wind gusts blow off down revealing the blue juvenile plumage that is growing underneath. Some chicks have completed their moult and are ready to go. Others not so much. Most look as if part of an avant-garde fashion show.

submitted 401 days ago • 0 comments

Penguins in the Mist.

submitted 403 days ago • 0 comments

The first moulters have started to shed their feathers. These are mainly juvenile birds and non-breeders but they already give us an idea what a feathery chaos the penguin colonies will become when the main portion of the population gets to that stage.

submitted 404 days ago • 0 comments

We found her again! After we observed "Goldie" last year, the only isabelline Erect-crested penguin we know of, we stumbled upon her on the Antipodes south-west coast. The aberrant colouring results from a mutation which bleaches the feathers to a golden-brown colour. It is most common in females.

submitted 406 days ago • 0 comments

It is finally happening, the Erect-crested penguin chicks are moulting into their juvenile plumage. They still got a couple more weeks or so to fledge.

submitted 408 days ago • 0 comments

The Erect-crested penguin chicks in our study colony keep on "piling". It surprises how little it seems they have changed in the past few weeks, still downy with little sign of getting ready to fledge. But if you look closely you see the first tail feathers poking out of the down.

submitted 415 days ago • 0 comments

It is called "crèching" (the French term for "crib" or "Kindergarten") when crested penguin chicks start to hang out with their peers while both their parents are at sea foraging. May we suggest an alternative term? How about "piling"...

submitted 416 days ago • 0 comments

The Tawaki Project Antipodes Sunday afternoon quiz. 1. How many penguins carrying a GPS dive loggers are visible? 1, 2, 3 or 4? 2. How many Erect-crested penguin impostors (i.e. non-ECP species)? 1, 2, 3, or 4? 3. How many Erect-crested penguin chicks are in frame? 35, 39, 41, 45?

submitted 417 days ago • 0 comments

Two fronts and one end.

submitted 417 days ago • 0 comments

Impressive Erect-crested penguin colony setting on Antipodes Island. www.threads.net/@tawakiproje...

submitted 419 days ago • 0 comments