Alert Expedition 1950 to Antipodes & Bounty Islands Tawaki Project 2025-08-19 | A digitized version of a VHS tape containing 55-minute edit of 16mm footage recorded by Alex Black, skipper of the "Alert" that visited the subantarctic Antipodes and Bounty Islands between 2 and 13 November 1950. On board was a team of scientists led by Dr Robert A Falla, the director of the Dominion Museum in Wellington and a preeminent New Zealand ornithologist. The expedition was the first time New Zealanders spend more than a few hours ashore on Antipodes Island in over 70 years. The footage does not feature any sound recordings. The 5-minute audio clip at the beginning of the video is from a radio interview on the "Radio digest" programme of 26 November 1950 about the visit.
Penguins From Above Tawaki Project 2024-06-04 | Want to help us figure out how many Erect-crested penguins there are on the Antipodes Islands?bit.ly/count-penguins#penguins #shorts
Just. Keep. Going. Tawaki Project 2024-05-07 | Erect-crested penguins breeding on Spider Island, part of the subantarctic Bounty Island archipelago, have only one access point to reach one of the few high points in the Southern Ocean suitable for breeding. While raising chicks, thousands of birds must climb up and down a nearly vertical incline twice daily. Even on dry days, the rocks are slippery, and the birds frequently tumble a long way down onto the rocks, only to get up and try again. Their tenacity is truly awe-inspiring.
Voice of Tangaroa - A tale of two islands #shorts #wildlife #drone #penguin Tawaki Project 2024-03-29 | bit.ly/tale-of-two-islands
A sealers cairn? Tawaki Project 2024-03-06 | While surveying a Erect-crested and Eastern Rockhopper penguin colony located in a cave in the inaccessible Northwest Bay of Antipodes Island, we noticed a strange rock formation. When we inspected it a bit closer with our drone, we started to doubt that this was a natural rock formation. Instead it seems as if it is a man-made rock pile, a cairn, most likely created by sealers in the 1880s during the height of the sealing industry in New Zealand.
Tumble - an ordinary day at an Erect-crested penguin landing Tawaki Project 2023-12-12 | Raw drone footage of Erect-crested penguin landing at one of the main landing sites on the south coast of the subantarctic Antipodes Island. Needless to say, a human swimmer would not survive this ordeal.
TawakiCam Test Stream Tawaki Project 2023-09-27 | Streaming live from the Petrel Island cove, Tamatea/Dusky Sound
TawakiCam tes stream Tawaki Project 2023-09-16 | Just a test stream checking out Starlink performance in Fiordland.
Help us get TAWAKI.CAM on air! #shorts #penguins #walk Tawaki Project 2023-08-07 | Help us walk the extra mile and reach our crowdfunding goal that will allow us to install a livestream in Milford Sound. Watch tawaki going about their breeding business on the nest and observe their movements along their forest paths. Go to HTTPS://TAWAKI.CAM to find out how you can help make it so!#tawakicam #penguins #livestream #milfordsoundnz
Walk - Help us get TAWAKI.CAM on air! Tawaki Project 2023-08-07 | Help us walk the extra mile and reach our crowdfunding goal that will allow us to install a livestream in Milford Sound. Watch tawaki going about their breeding business on the nest and observe their movements along their forest paths. Go to HTTPS://TAWAKI.CAM to find out how you can help make it so!#tawakicam #penguins #livestream #milfordsoundnz
Help us get TAWAKI.CAM on air! #shorts #penguins #shout Tawaki Project 2023-08-04 | Shout out if you want to help us establish a livestream from a tawaki colony in the Fiordland rainforest. Or better still, support or crowdfunding campaing to make it a reality! Go to HTTPS://TAWAKI.CAM to find out how you can help!#TawakiCam #livestream #penguins #milfordsoundnz
Shout - Help us get TAWAKI.CAM on air! Tawaki Project 2023-08-04 | Shout out if you want to help us establish a livestream from a tawaki colony in the Fiordland rainforest. Or better still, support or crowdfunding campaing to make it a reality! Go to HTTPS://TAWAKI.CAM to find out how you can help!#TawakiCam #livestream #penguins #milfordsoundnz
Help us get TAWAKI.CAM on air! #shorts #penguins #curious Tawaki Project 2023-08-02 | Are you curious to see what's happening at tawaki nest day in and day out during the breeding season? With TAWAKI.CAM we plan to bring all the action via live stream to YouTube. but we need your help to make it happen. Go to HTTPS://TAWAKI.CAM to find out how!#TawakiCam #livestream #penguins #milfordsoundnz
Curious - Help us get TAWAKI.CAM on air! Tawaki Project 2023-08-02 | Are you curious to see what's happening at tawaki nest day in and day out during the breeding season? With TAWAKI.CAM we plan to bring all the action via live stream to YouTube. but we need your help to make it happen. Go to HTTPS://TAWAKI.CAM to find out how!#TawakiCam #livestream #penguins #milfordsoundnz
Help us get TAWAKI.CAM on air! #shorts #penguins #dads Tawaki Project 2023-07-31 | While breeding, tawaki dads have their ever watchful eye on their chicks. And here's a chance that we can all be a bit like tawaki dads. With your help we plan to set up a live video feed from the Fiordland bush to YouTube. Go to HTTPS://TAWAKI.CAM to find out what you can do to make it happen!#TawakiCam #livestream #penguins #milfordsoundnz
Dads - Help us get TAWAKI.CAM on air! Tawaki Project 2023-07-31 | While breeding, tawaki dads have their ever watchful eye on their chicks. And here's a chance that we can all be a bit like tawaki dads. With your help we plan to set up a live video feed from the Fiordland bush to YouTube. Go to HTTPS://TAWAKI.CAM to find out what you can do to make it happen!#TawakiCam #livestream #penguins #milfordsoundnz
Wait - Help us get TAWAKI.CAM on air! Tawaki Project 2023-07-28 | Can't wait for your chance to see tawaki? Well, with you help one year from now we could all have access to a live stream from the Fiordland bush. We plan to install two cameras - one trained at an active tawaki nest and another looking at the penguin highway in the forest - next year. But we need your help to make it happen! Go to HTTPS://TAWAKI CAM to find out how!#tawakicam #livestream #MilfordSound #wait
Help us get TAWAKI.CAM on air! #shorts #penguins #wait Tawaki Project 2023-07-28 | Can't wait for your chance to see tawaki? Well, with you help one year from now we could all have access to a live stream from the Fiordland bush. We plan to install two cameras - one trained at an active tawaki nest and another looking at the penguin highway in the forest - next year. But we need your help to make it happen! Go to HTTPS://TAWAKI CAM to find out how!#tawakicam #livestream #MilfordSound #wait
Help us get TAWAKI.CAM on air! #shorts #penguins Tawaki Project 2023-07-25 | How about watching tawaki 24/7 as they go about their breeding business or walk along their forest paths? Well, with your help, we can make this happen! To see how, go to https://tawaki.cam#tawakicam #livestream #MilfordSound
Help us get TAWAKI.CAM on air! Tawaki Project 2023-07-25 | How about watching tawaki 24/7 as they go about their breeding business or walk along their forest paths? Well, with your help, we can make this happen! To see how, go to https://tawaki.cam#tawakicam #livestream #MilfordSound
Armada Tawaki Project 2023-04-01 | The first-ever deployment of animal-borne cameras on Humboldt penguins from Isla Choros, northern Chile, revealed not only a benthic foraging strategy previously only known from Yellow-eyed and Gentoo penguins, but also showed that the penguins hunt in groups of up to 50 birds - well and truly an Armada of penguins!This footage was recorded in December 2022 as part of the Humboldt penguin foraging project supported by Sphenisco e.V. and conducted by Ursula Ellenberg & Thomas Mattern (University of Otago, Tawaki Trust, New Zealand), and Maximiliano Daigre & Alejandro Simeone (Universidad Andrés Bello, Santiago, Chile).
Homecoming - Part 2 #shorts Tawaki Project 2022-12-29 | An aerial perspective of Erect-crested penguin rafting and landing at Orde Lees, the largest penguin colony on the Antipodes Islands.Full version at youtu.be/XjPZ8qNnIrs
Homecoming - Part 2 Tawaki Project 2022-12-28 | An aerial perspective of Erect-crested penguin rafting and landing at Orde Lees, the largest penguin colony on the Antipodes Islands.
Homecoming #shorts Tawaki Project 2022-12-26 | Erect-crested penguins rafting and making landfall at Anchorage Bay, Antipodes Islands.youtu.be/xYKJPnKwzY0
Homecoming Tawaki Project 2022-12-24 | Closer to the shore, Erect-crested penguins generally do not like to be on their own. Often birds that want to make landfall congregate in groups with other penguins called 'rafts' and then make their move together. Until that moment, they zoom around in the water staying close to another until one of them decides it's time to go ashore. In rough seas, the birds surf a wave and jump ashore. But when it's calm, landing can be a bit more tricky as the penguins have to wriggles their way through floating kelp attached to the very rocks the birds want to land on. That sometimes can become a bit of a struggle but eventually they make it onto dry land.
Antipodes Islands 2022 - A detour to Orde Lees Tawaki Project 2022-11-28 | Our first full day outing on foggy Antipodes Island. Originally, we intended to make it down to the southern end of the island. But the mist let us veer off course a bit until we heard the enticing cacophony of penguin calls that could only come from the Orde Lees colony. We couldn't resist and battled on through waist-, sometimes shoulder-deep tussock and ferns. We only spotted the colony from a distance, but it was impressive regardless. After lunch we pushed on but only made it two thirds of the way to the south coast. We stashed some of the gear we carried to establish a camp and returned back to the hut after a long and exhausting 10-hour walk. - 18.11.2022
Bounties & Antipodes Expedition 2022 - Day 4 – Counting birds Tawaki Project 2022-11-22 | Friday, 11.11.2022 - Proclamation IslandWe get an early start on a gorgeous day. Up on the top of Proclamation by 8.30am. Flying drone missions with two units in the air while being filmed with the NZ Geo 360° VR camera doing so. Got Proclamation and Depot done despite a stiff breeze with gusts of up to 20 knots by 10am. Packed up drones and started different tasks. Klemens, Jeff and Bianca down to the landing to collect blood samples; Robin off to the western end to start penguin ground county; Hannah does the same starting in the East for Albatross. Dave & Thomas; install time lapse camera rock bolts, but adhesive need to set for a couple of hours so both return to top of the islands by lunchtime. Despite the forecast saying differently, the wind has dropped to about 10 knots from the Southwest. Decide to fly further drone missions. Within 2 hours Penguin, Ruatara and Lion Island are completed - we have the main group in the bag! Between 2pm and 4pm deployed all time lapse cameras. In the process encountered four Albatross carrying GLS loggers. Blood team managed to get their sample size up to 20 birds. Robin's penguin count got up to 1500 pairs and Hannah's Albatross count 350 nests by the time we have to get off the island around 5 pm. Wind has picked up and turned northwest in the afternoon. Bumpy ride in dinghy to Evohe. Will not be able to spend the night at Bounties. Instead started sailing north by night fall.
Bounties & Antipodes Expedition 2022 - Day 3 – Arrival at the Bounties Tawaki Project 2022-11-22 | We arrive at Bounty Islands around midday after another lumpy day steaming under sail east. Clouds burn away and the islands greet us under gorgeous blue skies. After Richie any James sent the 360° drone for a spin over the channel between Proclamation and Spider Island, we all gear up for our first landing. Swell at the Proclamation landing site in Bucket Cove reasonably minor. Thomas, James, and Richie go ashore first to rig some guide lines up the steep cliff but by 2pm entire team plus most of the Evohe crew landed on the island. First impression - a lot more albatross on the ground than during the 2019 visit. In many albatross nests, chicks were hatching so it could be that pairs now together at nest whereas in 2019 we were on the island 3 weeks earlier in the season, i.e. still firmly in egg incubation. Base Plateau on top of island overrun by albatross. Establish ourselves (after albatrosses had vacated the plateau reluctantly) and start flying first drone missions with two units. Hannah with spotter Bianca covers Proclamation, Thomas and spotter Robin take care of Tunnel, Ranfurly and Spider. Even try to cover Depot, but tablet batteries run out so that only about two thirds of the island completed. Meanwhile Jeff, Dave and Klemens start blood sampling arriving penguins down at the northern main landing. Only four samples collected before we all return to the Evohe around 7.30pm.
Shelter Islands 2022 Tawaki Project 2022-10-05 | Short giving some impressions of one of our study sites in Doubtful Sound, the Shelter Islands
37 days Tawaki Project 2022-05-26 | Last weekend, we finally made it back to Milford Sound to pick up our tawaki transponder gate for its winter maintenance. We also collected the trail camera that is trained at the gate and recorded about three months’ worth of footage. In early February, it shows fat tawaki coming back from a few weeks out in the subantarctic, making their way to their favourite moulting spot. Through February and early March, it captured moulting birds going down to the ocean for a drink and even moulted birds that were not quite ready to leave on their long winter journey. Eventually, on 14 March, the last penguin all moulted into beautiful new plumage, headed down to the ocean not to return until July or August. (A couple days after that bird left, the camera recorded an imposter).The footage also shows, why our transponder gate stopped working. Possums are just too interested in the electronics and cables. But, hey, not a single stoat to be seen. This means the traps do their job!
Bonus clip - Forest Filming Tawaki Project 2022-05-04 | In the first year of the Tawaki Project, we were joined by film crew from the NHK Japan. They filmed a documentary on tawaki for the series "Wildlife" and covered the penguins' chick rearing period, from hatching to fledging.- Bonus Chapter of the 2014 supporter DVD -
12 - Underwater Cave Dwellers Tawaki Project 2022-05-04 | Tawaki take the term “cryptic breeder” to a new level. As if trying to find their nests in dense vegetation or rock crevasses isn't enough to make it incredibly difficult to count them and get an idea about the species's population size.On Stewart Island, where official figures only see a handful of tawaki, the birds actually breed in sea caves that are only accessible at low tide. Of course, a penguin does not mind diving into its home at high tide. Researchers counting penguins, however... let's just assume that population estimates are likely a bit off.- Chapter 12 of the 2014 supporter DVD -
10 - Wait Tawaki Project 2022-05-04 | While chicks wait for the right moment for fledging to get underway the situation in the tawaki subcolonies resembles a stage production of Beckett's "Waiting for Godot". After weeks of crèching during which chicks spent the days in small, unguarded kindergarten groups, they are now again joined by a good number of adults. Some seem to be one of the parents, others non-breeders (perhaps relatives?), all of them... waiting.- Chapter 10 of the 2014 supporter DVD -
08 - Loiter Tawaki Project 2022-05-04 | With breeding well advanced in mid-October, more and more adult tawaki are present with seemingly nothing to do. A lot of birds tend to spend their days perched on rocks or tucked away under rocks, doing nothing particular apart from sleeping or preening. Some of them are failed breeders that have lost their clutch. But the majority of these birds are young tawaki, between 2-6 years of age, that have yet to find a partner for their first attempt at breeding. An inner voice (aka "hormones") keeps telling them every year to return to their breeding colonies. But since it hasn't worked out this time they wait patiently until it's their turn..
07 - Dads Tawaki Project 2022-05-04 | Throughout the chick rearing period many male tawaki tend to stay with their offspring, first during the guard stage when the chicks still need to be incubated, but also later on when they are old enough to wander around and form so-called crèches with chicks from neighbouring nests.Why the males consider it more important to stay with their chicks during the day rather than look for fish to feed their offspring at night is unknown. But it could be that they keep a watchful eye on their young to prevent other non-breeding youngsters from harrassing or even hurting their little ones.- Chapter 7 of the 2014 supporter DVD -
06 - Patience Tawaki Project 2022-05-04 | After tawaki have laid their eggs in late July, pairs tend to stay together at the nest sharing incubation duties.In mid-August, the female leaves for a two week foraging trip. When she returns, the male has fasted for than 40 days during which he lost about one fourth of his initial body mass. And he will use every minute of his own two week trip at sea to replenish body reserves in anticipation of the long chick raising period.And until he comes back, it is the female's turn to be patient...- Chapter 6 of the 2014 supporter DVD -
05 - Affection Tawaki Project 2022-05-04 | While it is a common misconception that penguins mate for life, pairs that have been successful at raising their offspring do indeed get back together in following seasons. What determines a good pair probably depends on a lot of things, but affection certainly plays an important role.What makes a penguin seem attractive to the opposite sex is largely a mystery, but feather colours, body size, bill shapes all might play small but vital roles. - Chapter 5 of the 2014 supporter DVD -
04 - Preen Tawaki Project 2022-05-04 | It is well known that penguins like to take long baths, an activity they can conveniently combine with the aquisition of food. Especially after an extended incubation spell during which birds stay up to four weeks on land, it must feel really good to be able to wash off all the mud and grime. And it is understandable that birds returning from a long foraging trip take all the time in the world to preen their now clean again plumage, rearranging each feather individually to acquire perfect insulation, water proofness and a gorgeous look
03 - Wanderer Tawaki Project 2022-05-04 | Tawaki generally prefer to breed along rocky shorelines of the West Coast, Fiordland and Stewart Island where they can quickly disappear in crevasses and under boulders. However, in some areas sandy beaches separate excellent breeding habitat from the sea. So the penguins have to cross what they probably perceive as an "uncomfortably open plain". Did they have to fear being caught and eaten by New Zealand Maori in centuries past, today white people armed with cameras far too often try to get close to the penguins.- Chapter 3 of the 2014 supporter DVD -
02 - Return Tawaki Project 2022-05-04 | The ocean is a penguin's home. Some species spent 80% of their life at sea. However, once a year, every penguin needs solid ground to establish a nest, lay eggs and raise chicks. The breeding season.What is true for other penguin species also applies to tawaki. Yet unlike other penguins that start to breed at the onset of spring, tawaki do it differently. They return to their colonies and start to breed in the middle of the austral winter. Why they do this is one of the many mysteries that surrounds this species.- Chapter 2 of the 2014 supporter DVD -
01 - Jackson Head Tawaki Project 2022-05-04 | It may not look like it, but Jackson Head is a hot spot for the Fiordland penguin/tawaki. Even during the breeding season (July-November) they can be hard to observe. Some 120-200 pairs are estimated to breed on the forest clad slopes of Jackson Head making it one of the most important breeding sites for tawaki. - Chapter 1 of the 2014 supporter DVD -
09 - Curiosity Tawaki Project 2022-05-04 | Tawaki are generally considered one of the most timid penguin species, probably owing to its history of being hunted for food by New Zealand Maori. As it turns out, Tawaki are quite more robust than they're given credit for. If anything, they are more careful rather than fearful. Particularly in chicks and juveniles curiosity tends to win over wariness time and again.- Chapter 9 of the 2014 supporter DVD -
Bounties 2019 - Part 1 - Getting to the Bounties Tawaki Project 2022-03-22 | In 2019, we joined an expedition to the Bounty Islands to conduct a population census of Erect-crested penguins. Here's what it's like getting to the remote subantarctic Islands some 800 km east of southern New Zealand.
Morning Jog Tawaki Project 2021-12-07 | A penguin's day usually starts pretty early. Tawaki often leave their nest before sunrise. With light levels still below par when it comes to foraging, the birds often spent the first hour or two at sea to have extensive preening sessions... or going for a run with the mates.Filmed with a pengucam on breeding female from Seymour Island, doubtful Sound, Fiordland, NZ
Mystery on the Bounties Tawaki Project 2021-08-31 | An extended screen cast version of a presentation we gave at the 2021 Birds NZ conference in Thames.The Erect-crested penguin, endemic to New Zealand’s subantarctic Bounty and Antipodes Islands, is one of five penguin species world-wide rated ‘endangered’ by the IUCN Redlist. This assessment is based on the belief that the species’ population has declined significantly from 230,000 breeding pairs in 1978 to 81,000 pairs in the mid-1990s. However, while later estimations were based on dedicated population surveys, information from the seventies derived from crude extrapolations (Bounties) and ‘very rough’ estimations (Antipodes), limiting the usefulness of direct comparison. Between 1997 and 2011, three population counts of Erect-crested penguins were conducted on Proclamation Island in the Bounty group providing the first comparable penguin numbers. In October 2019, we conducted a fourth Erect-crested penguin survey on the island using a combination of ground counts (following the previous surveys’ methodology) and aerial surveys with the help of camera drone imagery. Nest numbers were largely comparable to counts conducted since 1997, casting doubts on the notion of an ongoing population decline on the Bounty Islands. Nest densities varied significantly with terrain and between islands, suggesting that the extrapolation-based estimates from the 1970s substantially over-estimated penguin numbers, thereby contributing to the current ‘endangered’ assessment. Moreover, nest numbers seem to be lower in years with La Niña conditions but recover in subsequent years, adding further uncertainty to the assessment of the species’ population trajectory given that some of the sparse survey data were recorded during La Niña years. Further research is essential to clarify the Erect-crested penguins’ population status and threat ranking.
Below Piopiotahi - Milford Sound from a tawaki perspective Tawaki Project 2021-06-18 | In September 2020 we deployed a full HD camera logger (pengu.cam) on a breeding tawaki from Harrison Cove in Milford Sound/Piopiotahi, Fiordland, New Zealand. The recorded footage provide unique insights into the prey searching and capturing behaviour of penguins.
