A survey of the entire 1,500 km coastline of the Marlborough Sounds between Sep – Dec 2006 located 9 king shag (Leucocarbo carunculatus) breeding colonies, including 2 new colonies. The total population was estimated at 687 birds, a figure similar to the 10-year average estimated for the period 1992-2002. The 4 largest colonies supported 85% of all birds recorded. The total population appears stable compared to earlier surveys, but there was a tendency for some of the smaller breeding colonies to be occupied only temporarily.
Using GPS technology, we tracked 3 juvenile northern royal albatrosses (Diomedea sanfordi) as they fledged from Taiaroa Head, Otago Peninsula, New Zealand. All birds flew north along the east coast of New Zealand before undertaking a trans-Pacific easterly migration to Chile. During their 8500 km migration, the maximum daily distance and speed reached were 1047 km and 110 km h-1, respectively, and the maximum altitude was 38 m a.s.l. Upon leaving New Zealand waters, the 3 albatrosses took between 16 to 34 days to reach the coast of Chile where they remained between 23°S and 58°S. The tracked albatrosses generally kept to within 100 km of the coast where the depth of water varied between 1000 and 2000 m. Overall, the tracked albatrosses on the Chilean coast spent 72% of the time resting on the water, primarily between 1800 h and 2400 h local time. Fix success rate of the GPS technology ranged from 56% to 85%. The use of solar charging and a long attachment period allowed birds to be followed continuously for 134 to 362 days. Our study confirms the value of GPS technology in uncovering the movements and life history of wide-ranging oceanic birds.
Silvereyes (Zosterops lateralis) in an urban population in Marlborough, New Zealand showed considerable diurnal changes in body mass. At first light, average mass was 12.39 g, rising to 13.91 g by dusk. This represented a 12% average loss of mass overnight. The overall average mass was 13.22 g; birds were 6% below average at 0700 h, but increased rapidly to be near the average for most of the day, rising significantly in the 2 hours before dusk (1700 h). This pattern of diurnal mass change is consistent with theoretical models suggesting that birds should manipulate daily mass gain in order to trade-off starvation risk with mass-dependent predation risk.
We document hybridisation between South I pied oystercatcher (Haematopus finschi) and variable oystercatcher (H. unicolor) in Canterbury from 1989 to 2005. From 2 observations of hybridisation between South I pied oystercatcher x variable oystercatcher when first discovered, the hybrid swarm has increased to around 17 pairs, including South I pied oystercatcher pairs, variable oystercatcher pairs, hybrid pairs, and mixed pairs. We present data on the birds and their offspring and speculate on possible causes and implications of hybridisation for conservation of the taxa.
Evidence from Cook’s voyages supports the late prehistoric human introduction of the red shining-parrot (Prosopeia tabuensis tabuensis) from Fiji into the Tongatapu group, Kingdom of Tonga. It appears that a wild population of red shining-parrots was established on ’Eua by the time of Cook’s visits to the Tongatapu group in the 1770s. Latham used specimens obtained at ’Eua in 1777 for the 1st published description of the species. However, the correct type locality of the taxon is Fiji. A red shining-parrot specimen used by Latham is in the Naturhistorisches Museum in Vienna. It is 1 of the few bird specimens that survive from Cook’s voyages.
Large albatrosses, subsequently identified as Antipodean wandering albatrosses (Diomedea antipodensis), began prospecting for nest sites inland from the south-western coast of Chatham Island about 1998. The 1st egg was laid about the end of Mar 2003. What is presumed to be the same female laid an egg nearby in Feb 2004 and 2005. Although the 2004 egg hatched, each of these 3 breeding attempts failed. A subadult male Antipodean wandering albatross was found in Waipaua Scenic Reserve on Pitt Island in May 2002, and what may have been the same bird was ashore at the same site in Jan 2004. An egg was found at this site in Apr 2004 and the resulting chick fledged in Jan 2005. What is presumed to have been a different pair was found with an egg on Mount Hakepa, Pitt I, in early Jan 2006; their egg hatched in Apr 2006, and the chick fledged about 7 Jan 2007. What is presumed to be the same pair also nested successfully at the Mount Hakepa site in 2008/2009, with the chick fledging on 6 Jan 2009. These 6 breeding attempts (3 successful) by perhaps 3 different pairs at widely spaced sites on the Chatham Islands are the 1st records of Antipodean wandering albatrosses breeding away from the Antipodes Is and Campbell I.