Publications Archive

From 10 to 16 August 1991, we surveyed the complex of sounds making up Breaksea and Dusky Sounds, the Acheron Passage and Wet Jacket Arm, Fiordland, for Fiordland Crested Penguins. Two islands in Doubtful Sound were also checked. Minimum total estimates were 24 nests and 62 penguins in Doubtful Sound and 47 nests and-106 penguins in the Breaksea/Dusky complex. Penguins known to be on Breaksea I. and adjacent islands were not surveyed. Relatively more penguins were found nesting in caves or under rock overhangs and fewer were found in dugouts under trees than were found in the more northern sounds in 1990. No penguins were found on the many islands in Dusky Sound formed from steep-sided granite domes. The results support our suggestion made in 1990 that there are fewer than 1000 nests for the species annually.

In 1988, 3603 kilometres of the coast of New Zealand were patrolled and 7545 dead seabirds were found as part of the Beach Patrol Scheme. Two new species were the Tahiti Petrel (Pseudobulweria rostrata) and the Masked Booby (Sula serrator dactylatra). Unusual finds were a Black-bellied Storm Petrel (Fregetta tropica) and a White Tern (Gygis alba). A summary is given of the coastal and monthly distributions for 10 species of Puffinus found between 1943 and 1988. Of these shearwaters, the Sooty Shearwater (P. griseus) was found most frequently overall, mainly in May and November-December. This review of beach-wrecked shearwaters indicates that the information derived from the Beach Patrol Scheme for common seabird species relates reasonably well to the movements of these species about New Zealand coasts.

The internal organs of four adult, one juvenile and one chick Takahe (Porphyrio [Notornis] mantelli hochstetteri) were dissected, weighed and measured to determine the digestive capacity based on anatomical measurement. Organ dimensions were compared with those of the Pukeko (P. porphyrio melanotus). Because the Takahe were 3 – 4 times larger than the Pukeko, organ weights were scaled by the weight of the femur and length measurements by the length of the femur to enable comparison between the species. The Takahe had significantly deeper beaks, shorter intestines and larger recta than the Pukeko. The pyloric caeca were longer but not significantly so. Although ecological comparisons based on gut morphology are fraught with difficulty, a tentative theory that Takahe may be better at digesting fibre than currently thought is presented.