Otago Daily Times illustrations editor Stephen Jaquiery joined a recent conservation mission to subantarctic islands with the Royal New Zealand Navy and multiple agencies. Located 700km south of Bluff, these pristine and remote islands proved to be a haven for this keen bird photographer.
Wiped out by rats, the Campbell Island teal came very close to extinction, with a tiny remnant population discovered on nearby Dent Island.
The captive-breeding programme took many years to produce any young, and in the end only one of the three wild females brought into captivity produced offspring.
The entire captive-bred population is descended from this one female, Daisy. After rats were eradicated from Campbell Island in 2001, 150 captive-bred and Codfish Island-bred teal were released on to Campbell Island in 2004-06.
Nocturnal and flightless, this small dabbling duck is most often encountered picking among rocks and seaweed at the water’s edge.
The flightless Auckland teal on Enderby Island are smaller and rarer than the brown teal of the main islands of New Zealand but larger than their rarer cousins 270km southeast on Campbell Island.
Campbell Island shags groom each other in Camp Cove, perseverance Harbour. These shags are only found on the sub-antarctic Campbell Island, staying within 10km of the island while foraging in shallow waters for food.
Standing on the Col Lyall boardwalk on Campbell Island, a pipit prepares to dine on a weevil. The pipit has benefited enormously from the 2001 rat removal on the island. During the manned weather station period of 1941-95 the watchers only reported one sighting of a pipit. Today however pipit are prolific over the entire island.
A southern royal albatross chick braves the weather from the protective cover of its parent on Campbell Island. Breeding occurs every two years. A single egg is laid in November-December, chicks hatch in February and fledge in October. Both adults share incubation and rearing.
A southern royal albatross and chick on Campbell Island with a view down to Tucker Cove where a farmer’s homestead once stood. More than 99% of the southern royal albatross population breeds on Campbell Island, however their population was severely depleted during the sheep farming era (1890-1931) by burning of vegetation, grazing, degradation of nesting habitat, but recovered once the islands were protected in the 1950s-’60s.
Albatross put on a display as HMNZS
Canterbury sits at anchor off Enderby Island.
