Thomas Mattern's blog on research into the foraging ecology of yellow-eyed penguins on New Zealand's Otago peninsula and Stewart Island.
Research on Adelie penguins on Ross and Beaufort islands, Antarctica.
In 2002, we attempted to learn where and on what the Snares crested penguin feeds and understand a little more of the breeding behaviour, particulaly in relation to it's brood reduction strategy. Bad weather forced a 10-day delay in getting to the Snares and then technical difficulties prevented the GPS and dive loggers working correctly.
Read about the ups and downs of the expedition here >>>
Blue penguin
foraging
In 2000, Thomas Mattern from the Institute of Marine Sciences in Kiel,
Germany, came to Otago University to investigate the foraging behaviour
of blue penguins at Motuara and Oamaru. Thomas used radio tracking at
determine where the penguins were foraging and time-depth recorders (TDRs)
to determine how long and deep they were diving. He also looked at the
breeding success at both sites to see how this was affected by the foraging
strategies. Find out more here >>>.
Does tourist viewing of blue penguins under artificial lighting have an adverse impact on breeding success or site fidelity? What impact has the penguin watching had on the economy of Oamaru?
Find out more here >>>
The Yellow-eyed Penguin Trust has tackled one of the key objectives in the Department of Conservation's Yellow-eyed penguin Species Recovery Plan and over three summers undertook a census of Stewart Island and some of it's adjacent islands, including the island sanctuary of Whenua Hou/Codfish Island.
Find out more here >>>
In October 2000, a small team of researchers travelled to the subantarctic Snares Islands to count the number of breeding pairs of the endemic Snares crested penguins, the first such survey for 13 years.
Find out more here >>>
In September 1998 Dr Lloyd Davis, Martin Renner and I travelled by yacht to the remote Antipodes Islands to study the erect-crested penguin. We spent two months on the island, during which time we observed the penguins courtship, egg-laying and incubation in an effort to understand the odd breeding behaviour of crested penguins.
Find out more here >>>
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