Ornithologists Had “Field Day” In Auckland Islands

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30037, 23 January 1963, Page 13

Ornithologists Had “Field Day” In Auckland Islands

The Auckland Islands expedition were omnivorous collectors in spite of the difficulties of weather and terrain, aiccoirdiing to Professor G. A. Knox, of the zoology department of foe University of Canterbury, who returned yesterday. “These difficulties were real,” he said.

“You are lucky if you get two fine days in a week. At other times there may be very heavy rain, high winds, or high humidity. All this, on top of the thick scrub on the lower slopes and the boggy tussock and moss of the uplands makes the going hard,” said Professor Knox. “In some places we would sink waist deep in bog on what appeared to be tussock high country.” Living conditions were fair, apart from the nuisance of blowflies. These natives were surprisingly numerous

for such latitudes. If a door or tent flap was left open for even a short time, everything was found to be fly-blown, notably woollen wearing apparel. The Second World War coast-watchers’ hurts used by the expedition were in fair order, except that the windows had gone and the weather had got in. Professor Knox said Dr. R. A. Falla hoped to send a working parity down next summer to reinstate the buildings, which had now been vested in foe Dominion Museum as a base for future scientific work. Northern Survey The expedition had made a pretty thorough survey of the northern half of the main Auckland Island and northern group of off-shore islands, Enderby (1700 acres), Ewing, Ocean, and Rose. Pigs (introduced about 1837) were numerous and were often seen on the sea-

shore feeding on kelp. Perhaps this diet was the reason they made such good eaiting, quite different from the New Zealand wild pig, said Professor Knox. Enderby Island had about 60 head of wild cattle from a herd at least 50 years odd. They were in prime condition. Enderby also had a large papulation of rabbits, but •they were mostly an attractive French strain with blue fur. Enderby had a third major source of interest as the main breeding site of the southern sea lion. “About 360 female seals with their pups and a similar number of males—married men in with the families and bachelors round the outside trying to make the grade—made one of the most extraordinary sights I have ever seen,” said Professor Knox. Enderby again was the only Auckland Islands nesting place of the royal albatross, and 10 nests were examined. This island also had abundant yellow-eyed penguins, Auckland Islands shags, petrels, terns, gulls, and other sea birds, while inland the red-fronited parakeet, tomtits, bellbirds, tuis, wax-eyes, chaffinches, and even starlings were seen. New Finds Professor Knox said the ornithologists, thus bad a “field day,” banded about 200 birds, and made a num-

ber of new records, notably a large white-chinned petrel previously seen only on Disappointed Island to the west. The Auckland Islands flightless duck was common on Ewing Island. The entomologists were exceedingly active and brought back Large collections of insects, including some prob-ably-new species. In Professor Knox’s own marine studies he made a full survey of shore areas which will complement his observations in other New Zealand waters and his comparative studies in Southern Chile. Exciting to Professor Knox was the discovery of a large black marine slug without a shell well aw y from the shore. Called arohiidae, it has been previously recorded in bull kelp. Professor Knox found it under stones well above high-tide mark, in littoral vegetation, and even at the top of 200 ft-high cliffs. Masses of its eggs were also collected. So fair as Professor Knox knows these are the first such finds in these situations. Within the limitation of the small boats available, the expedition also explored the surrounding seas and found some new fish and Crustacea for the first time round the Auckland Islands, notably a big spider crab 18 inches across, which was caught in hoards in set nets.