By Bob Zuur
WWF-New Zealand Marine Advocate
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Bob Zuur is a marine biologist who is spending a month
exploring Antarctica and the sub-Antarctic Islands
to raise awareness of the area and its importance. His current work with WWF
focuses on fisheries, offshore oil exploration and seabed mining, and on
increasing protected areas in our marine environment. He will be
documenting his travels here on
3news.co.nz.
Our
Far South Bob Zuur RSS Feed
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You'd think it was Australia Day as we arrived at Macquarie Island just after midnight, this being Aussie territory. Ribbons of green light from a magnificent aurora lit up the starry sky. Auroras depend on solar flares from the sun and our ability to see it required clear skies, which are rare events at Macquarie (it rains five days out of every six). Luck was clearly with us.
The day dawned drizzly and grey. We sailed down to Sandy Bay, where we boarded the Zodiacs. Dozens, maybe one hundred king penguins swam all around, peering at us through dark faces above golden necks. Rodney had warned us there would be a "wet landing", but most of us were quite wet before we got to the shore due to spray whipped up by the brisk wind.
As we landed, the drizzle departed and more king penguins waddled over to inspect us. We were told to keep a distance from the wildlife, but no one had advised the penguins of this rule. I sat down and two sauntered across to check out their strange visitor. With outstretched necks, they examined me closely, then shrugged their shoulders and continued their stroll down the beach.
Royal penguins, dapper in black and white suits adorned with an orange feather toupee, were more reserved towards humans. Their colony in the dunes above the beach was a cacophony of sound as they brayed and argued. The wind had abated and the colony had the smell of ten thousand wet chooks - many chicks were losing their fluff and adults were moulting so feathers carpeted the colony like a dirty, wet snow. Skua gulls patrolled the colony, harassing chicks into a fatal mistake of moving out of the crowd. One skua tore apart a chick, in spite of the half-hearted threats from a couple of adults. I wondered if they were the parents?
Back on the beach, elephant seals made their way out of the water, the males picking play fights with their mates. With farts and burps to make any schoolboy proud, they reared up and jostled for position. Yet after each bout they lay down, cheek by jowl, the epitome of peace. This sparring was practice for more serious battles to occur next spring.
The Spirit sailed south to Lusitania Bay and its hundreds of thousands of king penguins. Rising above this multitude, ancient boilers were rusting away. Boilers that in the early 19th century had consumed thousands of penguins per day for the half litre of oil that each bird rendered. Ironically, the boilers will soon disappear, leaving the colony to thrive.