Three years ago, I spent the weekend seabird surveying Motuihe island looking for penguins. Last weekend, I did the exact same thing, with the exact same crew. It was wonderful. The island is being steadily replanted and the forest is growing. The birds are thriving, and because we’re in the throes of spring, they were singing in full voice. Our days were a chorus of tūī and tīeke, our nights punctuated by whistling kiwi pukupuku.
We had a successful two days searching for penguin burrows, and surveying at night for pakahā at points around the island. Last year the first chick fledged from the artificial colony site – so hopefully there will be more soon!
I enjoyed having a bit of time to wander and photograph, just like I did last time. The weather was far better than our last trip! The birds weren’t very cooperative for photographs, so I got a bit distracted by all the flowering trees – particularly the karo! It’s so nice to be surrounded by the colours and scents of spring.
We had stunning clear nights with a heavy golden moon rising into the sky. Motuihe is still very close to Auckland city, and the constant noise of boat traffic, planes and helicopters is a reminder of that. At night, the sky is faded and fainter stars struggle through the amber light-pollution from the city.
It’s nice to return to a place like Motuihe and see how it’s slowly changing, revegetating through the efforts of tireless volunteers. It’s an island recovering from human use into a bird sanctuary. It’s an earlier stage of where Tiritiri Matangi is at today – that singing island was once grazed pasture too.
Maybe it was the weather, or just the sheer enjoyment of being outside, but I took a lot more photographs on this trip than I have for a while! I’m normally so bogged down with work that my field photography has suffered in the last year. Now I’m trying to counter that by being intentional about making images while I’m out on islands. This was a nice chance to practice before my own field season really gets underway.
It’s always nice to be back out with the birds. Hopefully it doesn’t take me another three years to get to Motuihe again!
