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The Tawaki Project @tawaki-project.org · 24/09/2026

We timed it perfectly: the one day it wasn't raining in Fiordland, we visited the Shelter Islands in Patea / Doubtful Sound to check almost 90 marked tawaki nests. Most nests were occupied by breeding birds. Overall it was pretty lively on the islands, with quite a few birds outside their burrows.

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The Tawaki Project @tawaki-project.org · 10/07/2025

A Tawaki Project double-whammy! 🎉 After Myrene’s paper came out last week, we’ve now got a follow-up study highlighting just how adaptable tawaki are finding food at sea - a huge advantage in our rapidly changing world. As always, Open Access and free to read: peerj.com/articles/196...

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The Tawaki Project @tawaki-project.org · 08/07/2025

After three years of hard work, @myrene_ventures has published her first scientific paper! 🎉 It suggests Tawaki might handle our changing world better than many other penguins. It’s Open Access - go have a read! doi.org/10.7717/peer...

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The Tawaki Project @tawaki-project.org · 03/04/2025

The big Bounty-Antipodes Expedition 2024 report is finally out! It's jam packed with the info about the work we've been doing on the sub-antarctic Bounty and Antipodes Island including penguins (obviously), albatross, elephant seals - and more archaeological discoveries! -> bit.ly/bounty-antip...

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The Tawaki Project @tawaki-project.org · 04/03/2025

Tawaki are notoriously hard to find, making it nearly impossible to know their exact population size. This also means we can't easily tell whether their numbers are stable, growing, or declining.

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The Tawaki Project @tawaki-project.org · 03/03/2025

The 2025 tawaki moult period is coming to an end. In Patra/Doubtful Sound most penguins have finished their 'scruffy' phase and are sporting a new coat of feathers. In the next week or two they will all leave on their big autumn-winter journey to the subantarctic region.

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The Tawaki Project @tawaki-project.org · 14/02/2025

We're having a déjà vu! Different species (Erect-crested penguin), much closer to home (NZ mainland), but same story as yesterday. 🤪 www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin...

odt.co.nz

Call to keep distance from rare penguin

A rare penguin has made its way to St Clair Beach as part of its marathon moulting journey. An Otago Daily Times reader spotted the erect-crested...

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The Tawaki Project @tawaki-project.org · 11/02/2025

CNN Chile: A Snares penguin has appeared in Punta Arenas. Described as a 'historic sighting', it might not be as unusual as it seems. We do know of Snares penguins on the Falkland Islands. In recent years, other tawaki species were spotted in Argentina. Still cool!! www.cnnchile.com/pais/pinguin...

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The Tawaki Project @tawaki-project.org · 09/02/2025

Tawaki are showing up along the southeast coast of the South Island for their annual moult. They should be pretty difficult to spot - unless they come out of their hideyholes for a quick drink. In that case, it's important to give them room and leave them in peace.

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The Tawaki Project @tawaki-project.org · 04/02/2025

Not bad... the news page of Science reports on the camera loggers we developed to be able to see what tawaki do underwater... www.science.org/content/arti...

science.org

ScienceAdviser: Lights, camera… penguin?

Today in Science and science: Seismological ghostbusting, borrowing a page from cancer’s playbook, and more

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Reposted by The Tawaki Project

Jeff White @jeffwwhite.bsky.social · 21/12/2024

Just a week ago we were packing and prepping for pick up from Antipodes Island. 2.5 months of exhausting field work flew by with this amazing team. Couldn’t ask for better people to study penguins with. Thanks for another great season @tawaki-project.org

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The Tawaki Project @tawaki-project.org · 13/12/2024

Last day of streaming from the Antipodes Islands. We're going home tomorrow. tawaki.cam/antipodes

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The Tawaki Project @tawaki-project.org · 08/12/2024

Some of the penguin colonies on the Antipodes Islands are pretty inaccessible. This is particularly true for most of the sea cave colonies. To get an idea about the number of penguins we use small #fpvdrones to take a closer look. It becomes a virtual visit without the disturbance of a human.

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The Tawaki Project @tawaki-project.org · 24/11/2024

Coming home to the Anchorage Bay colonies can be challenging for Erect-crested penguins even on relatively calm days. Slithering through kelp to get to the rocks beyond while the surge is trying to pull you back out is an art form in itself.

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The Tawaki Project @tawaki-project.org · 23/11/2024

The choir. We're not quite sure what this trumpeting is for - other than perhaps making one's presence known. The urge to trumpet bounces between birds so that it is hardly ever quiet in an Erect-crested penguin colony.

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The Tawaki Project @tawaki-project.org · 22/11/2024

Antipodean albatross youngster practicing its moves. It's another few months before the first take-off.

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The Tawaki Project @tawaki-project.org · 21/11/2024

Easterly storm at the Reef Point Erect-crested penguin colony, Antipodes Island.

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The Tawaki Project @tawaki-project.org · 18/11/2024

I guess that's why they call it Stack Bay?

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The Tawaki Project @tawaki-project.org · 19/09/2024

Mapping new tawaki nests on Many Islands in Dusky Sound. Year after year we find penguins in new spots, often because people spotted a bird scrambling ashore somewhere. Slowly we are filling in the gaps on the map of tawaki breeding sites. At this rate we need several life times to find them all.

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The Tawaki Project @tawaki-project.org · 13/09/2024

Somewhere along Acheron Passage...

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The Tawaki Project @tawaki-project.org · 11/09/2024

The film star is back. The male tawaki from nest SE70c is guarding a new chick. He was featured in the tawaki segment of season two of 'Our Planet' on Nerflix.

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The Tawaki Project @tawaki-project.org · 10/09/2024

A rock solid tawaki nest in Thompson Sound, Fiordland

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The Tawaki Project @tawaki-project.org · 09/09/2024

A pretty wet start to the field season proper. After loading our gear and food onto the Tutoko (and after a couple of rigs were installed for a film crew that will join us in a few days) we were off. When we got to Seymour Island the rain stopped just long enough to do nest checks on the island.

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The Tawaki Project @tawaki-project.org · 06/09/2024

This is a tragedy! The base for our tawaki work in Piopiotahi / Milford Sound has taken a major hit. Luckily this happened when no one was at the observatory. But, boy, that is heartbreaking... www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...

rnz.co.nz

Southern Discoveries underwater observatory partially sinks in Milford Sound

The tourist attraction in Harrison Cove was damaged in a storm at the weekend.

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The Tawaki Project @tawaki-project.org · 19/05/2024

After successful beta test of our Zooniverse project 'Penguins From Above' we are scrambling to get all our drone data ready for the power of AI - Actual Intelligence! The power of the crowd helps us count penguins! -> www.tawaki-project.org/2024/05/19/p...

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The Tawaki Project @tawaki-project.org · 10/05/2024

Meet Peter, one of the Erect-crested penguins that volunteered in our pre-moult satellite tracking study this January. The penguin left its fledgling chick and went on a 1,000 km journey. Peter returned on 29 February, just in time for the albatross team to take off the device!

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The Tawaki Project @tawaki-project.org · 06/05/2024

Our work in the subantarctic region relies on the use of drones. We are incredibly lucky to partner with Drone Deploy who have the best flight app on the market, process our data in the cloud and now have implemented AI counting of penguins! Awesome!! www.dronedeploy.com/blog/countin...

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The Tawaki Project @tawaki-project.org · 05/04/2024

Utterly hypnotic. The Erect-crested penguin colony at Orde Lees on the Antipodes Islands from above.

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The Tawaki Project @tawaki-project.org · 27/03/2024

If you want to learn more about our work on the subantarctic islands so far, here is a fantastic podcast by RNZ and New Zealand Geographic! www.rnz.co.nz/programmes/v...

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The Tawaki Project @tawaki-project.org · 26/03/2024

While we are analyzing data, our good friend Jeanette Goode is putting finishing touches on her latest children's book titled "Penguins Don’t Send Postcards". And best of all, it's about tawaki. Help her get it published! www.boosted.org.nz/projects/pen...

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The Tawaki Project @tawaki-project.org · 19/02/2024

A one-year old female Erect-crested penguin just chillin' away from the buzz of the more crowded part of the Orde Lees colony.

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The Tawaki Project @tawaki-project.org · 18/02/2024

Two islands, different story. The apparent difference in timing of breeding in Erect-crested penguins from the Bounty (Pics 1&2) and Antipodes Islands (Pics 3&4), is likely another puzzle piece that we need to understand, why penguins are doing better on the Bounties.

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The Tawaki Project @tawaki-project.org · 13/02/2024

With all these recent subantarctic adventures, here's a link to this year's Seaweek campaign to remember the real tawaki in the house! seaweek.org.nz/creature-con...

seaweek.org.nz

Fiordland Crested Penguin

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The Tawaki Project @tawaki-project.org · 12/02/2024

One thing we did not quite expect was the speed at which Eastern Rockhopper penguin chicks developed. Even though "Rocky chicks" hatched 3-4 weeks after the Erect-crested penguins, the chicks moult into their juvenile plumage at the same time as the Erect-crested penguins.

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The Tawaki Project @tawaki-project.org · 11/02/2024

Erect-crested penguins are an inherently aggressive species. Probably understandable given the limited space available for breeding. So bloody territorial disputes are quite common. Even moulting juveniles on the Bounty Islands have minor squabbles that generally amount to nothing.

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The Tawaki Project @tawaki-project.org · 09/02/2024

While many of the older Erect-crested penguins on the Bounty Islands are still looking after chicks (the Bounty penguins are 3-4 weeks behind their Antipodes cousins), non-breeding birds have started their annual moult. Rather than dropping feathers 1-by-1, plaques of old feathers sometimes drop.

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The Tawaki Project @tawaki-project.org · 08/02/2024

The Evohe at the Bounties. With storm delays causing a late departure from the Antipodes, we had one shot at getting on to deploy satellite tags, fly drone missions, maintain time lapse cameras, and perform disease screening. We couldn't have picked a better day than 31-Jan-2024!

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The Tawaki Project @tawaki-project.org · 05/02/2024

Fledging is imminent on Antipodes Island. The Erect-crested penguin chicks by now have all moulted into their blue juvenile plumage and are ready to go. The first of the parent birds have left the island in their pre-moult trips and are heading south towards the polar front.

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The Tawaki Project @tawaki-project.org · 02/02/2024

Perfectly timed photobomb by a Salvin's albatross during our 8-hour stop-over on the Bounty Islands. We got a lot of work done from deployments of satellite transmitters on Erect-crested penguins and drone surveys of the archipelago's main group, to disease screening in albatrosses and penguins.

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The Tawaki Project @tawaki-project.org · 25/01/2024

If images could smell... A Stack Bay Erect-crested penguin colony on Antipodes Island.

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The Tawaki Project @tawaki-project.org · 25/01/2024

Do penguins ever sweat? Well, no. But when they get hot they have their way of coping with the heat. On a sweltering day (like it was in Stack Bay today) the birds stand there flippers outstretched, feet red to pass some of the heat off via their circulation, and panting.

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The Tawaki Project @tawaki-project.org · 24/01/2024

Female Erect-crested penguins are having an increasingly hard time. Her partner is also out at sea finding food for their chick. This makes her very attractive to any unpaired males that are trying to stake their claim for the next breeding season. Feeding a chick while fending of suitors is no fun.

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The Tawaki Project @tawaki-project.org · 23/01/2024

The Erect-crested penguin chicks are on their way to become proper penguins. Wind gusts blow off down revealing the blue juvenile plumage that is growing underneath. Some chicks have completed their moult and are ready to go. Others not so much. Most look as if part of an avant-garde fashion show.

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The Tawaki Project @tawaki-project.org · 19/01/2024

The first moulters have started to shed their feathers. These are mainly juvenile birds and non-breeders but they already give us an idea what a feathery chaos the penguin colonies will become when the main portion of the population gets to that stage.

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The Tawaki Project @tawaki-project.org · 18/01/2024

We found her again! After we observed "Goldie" last year, the only isabelline Erect-crested penguin we know of, we stumbled upon her on the Antipodes south-west coast. The aberrant colouring results from a mutation which bleaches the feathers to a golden-brown colour. It is most common in females.

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