NZ scenery

The trip to NZ has come to a close, and I am back in Scotland. To finish up, I wanted to share a few photos of the stunning scenery.  The second photo is of Lake Tekapo, where we visited a hot springs overlooking the lake (can't beat the view, plus the mountains in the background are the misty mountains from the hobbit :) ). 

A wonderful trip, highly recommend a visit!

NZ Fur Seals: Babies!

The fur seals were all over NZ.  There was a particularly large colony just north of Kaikora.  Just off the highway, there was a small lookout point that let you observe the wild animals, hidden from view so as not to bother them.  And we were there in time for the new babies! 

Albatross

New Zealand is home to several species of albatross. They are massive birds; there wingspan gets over 4m!  It's hard to tell when they are flying on there own, but when you see a tiny speck of a seagull flying next to them it is very impressive!  I also like that when they land they "walk on water", like in the photo above.

NZ-Kaikora dolphins

While in Kaikora we also went on a dolphin tour.  This tour allows people to swim with the wild dolphins, but I only went as an observer and stayed on the boat.  I wasn't sure how ethical it would be to expose wild dolphins to groups of human swimmers, but it seemed like it was ok (from the dolphins perspective). The people we thrown in off shore, and the dolphins were free to approach or leave as they pleased.  The humans were not very adept swimmers, and just kinda bobbed along in their wetsuits, so the ackward swimmers didn't seem at all bothersome to the graceful dolphins.  Though I do worry a bit about the swimmers around the much more adept dolphins....

We were with a pod of about 400 dusky dolphins.  They are very acrobatic, and do tons of leaps and spins and jumps.  They were very interested in the boat and the people; they came right up to explore.  And from the boat they would leap around feet away from you.  Way better than any sea world visit!

NZ-Kaikora

 

Kaikora is another small NZ town on the water.  The highlight of this city is the nearby group of male sperm whales that stay near by.  We spotted this guy, named "Tutu" by the local researchers tracking the whales, during our boat trip.

NZ-Akaroa

One of the places we visited in NZ was Akaroa, on the east coast near Christchurch. Absolutely stunning, it is a tiny town in a bay where the mountains meet the ocean.  We took a boat trip out, led by Murphy the dolphin detector dog. He did a brilliant job; we saw tons of hector's dolphins (which are highly endangered).  The dolphins had a great time bow riding with our boat.  We also saw albatross, blue penguins, and fur seals in a rookery, but photos of them will come later :)

Conference Venue

I think they did a great job choosing where to host the conference :)

Kea

I was luck enough to see a Kea while here. They are the only species of Alpine parrot in the world, and only found on the southern island of New Zealand.  They are hard to find now a days as they have been hunted out by farmers because the birds would attack sheep stock.  Gorgeous birds though; I didn't catch a picture, but underneath the green wing feathers they are a brilliant orange color.

New Zealand!

 

I made it to New Zealand safe and sound after a very long flight.  Things couldn't have gone smoother.  Started off the trip right today by going out with friends on a wildlife tour.  We saw all the big critters you hope to see in the area: yellow eyed penguins (photos up top, though that is a juvenile so he doesn't have the yellow eye band yet), blue penguins, fur seals (the guys up top), sea lions, and albatross (massive! their wingspan was 3 m!) 

 

 

Friendly visitor

  

 

This lovey little seal decided she wanted a cuddle today.  I was recording another pup (one of my weaned study animals) and she decided to keep me company.  She was very curious about all of my equipment, and my boots.   And when I needed to leave, I just asked nicely and she scooted off.  A very nice sunny morning encounter :)

What a fantastic way to be finishing up my time on the Isle

End of the season

My field work has come to a close. All of the pups I have been following are now weaned, and will be spending a few weeks of playing on the Isle before going out to sea.  That is it for all my data collection for my thesis; now it is just analyzing and writting up to finish!

Will probably be leaving the Isle to go back this weekend, so with my free time I am sure there will be lots of seal photos to add to this collection :)

Yet another weaner....

Nothing better than cuddles with mom...

If that is not happiness on that little pups face, I don't know what is.

Start to finish

At the beginning of the season, mom's are big and fat.  But they make hungry hungry pups, and by the time their pups are all grown up and ready to go out on their own mom's are very tiny.  These two lovely ladies show the start and finish points.  A very big difference!

The weaners are descending

It's that time of year again; the pups are growing up, turning into big fat weaners, and roaming around the island.  This little guy kept me company sleeping next to me half the day :)

More beautiful sunrises

The Colony

This is my office for the next few weeks :)

Sneaky

This little guy has developed a habit of sneaking into my equipment when I am not looking.  This is the fourth day in a row that he has seen me put down my stuff, and has run straight to it to check things out.  In exchange for his dedicated supervision, he has gracioulsy allowed me to get some wonderful photos :)

Good lookin'

Adult grey seal males are big and seem to be very intimidating, but actually are very easy going and easy to work around.  This guy couldn't care less that I was sitting with him, just continued to snooze and check out the lady seals.  Plus they smell great! Someone needs to market Eu de' Male Seal, they'd be rich.

Home away from home

While I always miss being at home with Marc and the kitties, there isn't a better temporary home than the beautiful Isle of May with spectacular sunrises.  We stay in the white house, which directly overlooks the water and seal colony on the south of the Isle.

Big Boy

The most successful seals are the ones who eat like pie champs...this little guy is only a week old, but he sure knows how to eat well!

Pretty Pups