| Revisiting New Zealand (3) - Enderby Island |
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Enderby Island
We landed at Sandy Beach that was alive with more New Zealand Sea Lions, Hooker’s, than I
I saw a large number of Yellow-eyed Penguins sauntering about and I have to assume they were coming from their nests and going to the sea for fishing or returning. They obviously knew something about negotiating the cliffs that I did not see or have the time on this long hike to follow some of them and discover these paths. On my last visit I was sure there were probably fewer than 100 Yellow-eyed Penguins on the Island but this hike seemed to confirm the presence of a much larger breeding population. I must have encountered 50 or more, never in groups larger than four and usually only two or singles. In among these sighting there were numerous Red-crowned Parakeets, New Zealand Pipits, Tomtits, Auckland
I saw several Yellow-eyed Penguin nests in inaccessible locations, however, one provided a good opportunity to observe it located halfway up a ridge and buried in among the bushes and trees. Yellow-eyed Penguins are isolated nesters. No colonies for these Penguins. They exist away from each other. They are not noisy or social in anyway I could discern. In fact they are shy which I find appealing. Further work will be required in the future on all the Sub Antarctic Penguins, an interesting group of individual behaviors. However, this is very hard because the New Zealand Department of Conservation seems extremely, and understandably, protective and as an outsider I am not certain I can eventually get the kind of access that is necessary to do my work.
Six hours after starting the perimeter hike we were back in sight of Sandy Beach. As we approached from the east side of the island I was able to take some very good images of one large and one small harem of blond female New Zealand Sea Lions, surrounded by a big number of dark, large males. The pictures speak volumes for this moment. There were no other groups on Sandy Beach. The beach concentration made it possible to get some individual portraits that I think are just beautiful and wonderful. These Sea Lions are expressive and obviously intelligent. I felt very privileged to observe the beach group for a short time and have them curious and not especially aggressive toward my being there. However, I must suggest to others that you cannot go with my take of the situation as to how you should proceed. I am a calm and open person and I approach my wildlife work with those qualities in mind. In breeding season none of the males can really be trusted, but with telephoto lenses this day I got some expressive images.
As I moved toward the zodiac I realized how bone tired, thirsty and hungry I had become on this 6 plus hour physical trek. Crossing the last two streams, the up and down gully scrambling, nearly killed me. There must have been fifteen such scrambles and each one of them was a test as I was carrying my equipment with me. If anyone reads this and goes on the trip, ask the group leader what he thinks and recommends—the complete walk is not a walk in the park.
Links: http://www.subantarcticislands.com/enderby_island.html http://www.rarebreeds.co.nz/endcattlepro.html http://www.rarebreeds.co.nz/enderbyrabbit.html http://www.subantarcticislands.com/index.shtml http://www.nzbirds.com/birds/index.html
Revisiting New Zealand: Previous Blog : Blog 2 < > Next Blog : Blog 4 |
Six am and the ship was headed for Enderby Island. The last time I had been to Enderby Island it was overcast with periodic drizzle turning to snow and sleet, so windy I was knocked down along with others, cold in the morning and throughout the day…I was only able to get a third of the way around the island. I am sure that I comment on the conditions throughout the Southern Ocean all the time but I also emphasize that the weather should be of concern only for safety reasons. I think these places are mostly dominated by what we would call “bad weather” but for these places it is the weather of the flora and fauna. I have also developed Southern Oceanic “good weather” preferences, for example, I would rather have snow than horizontal rain…overcast and cold is better than fog…too warm and one sinks into seemingly safe places to step. Sunshine, no clouds and light breezes is something one would expect to find all the time in paradise but Southern Ocean paradise is rare and to be relished…such paradisiacal weather has produced most of my best photo images. 
had seen before. Enderby Island is the main breeding location out of four for the New Zealand Sea Lion, rarest of sea lions. I was determined to take advantage of the incredible day and undertake the long perimeter hike of the island. We walked to the head of the boardwalk trail that begins above Sandy Beach and goes through the rata forest where I had my first encounter with Yellow-eyed Penguins two years before. Coming out of the rata forest there were a couple of nesting Southern Royal Albatrosses and even a few Yellow-eyed Penguins out in the open just walking along. Further along at the end of the wooden boardwalk we were near the northern cliffs of Enderby Island. There was a profusion of mega-herbs and other endemic plant life in bloom. I could walk up to the edge of the cliffs without fear of being blown upwards and backwards. I was able to look down on nesting colonies of the local Auckland Shags. 
The ocean was an uncharacteristic blue. The yellow, gold, purple and off-white flowering plants growing out of the various hues of green ground cover was amazingly vivid in the sunshine. The perimeter hike continues on for miles and five hours beyond the end of the wooden boardwalk. Hiking over the soggy ground cover was tiring and challenging because without warning one might sink into the swampy peat and extricating one’s foot without leaving the boot behind took intense effort…and this was on the trail laid out and followed by the guide. Crossing streams and rivulets was also complicated for me. Often the running water had cut a slice through the top peaty soil to a depth of six feet. There is no easy or clean way to descend and then climb out of these gullies…the edges crumbed easily. It was like running a steeplechase. 
If one looks at the cliffs one sees that Enderby Island is fundamentally a table top of lava type-rock sticking out of the sea by 40 to 60 feet. The formation is part of an uplift ridge called the Campbell Plateau. This segment of the crust was uplifted 600,000 years ago and extends some 750 miles and to part of Macquarie Island. Only one other place in the world has deep crustal rocks exposed and accessible to geologists for study. It is the prime reason the islands were designated a World Heritage Site in 1977. Some ten thousand years ago, as the last ice age withdrew the vegetation built peat-type tundra over the top of Enderby in some cases 10-25 feet thick. This “tundra” is soggy and ultimately easily eroded by water running off the top of the island. The fragility of this ground cover is probably one of the reasons the New Zealand Department of Conservation does not generally allow more than 600 people per year to legally land and hike Enderby Island. Too many heavy footed passengers sinking into the swampy ground, without any bad intentions in their hearts, would become rivers of boot-traffic and eventually cut deep pathways through the ground cover. Of course the rarity of the wild life inhabitants is another of the major reasons for limiting traffic.
The plants, the birds and New Zealand Sea Lions on this hike were abundant and every present. Individual New Zealand Sea Lion bachelor males were all the way around the perimeter. I saw about fifty of these generally younger males and a few large oldsters. I saw no harems or groupings on my hike. I did see two very attractive single blond females. I know that seals are great climbers, but the northern and eastern cliffs around Enderby are for the most part vertical except over on the Sandy Beach stretch. There may be other ways for the seals to reach the meadows but I did not see them.
Double-banded Plovers and the Brown Flightless Duck and Auckland Island Teal. Ever present Brown Skuas were also in abundance. There were many Red-crowned Parakeets feeding on the seeds of the green ground cover or drinking from little fresh water puddles. I was able to get good images of Southern Royal Albatrosses and Giant Petrels. The Auckland Island Shags were busy with their cliff-ledged housing projects and fishing. Shearwaters and Gulls sailed the cliff faces taking advantage of any updraft they could find. I was looking for and listening for the Bellbirds but they eluded me here as they had on Ulva Island.
I recommend everyone should get exposure to everything available on any given adventure cruise in the Sub Antarctic Islands. Keep in mind that less people visit these places each year than go to a first run film in most venues. Take every opportunity, under whatever conditions, to gather these experiences—but even as intrepid as I think I am sometimes it may be pushing the envelope of reasonable physical behavior. 
