Ornithological discovery, exploration, and research on the Auckland Islands, New Zealand subantarctic / by C.M. Miskelly and Rowley H. Taylor

Sums up the history of ornithological exploration of the Auckland Islands, located in the subantarctic region of New Zealand. Notes that the islands have the largest number of endemic bird taxa but has not yet been the subject of a comprehensive avifaunal review. Explains that their summary draws from a database of 23,028 bird records made between 1807 and 2019, most of which are unpublished, and largely based on Heritage Expedition wildlife logs and records collected by ‘Cape Expedition’ coastwatchers during the Second World War. Overviews initial European discovery and exploration from 1807 to 1830 and expeditions by the USA, France and Great Britain in 1840. Briefly comments on the Maungahuka and Hardwicke settlements in Port Ross from 1842-1856. Summarises some of the accounts and observations made by crew who were shipwrecked on the islands between 1864 and 1907. Reveals that three attempts were made at pastoral farming on the islands between 1874 and 1910, and describes these, along with the five-month stay of a group of Germans associated with their Transit of Venus Expedition in 1874-1875. Overviews the establishment of provision depots by the Southland Provisional and New Zealand Governments, and their search for castaways of shipwrecks between 1888 and 1929. Informs of the rapidly growing role of citizen science in recent information. Briefly covers the Antarctic expeditions of 1894 and 1903; the expedition of the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury in 1907; the significance of the Second World War coastwatchers between 1941-1947; New Zealand museum and government expeditions between 1954-1978; research into New Zealand sea lions between 1975 and 2018, which also observed other wildlife; visits to Port Ross by experienced ornithologists from 1980-1998; searches for the Auckland Island rail in 1989 and 1993; research into the Gibson’s wandering albatross between 1991-2018; ecotourism visits between 1992-2018; research of four seabirds between 2006-2018; yellow-eyed penguin research from 2006-2018; surveys of Southern right whales in 2000 and 2012, and petrel and snipe surveys on small islands between 2013-2018. Synthesises 212 years of ornithological research in the Auckland Islands.

Includes graphs, illustrations, maps, portraits, references, tables

Special issue 'Lost gold : ornithology of the subantarctic Auckland Islands'

Related article 'Birds of the Auckland Islands, New Zealand subantarctic'; Notornis, Mar 2020; v.67 n.1:p.59-151

Audience: Research