I recently attended PSNZ's National Convention in Invercargill, Southland. A big thanks once again to the Ronald Woolf Memorial Trust for helping fund my trip!!! I had a fantastic time meeting fellow photographers from all over New Zealand and Australia, it was great to put faces to names, join in on some great tutorials, workshops, field trips and spend time listening to some inspiring speakers. It was really enjoyable being able to immerse myself in photography in such a wonderfully warm and friendly environment. The convention also gave me a good opportunity to explore the Southland area. I gave myself a few days either side of the convention to photograph the wildlife in and around the Catlins coast. The Catlins is an area of unspoilt beauty and home to numerous species of marine life due to the nutrient rich waters. I particularly wanted to concentrate on two rare marine species the yellow-eyed penguin (hoiho) and the New Zealand sea lion (hookers sea lion).
| Rough seas, Curio Bay, Southland |
I love photographing penguins and the yellow-eyed penguin or hoiho
were the first stop on my Southland adventure, I had a fantastic time
photographing the yellow-eyes and it was great being able to spend some
time with the rarest penguin in the world. I arrived in the small
coastal township of Moeraki mid-afternoon after the drive from
Christchurch and I was really looking forward to getting out of the car
and exercising my legs and shutter finger :) As with many penguins
species, their loud shrill-like calls alerted me to their presence
before getting a sighting, in fact their Māori name, hoiho means 'noise shouter'.
Moeraki has great access to the penguins, although the area is heavily
fenced off due to the many penguin nesting sites! Fortunately the
penguins don't stick within the fences and roam about freely allowing
for some great interaction and photographic opportunities. Although the
fencing can be a little frustrating for a photographer, the fence's
importance was reinforced when I witnessed three tourists literally
chase a highly stressed penguin around in hope of getting a snapshot
standing next to the poor bird!!! Not all people unfortunately put the
welfare of the penguins above a photograph.
Yellow-eyed penguins are unique to New Zealand and found scattered along the south-east of the South Island. I gave myself a few days after the convention to photograph the yellow-eyed penguins in the Catlins, although I found myself hunkered down for the majority of the time in a little old caravan sheltering from the gale force winds, antarctic wind blasts and downpours of hail, which made a deafening noise against the roof of the caravan - a real glimpse of Southland's dark side! The winds did whip up some impressive swells and I was able to get out in between hail storms and photograph the power of the ocean! It amazes me the swells that the yellow-eyed penguins go out in, and even though they can seem a little clumsy on land, they are the most powerful swimmers!
| Surat Bay, Southland |
Photographing large mammals such as sea lions
challenged me in terms of composition; how I fill the frame with my
relatively small avian subjects was quite different to how I positioned
an adult sea lion. I also
found that being at the whim of a 400kg bull sea lion's unpredictable
temperament definitely made me more aware of my surroundings. I
found the sea lions relatively placid even though I was mock charged a
couple of times, especially when testosterone was flying during a play
flight or spar. On one occasion I was laying in the sand photographing a
female on the Northern end of Surat Bay, there were no other sea lions
visible, and I happily spent some time behind the camera confident that
there were no other sea lions around. As I snapped away I was unaware
of a bull sea lion which was bounding toward me, it must have been
sleeping in the high dunes behind the beach... I was alerted by the
vibrations in the sand and I can honestly say I don't think I've ever
ran so fast - I definitely didn't let my guard down after that,
even though probably a playful gesture - I don't think I could handle a sea lion's rough play :) 
| What you looking at?, Cannibal Bay |
New Zealand sea lions or Hooker's sea lions (Phocarctos hookeri) are now listed as "nationally critical" and are the world's rarest sea lion.
This is the highest threat category in New Zealand and puts them in the
same category as the kakapo and Maui’s dolphin! Any species that has
undergone a greater than 70% population decline
over a period of less than three generations is considered “nationally
critical”. Hunting of the sea lions drove them from the NZ mainland
approximately 200 years ago, although in the last few years they have
slowly made a comeback and there are roughly 150 based on the New
Zealand mainland. In 1993 a wonderful thing happened in the small
village of Taieri Mouth on the Otago Coast! A solitary female came
ashore and gave birth to pup on a local farm, this is believed to be the
first pup born on the NZ mainland in over 200 years! Currently the
greatest impacts on sea lions are through fisheries by-catch and
disease, every year New Zealand sea lions drown due to incidental
entanglement in
a number of fisheries. Their limited breeding range makes them
vulnerable to disease and there have been three mass epidemics of
disease over the last 7 years. A Department of Conservation study says
that NZ sea lions could be extinct in the next 24 years if there are not
tighter restrictions on squid fishing.
Links : | http://www.sealiontrust.org.nz | yellow-eyedpenguin.org.nz | http://www.doc.govt.nz
