Page 17 - 2008 NZ SUB ANTARCTIC ISLANDS - SMARTPHONE

hospitable to the birds and made plans to relocate their breeding grounds. Because the birds
always return to the same place, the ornithologists decided it would be fairly simple to
accomplish this purpose. After the adult birds have finished their feeding of the chicks, they
abandon them in their nest burrows. It takes about a week or two for the chicks to realize mom
and dad are not coming back to feed them. They will then emerge from the burrows and begin
life on their own. The DOC researchers use this time frame between parental desertion and
fledging to visit the nest burrows at night and remove the chicks. Each is placed in a darkened
box and taken down on the low hillsides above where we were walking on the Peninsula. There
each individual is placed in an already prepared nest box. Next, when hunger forces a chick out
of the comfy nestbox in the dark of night, he or she will imprint on the star patterns and the skies
above his new home. The researchers believe that when it is time for these chicks to return as
adults in 5-6 years for breeding, they will come to this hillside since it will be “home” to them.
So far the program is working well, but it cannot be called a total success quite yet since none of
the relocated chicks has become old enough to breed. It will be another 2-3 years before the first
of the “changelings” returns to Kaikoura.

This is just another of the interesting and innovative projects that DOC has initiated for the
restoration, preservation, and conservation of New Zealand’s native species. No wonder the
conservation world comes to New Zealand!

Chapter 8. Christchurch

In lovely, hyperEnglish Christchurch, we were to experience two different kinds of wildlife
conservation. This beautiful coastal city calls itself “more English than England” and it certainly
does strive to earn that appellation. With its River Avon and the beautiful Anglican Cathedral in
the center of town, its English architectural styles, and its English manners and customs,
Christchurch is a wonderfully comfortable city to visit. Its other claim to importance is the
existence of its peculiar “cottage industry”: the staging arena for Antarctic Explorations from the
th
19 century right up to today. The Antarctic Museum contains many artifacts from the Scott and
other expeditions, including diaries and journals, clothing, foodstuffs in tins, sledges, lanterns,
and other necessary equipment.

International Antarctic Center

Today, there is another place to learn about Antarctica: the International Antarctic Center. It is a
shared facility among the New Zealanders, the US, and the Italians. Among other things, the
Center has a wonderful experience to share with visitors—a sojourn in the Antarctic Storm
Room. Upon entering this large space and after having donned your loaned thick overcoat, you
see that you are walking on real snow and that it feels pretty chilly. However, the announcer soon
tells you to prepare for a simulated Ross Sea Base blizzard where the wind will howl deafeningly
and the temperature will drop precipitately. Sure enough, it doesn’t take long before you cannot
hear anyone standing right next to you at your ear and you can watch the Mercury drop in the
large thermometer over the escape door. Wind speed is also calculated for you so that you know
that though the temperature drops on to 15 below, with wind chill, the actual feeling of cold
approaches 35 below. Just as you are beginning to wonder if they have forgotten that folks are in
this area, the wind begins to slow, the sound lowers, and the temperature rises back to a merely
chilly 32 degrees. It feels really good to leave that experience behind but you gain greater respect
for the men and women who have braved Antarctic explorations and who work on the continent
today. In a rather ghoulish aside, the announcer told us that if we ventured outside at the Russian

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