Page 29 - 2008 NZ SUB ANTARCTIC ISLANDS - SMARTPHONE

The flower of this tree resembles a daisy very closely, hence its name. The world’s southernmost
tree fern also lives on this wonderful island. In places where the tree ferns gather, the island
almost looks tropical,

Then add another surprising indigenous creature and the tropical designation doesn’t seem so far
fetched: the red-crowned parakeet! What on earth is this bird doing in such an inhospitable and
decidedly “unwarm” environment? He is about the same size as our familiar cage bird and boasts
about the same color green feathers as ours. He has a crown of red feathers on his head which
makes him stand out even among the colorful megaherbs and tall grasses where he flits and darts
about. By the time we reached his part of Enderby, it was gray, misty and overcast and looked
pretty chilly to us. This little fellow was totally unfazed and continued his usual activities. He
and his fellows are so hardy that they are not considered endangered by DOC so no special
measures are needed for his survival.

Hooker sea lions also use Enderby for haul-outs and breeding beaches. They are protected on the
island, but there is a big problem with these marine animals and DOC has not completely
understood what is happening to them yet. However, all signs point to overfishing in the waters
around the islands where the sea lions feed. Because the mother does not get adequate nutrition
herself, her milk is not as rich as the pups need and they do not thrive. For the same reason, many
pups exhibit low birth weights and never recover from that poor start. Last year about 80-90% of
the pups on Enderby died. This year calving is late by two weeks and no one knows what that
portends. DOC continues its research and monitoring to try to solve this riddle. One postulated
theory for the starvations maybe a phenomenon impervious to any DOC actions: the perceived
southern migration of the Southern Convergence. This convergence is responsible for a huge
upwelling of nutrients from the sea bottom and it has sat in the territory of these Subantarctic
Islands. If the Convergence is moving south through natural occurrence, human beings are
probably not going to be able to change the direction.

Despite these dismal numbers for the sea lions, there are other success stories on Enderby besides
the albatross. The brown teal is making a comeback here and we were lucky enough to see a
couple of them on a peaty bog lake as we circumambulated the island. The cormorants are doing
well too as are the giant petrels on the island. We were lucky enough to see a large giant petrel
chick on its nest during our walk, a gray furball huddled away from the wind under the low
growing plant. So we did not leave this enchanted island unduly depressed. But we do trust that
there is hope for the wonderful sea lions.

Chapter 12. Snare's Island

This island is north of Enderby, so you can tell that we are sailing back closer and closer to the
New Zealand mainland islands. DOC has a big responsibility in this island group because it is the
only forested one of the subantarctic islands that has never been invaded by any alien species of
mammals, not even mice! Though DOC cannot claim that its efforts created this edenic
environment, it must work to keep the island pristine. Thus, visitors are no longer allowed to land
on this bit of granite. Only researchers and scientists can walk its territory. We visited it
anyway—by Zodiacs. Of course, we never got off them, but these useful craft could get us close
to the land where we could observe the antics of the comical Snare’s Island Crested Penguins.
There were many rocky and slick slides barren of plants that the penguins use to go from sea to
their nests up on the island. These slippery spots seemed impossible for the little awkward birds
to climb, but climb them they did and really quite niftily too.

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