Sniffing out seabirds

More photos from two days of seabird-sniffing with Rua the wonder dog...

I'm in New Zealand for a Fulbright-National Geographic Storytelling Fellowship.

Seabird dog in action

Here's Rua the wildlife detector dog, during our seabird search this weekend on the west coast of New Zealand's North Island. Video by Rua's trainer, Jo Sim of DabChickNZ.

I'm in New Zealand for a Fulbright-National Geographic Storytelling Fellowship.

Seabird searching selfie

Never know where you’ll end up when you’re following a bird-sniffing conservation dog. Rua the wonder dog (@dabchicknz) led us up this near-vertical grassy slope, and sure enough found a nest burrow.

A post shared by Abby McBride (@sketchbiologist) on Oct 7, 2017 at 6:53pm PDT

I'm in New Zealand for a Fulbright-National Geographic Storytelling Fellowship.

Conservation dog

Starting a day of nest-searching with Rua the seabird detector dog

A post shared by Abby McBride (@sketchbiologist) on Oct 7, 2017 at 3:02am PDT

I'm in New Zealand for a Fulbright-National Geographic Storytelling Fellowship.

Extreme seabirding

Seabird conservation is an extreme sport

A post shared by Abby McBride (@sketchbiologist) on Oct 3, 2017 at 6:23pm PDT

I'm in New Zealand for a Fulbright-National Geographic Storytelling Fellowship.