Out to the Mokes
/First expedition in New Zealand, out to the beautiful Mokohinau Islands.
Seabird landing
/It's official: my seabird sketching project has begun (this press release materialized mere hours after I touched down at Auckland International Airport).
I'm doing a Fulbright-Nat Geo Storytelling Fellowship in New Zealand. See more stories from the seabird capital of the world...
Zee and the Storm-Petrel
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Zee will be lying low in the coming months, while I head to New Zealand to sketch seabirds for a Fulbright-National Geographic Storytelling Fellowship. (See more Adventures of Zee.)
Here's one last sighting of Zee with the long-lost New Zealand Storm-Petrel. This little seabird, thought to be extinct for the entire 20th century, was recently found nesting on an island just 50 miles from New Zealand's biggest city.
The storm-petrel's tenuous recovery depends on ongoing conservation efforts, including constant vigilance to keep invasive cats and rats away from its breeding grounds.
Stay tuned to learn more about this storm-petrel and other seabirds of New Zealand, appropriately known as the "seabird capital of the world" (and as a global leader in saving these very important, very endangered animals!).
Endangered Not-a-Seagull
/This endangered black-billed gull debuted in my 2012 graduate thesis, titled “Don't Call It a Seagull," but is now a fitting ambassador for my next project on New Zealand seabird conservation.