southern elephant seals when they learn about climate change

the birds are enjoying this fruiting tōtara in the garden #birds 🪶

feeling deeply today for all the gorgeous goofy greyhounds ❤️

and missing my boy terribly 😭

i've been writing for @nzgeo.bsky.social for about 6 years now.

imo it's a keystone species in the aotearoa media ecosystem. a home for uniquely nz longform tales, science yarns, stunning photojournalism.

if you value this, please consider subscribing: www.nzgeo.com/stories/we-n...

dinosaurs 🪶

tūī / kākā / tuatara at 📍zealandia

kia ora bluesky, i'm a writer & science communicator from Aotearoa.

📝 i write stories for @nzgeo.bsky.social
🎧 i help produce the Our Changing World podcast on RNZ
🦜 i have co-led Bird of the Year since 2022

lovely to be here 👋

here are some bird pics

Lovely episode from @veronikameduna.bsky.social this week, reporting from the first Tairāwhiti Ngutukākā Festival 🌹

Ngutukākā is common in gardens but rarer than kākāpō in the wild. Community rewilding efforts are turning SH35 into a Crimson Highway

www.rnz.co.nz/news/ourchan...

#kikorangi #nz

just some punk penguin album covers 🤘🐧

(I had occasion to revisit my tawaki piki toka / eastern rockhopper pics when we covered them on Critter of the Week recently, excellent #birds) 🪶

Male redback on the left in the small vial – he's about the size of a pinhead – and female redback in the larger jar on the right!

Inside the Pūngāwerewere Workroom at Plant & Food Research...

A team of scientists is designing a targeted trap that lures in males with 🕸️spiderweb silk perfume🕸️

Listen to hear about caring for 800 captive spiders & testing pheromone concoctions in the spider arena www.rnz.co.nz/podcast/ourc...

this kererū and its mate are collecting twigs to construct a nest in the tall tree outside my front door 🥰 they keep making soft little coos to each other 🥺 #birds

ah yes the garden gherkins

📷: Joel Knight CC BY-NC 4.0 inaturalist.nz/observations... / Steven Wallace CC BY-NC 4.0 inaturalist.nz/observations...

We've had to delay the Bird of the Century winner announcement to Wednesday so we can deal with the literally hundreds of thousands of votes that flooded in this week.

We have implemented a new email system and will soon be sending out verification emails to those who missed out earlier this week.

So impressed with the pūteketeke pandemonium. It has been A Week for team bird of the century but it is all worth it for the BIRDS #BIRDS

youtu.be/uVE1hBzHn3s?...

The grief bird:

The bittern’s eerie, booming call sounds like a lament, a tangi ringing across the marshes.

Now more than ever, the bittern’s story is one of sorrow. This wetland bird that once flocked in groups 100 strong is nearing extinction.

www.nzgeo.com/stories/the-...

📷: Craig McKenzie

sry Aotearoa there's one more important election you need to vote in - polls open at 9am on Monday at www.birdoftheyear.org.nz ✅

Once upon a time, raucous, stinking colonies of seabirds blanketed huge areas of NZ's mainland, each burrow & poo & eggshell helping fuel the forests. Those birds are gone now—but a new modelling tool gives a fascinating glimpse of what once was.

www.nzgeo.com/stories/wher...

👋👋 oh how I have missed you and gorgeous Belle! Delighted to find you're here (and hello from Clay too)