Transponder gate is back

The Tawaki Project transponder gate is back in business! After being down for almost a year due to hardware issues, we managed to get the gate back out this weekend, just in time to identify any of the tawaki that are about to finish their annual moult in Harrison Cove.

There are still a good number of birds in the colony, although literally heaps of feathers everywhere indicate that many birds have already finished the job and are out and about. Identifying the penguins with our wand readers is nigh on impossible because the birds are way back in their rock shelters.

But that’s what we got the transponder gate for. Any marked penguin that walks under it gets identified, and its walking direction determined (via light barriers). In the medium to long term, this data will help us to determine how many of bird return to breed each year and allow us to determine critical parameters to monitor the Harrison Cove’s tawaki population trajectory.