Sorrows and Joys of working on Albatross- Dr Graeme Elliott

Come and celebrate Conservation week 2024 with DoC principal science advisor Dr Graeme Elliott as he takes us through “The Sorrows and Joys of working on Albatrosses” followed by a Q&A session.
Graeme will talk about the sorrows and joys that he and his partner Kath Walker have suffered and enjoyed during the last 33 years, as they’ve spent 1-3 months each summer on either Antipodes Island or Adams Island in the Auckland Islands, in the Southern Ocean, monitoring the plight of the majestic wandering albatrosses. This is a wonderful and entertaining glimpse into some of the wildlife flora and fauna in the southern oceans, an area of the world you may not have encountered before and the impacts they face both positive and negative through current natural and anthropogenic effects as well as the lessons learnt and the areas still to work on.

“Dr Graeme Elliott has been employed with the Department of Conservation (DOC) and predecessor organisations since the 1980s and has volunteered his own time to furthering ecological research and conservation initiatives.

Dr Elliott’s research has significantly expanded New Zealand’s knowledge of its endangered birds and the threats to them. He has been a member of the National Kakapo Management Group and Recovery Group since 1995. Since 2003 he has been on the Whio (blue duck), Orange-fronted kākāriki and Mohua (Yellowhead) Recovery Groups, principally as a Science Advisor. His PhD research identified seeding patterns that increased predator numbers and threatened hole-nesting Mohua and parakeet species, which led to improved predator control to protect threatened birds. He is regarded as a cornerstone of DOC’s large-scale predator control programmes, with his research informing the approach applied in South Island forests and adapted for North Island forests, leading to an increase in the numbers of forest birds and bats. He and his partner have monitored the health of albatross populations in the subantarctic annually since 1991, much of it in their own time. Through this, Dr Elliott and his partner discovered both Gibson’s and Antipodean albatross populations were in a critical condition and have worked to alert others and to find solutions.” Graeme Peter Elliott ONZM has been made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the New Year Honours List for 2024 for services to wildlife conservation, and his partner Kath became an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2023 Honours List.

Tea, coffee and light refreshments provided. Free event, all welcome.

This event is part of Conservation Week 2024 - www.doc.govt.nz/conservationweek