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Dispersal of adult Australasian shovelers Anas rhynchotis in New Zealand after being banded during their annual moult was determined from the locations at which they were shot by hunters. Birds banded at 2 southern South Island and 2 North Island sites between 1972 and 1986 dispersed the length and breadth of New Zealand. Some shoveler were recovered within 90 days of banding at opposite ends of the country from their banding sites. There was no obvious pattern to the recoveries. Birds were recovered from most of New Zealand’s large lowland and coastal wetlands except from West Coast, South Island. Modal recovery distances for shoveler banded at Lake Whangape, northern North Island, and recovered in their year of banding or in later years were 201-400 km. For shoveler banded in southern South Island, modal recovery distances were 0-100 km in the year-of-banding and 101-200 km in later years. Birds banded while moulting or breeding at or near the southern-most banding site were later recaptured moulting at the northern-most. Shoveler disperse more widely than other New Zealand waterfowl species and can be viewed as comprising a single national population.

Three of the 6 widely accepted species of Pachyptila were first described and named on the basis of specimens collected between 1768 and 1780 during James Cook’s 3 voyages of circumnavigation. Two of them, the thin-billed prion Pachyptila belcheri (Mathews 1912) and the broad-billed prion Pachyptila vittata (Forster,1777), were described and named on the 1st voyage as Procellaria turtur and Procellaria latirostris respectively, but those descriptions and names were never published at the time. As a result, the specific name which had been applied to 1 of them – turtur – became attached to a different taxon, the fairy prion Pachyptila turtur (Kuh1,1820). The description of Procellaria vittata by Reinhold Forster, and the painting of it by his son, which were based on specimens taken in the southern Indian Ocean during the 2nd voyage, actually relate to the Antarctic prion Pachyptila desolata (Gmelin,1789), and not to the broad-billed prion as previously believed. It would therefore be inappropriate to designate the bird in George Forster’s painting of an Antarctic prion as the type of the broad-billed prion as has been suggested. The correct type locality of Pachyptila vittata Forster, 1777 is 56V11S, 31V9E. Latham’s description of the “Broad-billed Petrel”, and therefore Gmelin’s Procellaria vittata of 1789, is shown to have been based primarily on a specimen of the broad-billed prion. The type locality of Pachyptila vittata Gmelin, 1789 is not known. Latham’s description of the “Brown-banded Petrel”, and therefore Gmelin’s Procellaria desolata of 1789, was based on a 3rd voyage Pachyptilaspecimen from Kerguelen Island. However, Latham’s description could apply to any 1 of the 3 species of Pachyptilawhich breed at that locality.

The relationships, adaptations, and habits of the extinct, endemic Finsch’s duck (Anas finschi Van Beneden, 1875) from New Zealand were determined from skeletal comparisons. Finsch’s duck, usually placed in the monotypic genus Euryanas Oliver (1930), was found to be most similar to the Australian wood duck (Chenonetta jubata). Because the differences are mainly those associated with loss of flight, Euryanas is synonymised with Chenonetta, and the species should now be known as Chenonetta finschi.

Breeding performance of brown teal (Anas chlorotis) nesting in a pastoral environment at Okiwi, Great Barrier Island, New Zealand was studied during 1997-99. Mean (SD) clutch size in 47 nests was 5.4 (0.9), eggs hatched in 74% of nests (n=50), and 66% of eggs (n=236) hatched. Of 31 females fitted with radio transmitters, the nesting attempt by 7 (23%) was not detected and the remainder fledged a total of 15 young, a mean (+SD) annual productivity of 0.5 (1.3) fledglings female-1. Most broods (72% n=32) became extinct within 10 days of hatching. Limited wetland habitat in the pastoral landscape concentrated nesting and brood rearing. Breeding statistics from this environment may not be representative of the wider population.

The importance of fisheries waste in the diet of Westland petrels (Procellaria westlandica) was assessed using 3 different techniques. Dietary studies showed that during the hoki (Macruronus novaezelandiae) fishing season (mid June – early September), fish waste formed c. 63% of the solid food brought back to the colony and fed to chicks. After the hoki season, fisheries waste contributed only c. 25% to the diet. A survey of Westland petrels at sea found that, although vessels fishing for hoki influence the petrels’ distribution, only a small proportion of the population appears to use this food resource at any one time. Satellite tracking showed that, on average, birds spent 1/3rd of each foraging trip near vessels, but they foraged over much wider areas than those occupied by the fishing fleets. Although fishery waste now forms a substantial component of the Westland petrel’s diet, the situation suggests opportunistic use of a readily available resource, rather than dependence.