One of my hopes for this recent trip to the New Zealand Subantarctic Islands was to get a better image of Campbell Island Teal. On my last trip I managed one distant image of one heading in the wrong direction so thought it would not too difficult to improve on that.

Campbell Island Teal are often seen near the landing zone at Perseverance Harbour and on this visit I saw both a male and female but the margin of slippery rocks and roving subadult male Sea Lions make it difficult to get low enough for a decent vantage point.

On our first landing I managed some images of a feeding female but had no luck with the male. There was unfortunately no plan to revisit this spot again but we managed to negotiate a trip back after a zodiac cruise in the morning. The male again made a brief appearance and I managed a couple of images of it swimming past in the rain.

Campbell Island Teal have an interesting history. After the first one was collected they disappeared and it was unclear whether they had been a seperate species or simply vagrants from the Auckland Islands. In 1973 a population was discovered on Dent Island and following a captive breeding program they were re-introduced to the Campbell group after eradication of the introduced predators in the restoration project that I mentioned in Wild Places last week.

Campbell Island Teal are the smallest of the three New Zealand brown Teal group. Auckland Island Teal are flightless like the Campbell Island Teal. The third is the Brown Teal which retain the ability to fly. For more information see New Zealand Birds Online.

Photos with Nikon D850 and Nikon 500mm f5.6PF.