Rachael Shaw

Beyond the beaches, Wellington’s catastrophic sewage spill could be bad news for coastal ecosystems Sewage spills are often seen as short-term public health crises. But the ecological impacts can be lasting, especially if combined with marine heatwaves and storms.

theconversation.com/beyond-the-b...

My wife and I were on a beach in the Wellington area and found this at a car park, in the grass.

It is approximately the size of a person's hand,made of bone, and intricately carved.

I've masked the lower half,as only the legitimate owner will be able to fully describe it.

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Want native birds? This fuchsia is by far your best bet Scientists who spent nine years birdwatching in Wellington ecosanctuary Zealandia Te Māra a Tāne report that birds visit the flowers of kōtukutuku, our native tree fuchsia, 16.4 times an hour. That pu...

Glad to be featured in @nzgeo.bsky.social, highlighting the importance of planting native species such as tree fuchsia, a major food resource for native birds. Based on a recent publication of bird-plant interactions in @zealandia.bsky.social
@vicuniwgtn.bsky.social
www.nzgeo.com/stories/want...

Super proud of Dr Tirth Vaishnav who is graduating this week! He started his thesis remotely and during a global pandemic, and after overcoming a host of challenges (not just limited to kākā being tricksy) he smashed it out of the park. Congratulations Tirth!

If you are interested in animal cognition and birds, a reminder to apply for this PhD opportunity in our lab! Applications close December 10th

A curious juvenile toutouwai sits on a researchers bag

This is an exciting new project in collaboration with Ella McCallum, Hanne Løvlie, Alex Thornton, and me. We would greatly appreciate your help spreading the word to prospective students! 2/2

Ella holds a fluffy and sleepy looking toutouwai chick during banding and fits an orange band to its leg

PhD scholarship alert! Are you interested in cognitive evolution? Do you want to know how development influences cognitive traits? Do you love hanging out with birds in the forest? If the answer to these questions is yes, please apply to work with us! 1/2 🧪
www.wgtn.ac.nz/scholarships...

In our new paper (rdcu.be/eNoiJ) we tested wild toutouwai with a well established cognitive judgement bias paradigm. Much like humans and a host of other species, it turns out that wild toutouwai judge ambiguous cues favourably 🧪🐦

POSITIONS default description

I am looking for a postdoc to work in our long-term system of food-caching mountain chickadees in the Sierra Nevada mountains. The expected start is April 2026. Please see details here: chickadeecognition.com/positions
If interested and qualified, please contact me directly (email on the website).

People urged to watch for exhausted birds and blown away nestlings in wild weather People are being urged to watch for exhausted seabirds and tiny nestlings blown from their nests in the wild weather.

People urged to watch for exhausted birds and blown away nestlings in wild weather

A large male tuatara sits on the edge of a gravel path, his head and body emerging out of the forest

Yesterday I had my first catch up of the season with my favourite tuatara. For the 12 years that I’ve been keeping tabs on the toutouwai at Zealandia he has been chilling in this exact spot on warm days. A great reminder to slow down and enjoy the rare sunny spring weather!

PSA! have you dropped in your council voting papers? Do it today or tomorrow latest. And don't forget to vote YES to Māori wards.

A juvenile New Zealand fur seal having a scratch on a sunny rock, with Wellington harbour in the background

A juvenile kekeno exploring the Te Whanagnui-a-Tara waterfront and soaking in the rays this morning. Guess it got the memo that you can’t beat Wellington on a good day…

A male tuatara is held by a researcher with a crowd of students looking on in the background

Super privileged to have Spike the tuatara at our school seminar today to demonstrate his amazing outreach powers. Spike, Hazel, Pheobe and Shorty, the tuatara cared for at VUW in partnership with iwi, have made huge contributions to our knowledge of their species (handled under permit by carer)

Time flies when you’re researching birds… I never was one to keep a diary as a kid, and it turns out that I’m not much better at it as an adult! For the past few years this site has been sorely neglected while I’ve been navigat…

I am in awe of anyone who has an up-to-date website and news feed for their research. It has taken me four years to finally write one paragraph and post it....

Wilson, a black dog with a beard, admires a view over Southern Wellington on a cloudless winter day

Not to be a cliche, but you really can’t beat Wellington (dog walks) on a still and clear winter day. I can even hear kākā yelling from the pines way in the distance. A great reminder that we live in a city where biodiversity is making a comeback.

So cool to find out that a population of this small but mighty kiwi has been hanging on in the South Island!

Longform Longform pieces are designed for a lifetime, not a season. Using the finest merino for all-season comfort, these are refined staples that will never see the back of your wardrobe.

My super talented friend Des Rusk has launched his own clothing label. Ethical merino clothes that are classics that are designed to last a lifetime. Check out his online store here: longform.co #foreverfashion seems like something that a lot of folk on here might love!

Return of the huia? Why Māori worldviews must be part of the ‘de-extinction’ debate There is nothing to stop de-extinction companies using specimens from museum collections, despite little Māori support for reviving lost native species.

Listening to and participating in the worldwide critical media commentary about the dire wolf 'de-extinction', one thing struck me. Indigenous voices, which have a vital role in this debate, were largely silent, leading me to co-write this theconversation.com/return-of-th...

Individual variation in spatial reference memory influences cache site choice in a wild bird #ProcB #OpenAccess royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Dr Tas Vámos sitting in the forest at Zealandia, holding a toutouwai chick ready for banding

A male toutouwai called Bruiser, holding a mealworm and staring at the camera

Some soldierfly larvae that a toutouwai has hidden inside a dried fern stem

New toutouwai paper out today, led by Dr Tas Vámos! Individual toutouwai have specific preferences for where they cache prey - turns out birds that prefer spreading their caches widely also have more accurate spatial memory performance!
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

I spy a Juniper spying on spiders!

RIP NZ CRIs. May your legacy be of a wholesome community that values scientific excellence, the natural environment and the people of Aotearoa.

Forget me not If our memories make us who we are, what’s it like to have a different type of memory entirely? What can animals remember? Do goldfish have a memory longer than three seconds? And can plants remember ...

The illustrated ‘Just So’ series in @nzgeo.bsky.social is a total delight! The very talented @rebekahwhite.bsky.social and Giselle Clarke have outdone themselves with their piece on memory in the December issue It even features my favourite old (toutouwai) guy Spark! www.nzgeo.com/stories/forg...

It is! But then I’m completely biased at this point!

Magical spot, right around the corner from where I’ve spent summers for the past 36 years! The change in biodiversity has been pretty striking. No rays spotted here either this year, or the orca that hunt them….

🧪 #Conservation,#translocations & #Indigenous knowledge, and a wonderful emerging researcher leading this paper from #Aotearoa on #kākā.

The first picture is one of the fledgling toutouwai (robin) from our long term study population! Nice shot!

No skill involved at all - the weather did all the work for these… Imagine if I was actually any good at taking pictures! The photos have barely done it justice

Storms on the horizon and a sunny northland beach in New Zealand in the foreground

Huge storm clouds on the horizon above a sunny beach scene

Storm watching and listening to thunder, while also sitting in the shade to avoid a sunburn…