Sophie Fern·Nov 18, 2023On charisma and pūteketeke and conservation urgencyHands up who, a month ago, had never heard the word “pūtekteke”. Well, me neither! I knew about grebes, mostly because of where I work…A response icon1A response icon1
Sophie Fern·Sep 4, 2022The Friday afternoon wormIt was a Friday afternoon at the end of a long week, at the end of a terribly long season of long weeks. Sometimes, we just need something…
Sophie Fern·Apr 20, 20224000We often hear about the 4000 species in Aotearoa that need conservation attention. It seems like a lot, and reducing that number is one of…
Sophie Fern·May 29, 2021There is an article in Saturday’s Otago Daily Times article titled “Yellow-eyed penguin support…Conservation biology has always been a crisis discipline, and we often compare it to emergency medicine because both are about making life…
Sophie Fern·Nov 10, 2020In defence of Bird of the YearEvery year I hear grumbling on social media about Bird of the Year, and apologies from those running the accounts for spamming everyone’s…
Sophie Fern·Mar 25, 2020The time I saw a kākāpō booming in my pyjamas.People write that once the noise of kākāpō booming rang around Fiordland, in an effort to tell us how far we’ve fallen. Can you imagine…
Sophie Fern·Dec 29, 2019Dreaming of conservation in 202910 years ago today, I was further east than anyone else in New Zealand, barring anyone fishing out at sea, watching the dawn rise. My…
Sophie Fern·Sep 30, 2018Some thoughts on New Zealand’s Bird of the Year 2018Who should win? Who will?
Sophie Fern·Jan 1, 2016Communicating conservation science in post flagship species New Zealand.A flagship species is the creature chosen by a conservation organisation to represent that organisation. The most famous of these is the…
