As Hardwicke Knight had pointed out, tourism is now the lifeblood of the penin­sula, and birds are at the top on the list of visitor attractions. Justly renowned is Taiaroa Head, at the tip of the peninsula, home to the only mainland colony of alba­trosses in the world (see sidebar, page 40). Public tours of the colony are regularly conducted by staff of the Otago Pe­ninsula Trust, which owns and runs the nearby visitor centre. Among the many albatross-related displays in the centre are live video feeds from cameras in the colony. I was surprised to learn that the colony is a recent advent. The first birds were seen in the area in the 1870s, but the first chick was not fledged until 1938.