Bird watchers have long waxed lyrical about the benefits of listening to birds, but now a recording of their tweets has led a Kiwi ecologist to a scientific breakthrough.
Murray Efford, of Otago University, and American ecologist Deanna Dawson have developed a world-first technique that enables scientists to measure how many birds are in an area by recording them, instead of simply counting them.
Dr Efford said the discovery could be used in the future to help measure dolphins, whales, and other animals that lived in areas which made them difficult to count.
Though the study recorded the warbles of the American ovenbird, a small thrush-like bird, Dr Efford said the technique would now be used to measure numbers of New Zealand’s only surviving native owl, the morepork.
To celebrate NZ’s unique natural taonga, Peter Hayden has curated a highlights collection from three decades of NHNZ productions. Aotearoa’s landforms and its magnificent menagerie of natural oddities – birds, insects, trees like nowhere else on the planet – are showcased in 15 award-winning titles. From Discovery Channel and David Bellamy, to Wild South and Our World classics.
This week’s screening of the BBC’s “Last Chance to See” programme featuring New Zealand’s own conservation ambassador Sirocco the kākāpō, has catapulted kākāpō recovery into the international spotlight.
Department of Conservation staff have been amazed by the response that viewers of the “Last Chance to See” programme, starring Stephen Fry and Mark Cawardine, has evoked from the British public.
“His Facebook page alone jumped from 600 friends to over 2000 friends in the 48 hours following the broadcast of the kākāpō episode of “Last Chance to See”,” said Sirocco’s media advisor Nic Vallance from the Department of Conservation.
“And the Youtube clip of him getting ‘up close and personal’ with presenter Mark Cawardine has resulted in well over half a million hits.”
The show “Last Chance to See” is a remake of the series that the late Douglas Adams and Mark Cawardine recorded for radio and published a book on in 1990.
Many of the comments posted on Sirocco’s rapidly growing Facebook page send words of support and encouragement to kākāpō recovery as well as many offers of donations to continue to increase the survival of the kākāpō.
“The international interest in kākāpō is just fantastic,” said Vallance.
An astrophotographer has discovered a kiwi in outer space from New Zealand’s internationally renowned Mt John Observatory.
It may be 26,000 light years away but a high powered astro-photograph has picked up the distinct image of New Zealand’s national icon in the centre of the Milky Way Galaxy.
The incredible image of the flightless bird was captured by experienced photographer Fraser Gunn. Mr Gunn, who has recently begun astrophotography with Earth and Sky Stargazing Tours at Lake Tekapo’s Mt John Observatory, is delighted with the discovery.
“When looking at the area with the naked eye it’s difficult to locate the kiwi but my camera allows greater light and colour into the image giving it more definition.
“We only started the astrophotography tour six weeks ago to complement our stargazing tours and the response so far has been outstanding. Basically, I provide instruction to anyone with a SLR-type camera so they obtain their own starlight pictures,” he says.
Graeme Murray, director of Earth and Sky Tours, says Fraser has become a leader in New Zealand astrophotography and is fast gaining international acclaim.
About 40 Bar-tailed godwits (Limosa lapponica) arrived on the Avon-Heathcote Estuary yesterday afternoon, to be followed today and over the next few weeks by up to 2000 more. These join a flock of about 190 juvenile birds that had stayed on the estuary over winter.
Christchurch City Council ranger Andrew Crossland confirmed 40 godwits at the estuary this morning. “More are likely to arrive today, with ongoing arrivals through the rest of September and into October,” says Crossland. The ChristChurch Cathedral bells will be rung at midday tomorrow (Wednesday 16 September) to welcome the birds to their wintering home.
A new study shows that New Zealand’s giant – and now extinct – Haast’s eagle ruled the skies until 500 years ago, swooping down on moa.
Scientists have known about the existence of Haast’s eagle since 1871 based on excavated bones, including bones carved by early Maori, but their behaviour was not entirely clear.
Because of their large size – they weighed up to 18kg with wingspans up to 3m – some scientists believed they were scavengers rather than predators.
Earlier research has indicated the eagle had enough strength in its talons to kill a moa weighing 180kg, attacking at up to 80kph, or even to attack a human child.
The latest study throwing new light on this was published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
Researchers Dr Paul Scofield, curator of vertebrates at the Canterbury Museum, and Professor Ken Ashwell of the University of New South Wales used computerised CT and CAT scans to reconstruct the size of the brain, eyes, ears and spinal cord of the Haast’s eagle.
These details were compared to values from modern predatory and scavenging birds to determine the habits of the extinct eagle.
“This work is a great example of how rapidly evolving medical techniques and equipment can be used to solve ancient mysteries,” said Dr Ashwell.
Tuesday, 8 September 2009, 2:49 pm Press Release: Auckland Regional Council
8 September 2009
Rare kokako to sing in the Waitakere Ranges once again
The haunting melody of the endangered kokako is returning to the Waitakere Ranges after an absence of more than 60 years.
Intensive pest control efforts by the Ark in the Park project has resulted in the planned release of up to 30 kokako birds into the ranges over the next two years, beginning with the first transfer of birds on Tuesday 8 September 2009.
These kokako are being transferred to the Waitakere Ranges from the Mangatutu and Waipapa Ecological Areas of the Pureora Forest in the central North Island with the aim of creating a new self-sustaining kokako population at this large new site.
Wednesday, 2 September 2009, 12:38 pm Press Release: Department of Conservation
The Department of Conservation is concerned about recent dolphin deaths in the Hauraki Gulf, and has commissioned toxicology tests to try to determine how they died.
Necropsy tests on the dolphins to date indicate that the deaths were not related to the rat poison, brodifacoum, used by DOC in its recent restoration programme on Rangitoto and Motutapu islands.
Massey University holds samples from the dead dolphins and DOC is working with Massey marine biologist Karen Stockin on further testing to try to identify the cause of the dolphin deaths.
Brodifacoum poisoning has already been ruled out by scientists and veterinary surgeons. Brodifacoum is an anticoagulant – signs that could indicate brodifacoum poisoning are bruising, internal bleeding and haemorrhaging. As none of these signs were found in the dolphins, penguins and dogs, brodifacoum poisoning has been ruled out by all the agencies involved – Auckland Regional Public Health Service, MAF Biosecurity NZ, Auckland Regional Council, North Shore City Council, Auckland City Council.
“While we are confident that brodifacoum has been ruled out as a cause of death, we are conscious of the level of public concern surrounding this issue. As a result, we have commissioned further chemical tests on the dolphin, penguin and pilchard samples that will specifically look for brodifacoum poisoning,” said DOC Auckland Area Manager, Brett Butland.
Independent toxicology tests that DOC commissioned on vomit from one of the dogs that died at Narrow Neck beach has already proved negative for brodifacoum.
Tests done by the Cawthron Institute have identified the toxin found in the vomit of a dog that died after visiting Narrow Neck Beach as tetrodotoxin. Tetrodotoxin is a naturally occuring substance, found in tropical puffer fish, and has also been found in sea slugs taken from the beach. Its presence in sea slugs, as found at Narrowneck and Cheltenham beaches where the dog deaths occurred, is unusual and has not been previously described.
Penguin mortalities have been reported in the Far North, Rodney, Auckland, Coromandel and Bay of Plenty regions. Penguin mortalities in winter, particularly following winter storms, are not uncommon for this time of year.
The New Zealand Centre for Conservation Medicine has post-mortemed six penguins to date, and has found that the birds were in poor body condition and that starvation was the likely cause of death. Histology on two of these birds has shown no evidence of acute poisoning.
John Potter, who carried out the post-mortem on the penguins that were sent to the New Zealand Centre for Conservation Medicine, says that none of the birds showed “any sign of a haemorrhagic effusion consistent with rodenticide poisoning.”
“Each of the birds was very thin and their stomachs were empty, consistent with starvation being the cause of death.”
Continued success in the protection of a rare native bird species is being recorded in the Hunua Ranges Regional Park.
With around 750 pairs of kokako left in the North Island, the number of breeding pairs and young produced in the Hunua Ranges Kokako Management Area (KMA) has the potential to make a significant contribution to the future security of the species.
In 2008/09 the Hunua kokako project, managed jointly by the Auckland Regional Council (ARC) and Department of Conservation (DOC), reported 18 breeding pairs established in the managed area. Since management of the population began 15 years ago at least 58 young are known to have been produced.
“In 1994 the ARC stepped in to save a tiny population of kokako rapidly heading toward local extinction. This was outside the normal duties of a local body, however had we not intervened, this population would have become locally extinct.
“At the time there was only one breeding pair surviving in the Hunua Ranges,” says ARC Chairman Mike Lee.
“This partnership between the ARC and DOC is a vital effort in saving this treasured species from the threat of extinction – a reality for the South Island kokako, which is now assumed to be extinct.
Giant Moa Rebuilt Using Ancient DNA From Prehistoric Feathers ScienceDaily (June 30, 2009) — Scientists have performed the first DNA-based reconstruction of the giant extinct moa bird, using prehistoric feathers recovered from caves and rock shelters in New Zealand.
Researchers from the University of Adelaide and Landcare Research in New Zealand have identified four different moa species after retrieving ancient DNA from moa feathers believed to be at least 2500 years old.
The giant birds – measuring up to 2.5 metres and weighing 250 kilograms – were the dominant animals in New Zealand’s pre-human environment but were quickly exterminated after the arrival of the Maori around 1280 AD.
PhD student Nicolas Rawlence from the University’s Australian Centre for Ancient DNA says until now, the scientific community has not known what the 10 different species of moa looked like. ”By using ancient DNA we have been able to connect feathers to four different moa species,” he says.
The researchers compared the feathers to others found in the sediments from red-crowned parakeets that are still living today, determining they had not faded or changed in colour. They then reconstructed the appearance of the stout-legged moa, heavy-footed moa, upland moa and the South Island giant moa.
photo by Phil Brown
Wellingtonians know how the Karori sanctuary has transformed their city. Sightings of species such as kaka, which would have been worthy of a press report 20 years ago, have become almost ordinary.
Apart from a handful of dedicated grumblers disturbed by the dawn chorus, the city’s population has delighted in the visible explosion in birdlife.
I can recall the private scepticism that the trust’s founding enthusiasts provoked in the early 1990s. While the vision was applauded, the scale of the New Zealand’s biodiversity catastrophe seemed almost overwhelming. Some regarded it as a quixotic gesture when the nation’s forests were collapsing around us. To others, wrapping the reserve in a predator exclusion fence was an admission of defeat – that the war was lost and that the only future for our native birds would be in outdoor museum enclosures.
How wrong they were. The trust’s most brilliant insight was to create a refuge in the heart of the capital where it could not be ignored. It created a popular constituency that has been infectious. Last week I visited the most spectacular outpost of this restorative contagion: Maungatautari. Just south of Cambridge, this deeply dissected basaltic volcano has become the international leading edge for ecological restoration, on a scale and with meticulousness that almost defies belief.
It is the size of the pest-excluded area that is mind-boggling: 3300 hectares protected by 42 kilometres of fence is an order of magnitude larger than Karori. Unlike Karori, the ancient forest canopy is still intact with huge rata and rimu. And the Maungatautari Ecological Island Trust has an even more ambitious goal than its Karori counterpart. For while Karori has eliminated the large familiar intruders, such as possums and stoats, it hasn’t eliminated mice. Maungatautari is within a stone’s throw of achieving that.
The birds on Tiritiri Matangi Island haven’t seen a rat in 15 years.
Despite the thousands of visitors who arrive on hundreds of ferry trips and uncounted private boats each year – each one a potential rat-carrier – not one rodent has made it to shore since 1993.
The result is a thriving bird paradise where takahe, kokako, penguins and kiwi live much as they did thousands of years ago – with the exception that they are now visited by 32,000 humans a year.
It’s a remarkable turnaround for what was once a rat-infested island just north of Auckland – transformed by volunteers from barren farmland to dense native bush over 10 years.
The Department of Conservation (DoC) scientific reserve was a working farm until the 1970s; and before that the Kawerau-A-Maki and Ngati Paoa iwi lived there for centuries.
Volunteers began planting trees in 1984, forming the 1800-strong Supporters of Tiritiri Matangi Inc five years later when they began to run short of money.
Nowadays the group that calls itself “the supporters” is entrusted with delicate work normally reserved for experts and scientists.
DoC spokeswoman Liz Maire said the supporters had been around just one year fewer than DoC – 20 years last year.
“It’s not just doing bits and pieces anymore,” said Ms Maire. “They’re doing work that used to be done by experts, in other words scientists and DoC people.”
One volunteer, Simon Fordham, a supporter of 16 years who works as a medical supplies importer, is helping organise a transfer of native species from another island. His wife Morag, a volunteer guide on the island, works with nests of rare kokako.
Melodic bellbirds, bright green kakariki and cheeky kaka could be popping into city slickers’ backyards if a mainland bird sanctuary succeeds north of Auckland.
The native birds are expected to thrive after the Auckland Regional Council fences a 555ha wildlife sanctuary on the Whangaparaoa Peninsula at the end of this year.
Although there are other “mainland island” sanctuaries for wildlife, this will be the closest to Auckland – 40 minutes by car or a bus trip from the central city.
ARC open sanctuary co-ordinator Matt Maitland said it would be the most popular sanctuary yet, following successful “mainland islands” in Wellington, Dunedin, Maungatautari and Tawharanui.
The plan is to fence off Shakespear Regional Park at the tip of the peninsula and then poison predators in the park.
It is hoped bellbirds and kakariki will move along the peninsula to suburban areas, while land-lubbers like kiwi and takahe will have a safe home close to Auckland.
Each year, about 20,000 people make the ferry trip from Auckland to Tiritiri Matangi, a thriving island bird sanctuary 4km off the peninsula. But although kakariki and bellbirds make the journey the other way to the park, weasels and rats make it hard for them to breed.
Mr Maitland said the bird populations would explode once the predators were gone. By the end of the first summer, they would be flying down the peninsula towards Auckland. Once pests had been killed, flightless birds such as kiwi would be given a helping hand to the park by conservation workers.
Endangered native birds are at risk of losing their instinct to recognise and flee mammalian enemies when moved between predator-free and predator-filled sites, says a Massey researcher.
Sarah Whitwell, a biology Masters student at Massey’s Institute of Natural Resources in Albany, designed an experiment using a pulley system to dangle a stuffed stoat and morepork at nesting North Island robins to test their fear responses. She says most robins in areas free of introduced predators such as stoats failed to get into a flap at the sight of an enemy, albeit a fake version.
Her research adds to growing evidence that native birds’ responses to mammalian predators are not genetically hard-wired.
“That’s because introduced mammal predators have been here a relatively short time, whereas native birds have been here for millions of years.”
She says already endangered native bird species would be at increased risk if moved back to wilderness sites with mammalian predators after inhabiting mammal-free conservation areas without some form of predator-recognition training.
The responses of robins in predator-controlled Wenderholm Reserve and Tiritiri Matangi Island near Auckland were compared with those in the central North Island, where the birds have long co-existed with native and introduced predators.
4 December 2008 Press Release: Department of Conservation
Kakapo gets boost from long-running partnership
The long-running fight to save the kakapo has received a welcome boost with the Department of Conservation, Rio Tinto Alcan NZ and Forest & Bird agreeing to extend their successful kakapo recovery partnership for a further two year term.
The agreement, first signed in 1990, helps support the Kakapo Recovery Programme and is one of the department’s longest running conservation partnerships.
The two-decade strong agreement has already injected over $3 million towards breeding programmes and predator-proof sanctuaries for the critically endangered parrot.
The kakapo remains one of New Zealand’s most vulnerable birds but the current population of just over 90 is almost double the number of birds alive when the agreement was first signed.
Minister of Conservation, Tim Groser, says the partnership shows what can be achieved when the community and private businesses throw their support behind conservation goals.
“I want to thank Rio Tinto Alcan NZ and Forest & Bird for the vision they have both shown in working with the department throughout this long-running relationship.”
“The fate of birds like the kakapo is a litmus test for the health of the forests, rivers and landscapes that underpin our tourism and business sectors.’
“Everybody – private businesses, community organisations and the public sector – has a stake in making sure we get conservation right and it is very satisfying to see this partnership extended for a further two years.”
Tui are taking over Wellington, with an eight-fold jump in their recorded numbers since 2001.
The forest bird is now the second most commonly observed in the capital after the silvereye, according to a twice-yearly survey.
“They seem to love it here,” Wellington City Council reserves manager Amber Bill said.
Tui hot spots were Otari-Wilton, Aro Valley, Brooklyn and Ngaio, though the population was increasing across the city, she said.
The population of tui and other birds are monitored in autumn and spring, using a series of surveys across Wellington reserves. Bird songs are recorded for five minutes by volunteers and then analysed.
Since 2001, the total number of tui heard jumped from 68 to 510.
The tui is one of our most distinctive birds with its white tuft under the throat and sleek dark green-blue plumage.
Ms Bill said tui were probably spreading from the Karori Sanctuary and naturally recolonising the city.
Other factors in the rise of tui included efforts to control possums and other pests, and more native trees being planted in gardens. “It’s hard to pin it down to any one thing.”
The surveys showed other bird species including kaka and saddleback were also on the rise. Ms Bill said the key to keeping tui numbers increasing was to provide more food and cut predator numbers.
Sanctuary spokesman Alan Dicks said it had received reports of tui in suburbs where they had not been seen for years, such as Miramar. “We should all be extremely proud.”
However, the return of the tui has not been welcomed by all Wellingtonians. In January it was revealed Karori Sanctuary had received complaints from people kept awake by the birds’ raucous singing.
Mr Dicks said there were no complaints so far this spring. “Hopefully … last summer was enough to make people appreciate what a good thing we’ve got here.”
Conservation staff on the DOC Poneke area-managed Matiu/Somes Island in Wellington Harbour are preparing for an exciting arrival on Friday’s 10 am ferry sailing.
15 rare Wellington green geckos, seven of which have spent the last twelve months on ‘sabbatical’ at the city’s Karori Sanctuary, are being released on the island on Friday 15 November as part of an annual translocation programme – the largest to date.
DOC first began translocating green geckos to the island sanctuary in 2006 to create a self-sustaining population on this predator-free island. They have been working with local lizard breeders to ensure a genetically diverse supply of geckos for release on a yearly basis. This year, 16 lucky local school children with a special interest in conservation have been chosen to take part in the release.
‘Establishing a safe population on Matiu/Somes will help ensure survival’, said DOC biodiversity ranger Brent Tandy.
Local lizard enthusiasts and conservation projects like Karori Sanctuary play a critical support role for DOC’s gecko recovery programme in terms of both advocacy and breeding. One year old animals are taken to the Sanctuary for display in a special gecko enclosure before being released on the island at two years old.
The first confirmed tuatara nest in over 200 years on mainland New Zealand has been discovered at the Karori Sanctuary in Wellington.
Sanctuary staff uncovered the four ping-pong-ball-sized leathery white eggs yesterday during routine maintenance work near the sanctuary’s mammal-proof fence.
Raewyn Empson said that about this time last year staff had found a gravid (egg-carrying) female.
The eggs would have been laid almost exactly a year ago in a shallow trench dug by the female and then backfilled.
“We knew of two suspected nests but didn’t want to disturb them to confirm whether or not they contained eggs.”
The nest had been uncovered by accident and was the first concrete proof that the sanctuary’s tuatara were breeding.
Ms Empson suggested there might be other nests in the sanctuary.
The eggs had been immediately covered up again to avoid disturbing their incubation.
Although only four eggs were unearthed, it was likely that there were more in the nest as an average clutch contained around 10 eggs.
A big jump in the number of tui visiting Hamilton is predicted next year as the impact of a successful breeding project kicks in.
Environment Waikato expects a bumper tui breeding season at its Hamilton Halo project sites this spring, thanks to a highly successful winter of pest control operations. This is expected to produce results by next winter.
EW aims to attract more tui to the city by wiping out the birds’ two main predators – ship rats and possums – at breeding sites near the city.
It is currently controlling the pests at one Whatawhata site and two sites near Cambridge, Maungakawa Scenic Reserve and Te Miro Reserve. There is around 850 hectares of native bush under protection.
The regional council devised a special pest control programme to kill the rats using more than 1300 bait stations across the three sites.
Pest control took place in August and September, before the October tui breeding season.
EW councillor Paula Southgate said the results of a recent rat census were excellent, with only 2.2 per cent of the 225 tracking tunnels registering rat footprints, compared with up to 41 per cent before pest control.Estimates from Landcare Research were that nesting success could increase from around 25 per cent to 75 per cent.
There were also reports that native seedlings were flourishing on the forest floor without possums and rats around. Other native birds, such as kereru and bellbirds, are also expected to benefit from the programme.
It might be down to global warming or just a couple of shorter winters on the trot, but whatever the reason, the kiwi breeding season is getting longer – the kiwi bird that is.
That is good news for those working to ensure the survival of the North Island brown kiwi as Ali Ikram found out.
