A stoat killed by 1080 in Mt Aspiring National Park two years ago ~ photo southernlight.co.nz
New Zealand’s imported predator the stoat, is quite an amazing animal, somewhat beautiful too, until you look at it’s claws and teeth!
They have a very fast metabolism, thus needing constant snacks, and they don’t live to a ripe old age. Most stoats [less than about 20 percent] live less than one year, but adult mortality is lower and a few may reach 6-8 years of age. We’ve found that in winter their coat turns white in snowy environments.
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In summer they’re more the colour in the photos, and they can travel vast distances, even in water, and often kill for no good reason. Young females are impregnated by their fathers too, and can with-hold birthing until optimum conditions prevail.
In other words, stoats seem born to kill. Imported into New Zealand many years ago to control rabbits, it’s turned out native birds and invertebrates make for easier meals, and this is why this research below is a real break through in our attempts to rid the country of this pest…
When it comes to trapping our bird-killing pest predators, a little bit of potent ferret stench could be the missing ingredient. That’s according to a quirky experiment on a remote Hawke’s Bay farm…
top: Members of the Matukituki Trust planning trapping operations at Aspiring Hut 10 days ago
Many of you know that I’ve been involved with many others giving native bird populations a leg up via the Matukituki Trust for the last 4 or so years. Progress has been very steady and positive due a good base plan concept, followed up by proven methodology.
Taking a wider view the good news is that four Trusts inc. the Matukituki Trust, several landowners, tourism operators and DOC, are now working collectively in the area from the mid slopes of Mt Aspiring to Wanaka.
Traps [in green] recently installed from Wanaka on the left, to Mt Aspiring on the right. Plans are well evolved to fill the obvious gaps in the next few monthsData obtained is being entered into a centralised database that monitors approx. 1600 traps, [Matukituki Trust 620], which enables all to look at and plan for the bigger picture.
A high density of traps of all types around Aspiring Hut in the West Matukituki valley, Mt Aspiring National Park [map approx. orientated north]
Traps of all types upstream from Aspiring Hut in the West Matukituki valley, Mt Aspiring National Park. Liverpool valley on the left, upper west Matuki. and Scott Bivy rock in the center, and French Ridge on the right.
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Many traps are above the winter snow-line in these three areas, with many being of the self resetting variety
I can’t comment yet on all the “kills” but in the last 6 months the Matukituki Trust’s traps have caught 911 predators: cats, rats, hedgehogs, stoats and possums. Mice, despite not directly being predators, are included.
It’s estimated that each predator kills 2 wildlife per week [birds, lizards,, bats insects etc] thus the above kills amount to 47,000 wildlife saved to-date.
Possums do eats chicks and eggs, but this aside 20 of them will eat 2 tons of vegetation per year, so this means that 18 tons are not eaten. That’s 9000 full shopping bags that stay on the trees to benefit the birds.
A new kid on the block – one of many of the south island robin reintroduced some years back. Breeding has been so successful last spring that it’s hard estimate if we’re talking scores or hundreds of birds that have been bred by about 20.
In the last few weeks contractors have been in the valley to set up transects for annual bird counts, but so far exactly how many has not been released yet.
A brief history of the Matukituki Trust:
First we installed about 170 tracking tunnels in the West Matukituki valley to establish what predators were about that have been compromising bird breeding numbers. Answer: too many opossum and mice.
And on another front the means to scientifically establish how much seed the resident silver, red and mountain beech forest produced every three months. Answer: lots!
So-much-so, on both counts that the valley became “eligible” if you like for the Dept. of Conservation, partners with the Trust, to schedule a 1080 poison operation. This was carried out about 2 years ago. Interestingly I literally lived in the midst of it I
Knowing it’d be successful like in other areas like the Routeburn in “buying time” for more native birds chicks to reach maturity, work began in earnest on installing what now amounts to about 620 traps or various types in the valley [mostly high quality DOC 250’s], so that as the predator numbers inevitably increased, we’d be ready with other means to make sure the balance of bird v. vermin, swung in favour of the former.
Now thanks to Maggie Evans of Maori Point Vineyard I’ve been able to post a couple of her pictures [not had much luck myself] – one recently taken near Aspiring Hut in the West Matukituki Valley of a yellow-crowned, and another of the rare [on the mainland] red-crowned from Codfish Island taken a few days ago.
The Mount Cook lily (Ranunculus lyallii) is one of the most popular icons of New Zealand’s Southern Alps.
It’s fragile look belies a strength that is to be wondered at, as when flowering in Nov. the blooms literally bend in the usually extreme wind and rain, and do not break. With the onslaught of these spring storms and weather [remember spring times comes later at altitude, and 45 degrees latitude] it simply seems to always produce the most delicate yet indestructible flowers.
A few years ago part of the agenda on trips into the Routeburn and Rees valleys was to get these images:
A great day was had by all at the Kaki Recovery Programme in Twizel on Saturday 5 November 2016. A field trip open to all was organised by Rachel Hufton, a Forest and Bird member to help raise the profile of Kaki; the rarest wading bird in the world and to improve awareness of braided river habitat. Braided river habitats are home to a number of vulnerable and at risk bird species such as wrybill, black-fronted tern, and black-billed gull.
The trip started at the Tasman River to catch up with the sub-adult birds that were released in August. We were also treated to a visit from a pair of adults as well as wrybill, banded dotterel and black fronted tern. After lunch we visited the captive breeding centre to meet the kaki chicks, ranging from those that had only just hatched this morning, through to the oldest that are now three weeks old. Key staff; Cody Thyne and Liz Brown were very informative throughout the day.
Once common throughout New Zealand, this wading bird is now only found in the Mackenzie Basin. Kaki/black stilts are one of New Zealand’s rarest birds and the mission of the Kaki Recovery Programme is to increase their population in the wild and ensure this special bird is not lost for future generations. The facility is where kaki eggs are artificially incubated and the young chicks are raised in captivity prior to release into the wild.
At 3-9 months they are released into the wild. Rearing them in captivity significantly increases their chances of survival by preventing predation when they are most vulnerable and it also gets them through their first winter, which can be tough for young birds in the wild.
Kaki have been intensively managed since 1981, when their population declined to a low of just 23 birds. The Kaki Recovery programme has now successfully increased the population of wild birds to 93 adults but still needs to increase to sustain the population. The recovery centre in Twizel is doing an important job for this vulnerable species but currently the facility is at capacity as there are potentially more chicks than the size of the current brood room can cope with. Ideally the facility needs to expand so that the number of successfully reared kaki chicks can be maximised to help secure the breeding success of this vulnerable New Zealand endemic. Without this important facility the kaki population would be extinct within 7 years.
Wry bill
Visitor testimonials:
Karen and I had a fabulous day and learnt heaps, it was well worth the drive over.
Sorry for asking so many questions but theres just soooo much to know. I’ve been wondering about the dotterels and wrybills. How do their young survive on this delta?
Both of us would have willingly donated to this project as a thanks to the time you 3 put into this trip, perhaps there could be an opportunity to do so next time you organize a trip?
Cheers and a million thanks, we’ll both be back with our families
Traps of all types upstream from Aspiring Hut in the West Matukituki valley, Mt Aspiring National Park. Liverpool valley on the left, upper west Matuki. and Scott Bivy rock in the center, and French Ridge on the right.
A new kid on the block – one of many of the south island robin reintroduced some years back. Breeding has been so successful last spring that it’s hard estimate if we’re talking scores or hundreds of birds that have been bred by about 20.
