Climate Change

Forest and Bird Kaki Conservation Field Trip

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.

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

photo and text credits Rachel Hufton

Lake Wanaka’s grebes

For a few years now the grebe, an endangered species, has been in the news regularly making a name for themselves nesting on floating nests tethered to the Wanaka Marina.

The whole wonderful story of what is essentially eco restoration, with a decidedly lateral thinking twist can be had by going to the link below.

Photographically speaking I’ve not taken much interest, but yesterday while picnicking closer to the lake outlet than to their new near-town chosen breeding area, two birds came quietly paddling towards me, and then in a seemingly courting mood, started mooching about, sometime paddling apart from each other and sometimes coming close.

They seem to be a bit of enigma in many respects, and apparently one [lacking] attribute is they’re not at all at home on land, as seen here: it flapped it’s wings rather feebly and then literally lurched upwards and forward to collapse on a rock for a minute or so. Maybe in the context of courting this has some meaning unknown to us!

Read the whole story as outlined by Radio NZ recently:

Meet the Australasian crested grebe, a lake bird that is more closely related to penguins and albatrosses than it is to ducks. It is so aquatic that it can’t walk on land; it can pull itself on and off its nest, but that’s the extent of its terrestrial forays. A bird can disappear from one lake and turn up on another, but no one in New Zealand has ever witnessed it flying. In other words, it’s a bird beset by mysteries. But for the past three years John Darby, a penguin and albatross biologist who retired inland to Wanaka, has been unravelling some of this bird’s secrets.

What began as a..

Source: Lake Wanaka’s grebes | Our Changing World | Radio New Zealand

DOC seeks sightings of rare kakī / black stilt October 2016

One of the pair of black stilt/kakī that were recently sighted – the left bird is the more common pied stilt. Photo credit DOC

Above left: One of the pair of black stilt/kakī that were recently sighted – the left bird is the more common pied stilt. Photo credit DOC

This is pretty exciting and it rather amazes me that these birds have crossed the Southern Alps at presumably their highest point across Aoraki Mt Cook National Park, flying presumably against the predominant westerly winds and at considerable altitude that would average 2500 meters

A pair of New Zealand’s rarest birds the Kakī / black stilt has been sighted on the West Coast and DOC staff are asking the public to report further sightings.

The two kakī were spotted by a farmer on a dairy farm in the Arahura Valley. The farmer suspected they were rare and reported the sighting to the dept of Conservation, who confirmed the birds were black stilt/kakī.

Kakī are critically endangered, with less than 100 adult birds in the wild. Once common throughout New Zealand, kakī are now found on the braided rivers and wetlands of the Mackenzie Basin

Source: DOC seeks sightings of rare kakī: Media release 3 October 2016

Capable of flying at speeds over 100 km/h and catching prey larger than itself, the falcon / kārearea is one of New Zealand’s most spectacular birds.

This older male is engaged in courtship ritual and is perched on an old tree stump that at ground level has been used as a nest previously. The female a few hundred meters away was very aware of my presence, and at the time of taking this photo both were engaged in a rowdy discussion, probably about myself whom they know quite well, perhaps questioning whether or not I should be "warned off" in relation to nesting soon.

The photos in the gallery below are extensively captioned, so if you’d like to read more of “their” falcon story, click on any one of them, and please feel free to leave a comment or ask a question. All photos by Southern Light..

There are three “forms” of NZ’s endemic native falcon, the kārearea. This is the South Island’s eastern falcon, at altitude on Benmore Peak near Twizel [note the wilding pine in the back ground – yet another invasive species that is destroying habitat in NZ]. There is also the bush falcon that lives in the North Island and the west and north-west of the South Island, and many of the photos here feature same. Lastly the southern falcon lives in coastal Fiordland and the Auckland Islands, and is more reddish.

Live prey is by far their preferred choice, seldom carrion [this in contrast to the common hawk]. They will either fly in continuous grid patterns or watch from a vantage point then make a fast, often gentle angled attack to the prey if they are on the ground, or steeper if aloft, and strike grasping the prey with their feet which are equipped with sharp talons. They kill the catch with a quick powerful bite to the neck.

Falcons will also take large birds such as the white heron/kotuku, wood pigeons/kererū, ducks and pheasants. They catch big insects such as grasshoppers and beetles. Females, at 410-720 g and 45 cm and larger than the male bird, can kill young rabbits or hares weighing up to 3 kilograms. Here this youngster is engaged in learning to hunt mice by listening attentively for sounds of rustling in the dry grass in Mt Aspiring National Park

The bush and southern forms are threatened, the eastern form are at risk, and thought to be recovering. Overall population is guessed to be between 5000 – 8000 birds. Most are found in New Zealand south of Waikato, and some offshore islands including Auckland Islands. Recently, plantation pine forests have been found to be important breeding habitats. Threats include: Predation, habitat loss, disturbance, development impacts, electrocution and by people who shoot it illegally.

This youngster had been unsuccessfully mouse hunting then flew up into this dead tree in Mt Aspiring National Park and squawked and kek kek’d in the vain hope it’s parents would supply lunch!

The falcon’s wings are angled back like an arrow, the more-so as it dives steeply, giving a shrill cry when it seizes its victim. After it catches a bird, it takes it to a branch or post where it then does some dislocation of the neck before some plucking and eating

When early spring courtship begins food plays an important role. The male chases the female and pretends to attack her, and bonding is sealed when the male carries prey to the female, then she chases him and he offers her the food. They then nest often near the ground, where sadly they are not equipped to fight off cats, stoats and other predators that are keen to feed on the 2-4 eggs laid for an incubation period of just over a month. However they are renown for fiercely defending the surrounding area, and may dive-bomb passers-by aiming for the head [wear a soft hat, not a hard one which may hurt them], especially dogs.

In this picture I had the uncanny feeling that the lower bird was a youngster in training, yet how was the adult communicating? When being photographed they totally ignored me as they silently navigated trees, isolated scrubs, and a hut. Or it could have been the other way around with the lower bird being the adult leading the way, with the youngster at a higher and safer altitude

For this young bird on a fence post in Mt Aspiring National Park, any clearance of native vegetation and/or intensification of land-use practices would significantly reduce the amount of habitat suitable for breeding. This in turn then works in favour of predator populations.

This older male is engaged in courtship ritual and is perched on an old tree stump that at ground level has been used as a nest previously. The female a few hundred meters away was very aware of my presence, and at the time of taking this photo both were engaged in a rowdy discussion, probably about myself whom they know quite well, perhaps questioning whether or not I should be "warned off" in relation to nesting soon.

Takahe – back from the brink | Our Changing World | Radio New Zealand

A few days ago I came across a FaceBook post by Radio NZ about the growing numbers of takahē [one of NZ’s rare flightless birds threatened by extinction] and was so intrigued by it I’ve gathered together some information, and included a link to their article below.

Takahē were rediscovered above the bush line amongst the snow tussock and sub alpine plants of Fiordland’s Muchison Mountains in 1948 by Dr. Orbell , who as it turned out was a neighbour of my grandparents.

Fiordland, Muchison mountains from Lake Te Anau. Photo by Southern Light — Looking southwards to the Muchison Mountains from Lake Te Anau. Photo by Southern Light. Takahē live above the bushline among snow tussock and sub alpine plants/scrubs

And so from a very early age some years after his significant achievement I was aware of his fame, but too young to recall meeting him apart from some hazy memories of him waving from a top-floor window.

Days like this are all the more magical in Fiordland because the norm is rain~ this photo by Southern Light is of a small lake to the north of the Muchison mountains

Once thought to be extinct their re-discovery was followed by decades of conservation effort, yet even today they remain on the ever growing “critically endangered” list. Amazingly they have clung to existence despite the pressures from hunting, habitat destruction and introduced predators.

The phrase “clinging to existence” belies an enormous amount of patient work over six decades on the bird’s behalf and also their habitat.

Why so long, you may ask? Well, the situation in this country where so many bird species evolved in an environment devoid of mammals [excepting bats] meant there were no defences when predators arrived.

We have had to implement the defences, and no one in the world has ever dealt with this scenario so unique. Which really means there has been a lot of experimentation underscored by the odd mistake. Fortunately we’ve been able to react lightly and move on to reach this amazing goal of 300 birds up from several!

Rain in Fiordland — This is more the norm in Fiordland. Photo by Southern Light

Takahē come from times when many large flightless birds were spread throughout the country. They do have wings, but are flightless and only occasionally use them for display during courtship, or as a show of aggression.

Photo from RadioNZ’s article

Takahe numbers have reached 300, for the first time in more than 50 years. It’s a milestone for the endangered bird, which has been the subject of a marathon conservation effort following its dramatic rediscovery in 1948.

Category: Climate Change

Forest and Bird Kaki Conservation Field Trip

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Lake Wanaka’s grebes

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DOC seeks sightings of rare kakī / black stilt October 2016

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Capable of flying at speeds over 100 km/h and catching prey larger than itself, the falcon / kārearea is one of New Zealand’s most spectacular birds.

Like this:

Takahe – back from the brink | Our Changing World | Radio New Zealand

Takahe numbers have reached 300, for the first time in more than 50 years. It’s a milestone for the endangered bird, which has been the subject of a marathon conservation effort following its dramatic rediscovery in 1948.

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Takahe numbers have reached 300, for the first time in more than 50 years. It’s a milestone for the endangered bird, which has been the subject of a marathon conservation effort following its dramatic rediscovery in 1948.

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