Kiwi Predator Control Programme:

The stoat run has definitely dropped off as expected for this time of year, have moved checks out to monthly.
Traps for February– 2 stoats, 1 weasel, 0 cat, 31 rats, 13 possums and 4 hedgehogs.
Tally for season to date 29 stoats, 7 weasels, 9 cats, 213 rats, 72 possums and 33 hogs.

Kane from the NRC has order us some more Timms traps for possums – numbers are building up in Mt Manaia with no control there for a few years now so if you think you can put 1 or more to use please let me know. Overall possum numbers are way down in the Whangarei Heads compared to a few years ago – it would be good to keep chipping away at the remaining population. The fantastic pohutakawa flowers back in early summer show that we have made a difference.

Kiwi monitoring:

Our adult kiwi seem to have coped well with the very dry summer – apart from Darwin there was no autumn breeding meaning they haven’t had to work too hard over the dry period and are still in reasonable condition. The data streams from their transmitters are showing activities of about 10-11 hours per night, which is the same as the past 3 autumns.

When the rain comes the breeding season should kick off with lots of calling.

What some of your kiwi are up to:

Darwin – After Darwin left his nest I DNA sampled and ID chipped his recently hatched chick – he was named “James” by the landowners at Lamb Road (see photo). No second egg in nest. After multiple unsuccessful visits to the pampas in the Lamb road quarry I finally caught up with Darwin in the wetland beside the road for his annual transmitter change, he was in good condition and weighed 2005g.
Whitu – Usual area Reotahi – activity of 11 hours per night. Kane helped me catch him in the pampas for his 6 monthly check (see photo) – 2005g and reasonable condition. A stay dog was report near Whitu this month but he managed to stay safe.
Dallas – Has moved up to the pines by the School – 11 hours activity.
Lambert – Usual area Taurikura Ridge – activity of 11 hours per night.
Waka – Usual area Mckenzie Bay – activity of 10 hours per night.
Charlotte – in the pampas on the point between Taurikura Bay and McKenzie Bay – Kane helped me catch her for her 6 monthly check – a healthy 2450g and a bill length of 123.5mm (see photo)– which has grown from the last check, showing that she is a young bird and still growing (she is a wild kiwi I found back in 2011). This is a good indication that our stoat trapping is working.

JR – Usual area –South Taurikura Ridge above Urquarts Bay – activity of 11 hours per night.
Charlie – Still showing high activity (11.5 hours) at Craig Road – doesn’t look like he will nest this year.
Kiwiana – At the southern end of Mt Manaia. His activity is around 11 hours per night.
Webb – This is the young female we released in January – caught up with her in pines at Odys for a health check – all good (see photo).
Clover – This is the young male we recently released – he is now about half way along the eastern side of Mt Manaia and cruising around.

Whangarei Heads Landcare Forum – Backyard Kiwi
WHLF project manager report February 2013 (Funded by the NRC).

Kiwi Predator Control Programme:
WHLF run a network of traps from Kauri Mt through to Urquarts Bay to protect kiwi chicks in the area.
After a busy summer the stoat run has started to slow, this year has seen plenty of stoat sightings by locals and we have had a very high catch rate in the predator traps.

Trap catches for February– 4 stoats, 1 weasel, 1 feral cat, 24 rats, 11 possums and 7 hedge hogs.

Tally for the season to date: 24 stoats, 6 weasels, 9 feral cats, 181 rats, 58 possums and 29 hedge hogs.

This compares with 13 stoats at the same time in 2012 and 16 stoats in 2011.

We have hopefully just about made it through the “summer dog visiting season” with no known kiwi kills by visitors’ dogs– long may it last! Thank you to everyone who has helped make visitors aware about the kiwi at the Heads and the need for sensible dog control.

Kiwi monitoring:
As part of our Backyard kiwi programme WHLF have radio transmitters on 11 kiwi spread throughout the Heads area. The transmitters send a data stream showing the kiwi’s activity so that we can tell if they are nesting or not. After a good nesting season the dry weather has certainly put the skids on any more kiwi nesting. Dallas did have a go but his nest failed after 12 days – which could have been a good thing because it was in a sprayed out pampas bush right beside the road in Taurikura – a very vulnerable spot for him to sit for 3 months. Darwin is in the process of finishing his second nest – 1 chick so far.

What some of your kiwi are up to:

Darwin – Nesting in pampas at Lamb Road – 1st chick has hatched – now waiting on his activity to increase before doing transmitter change on Dad.

Whitu– Usual area Reotahi – his activity is high after finishing his nest last month.

Dallas– Had a failed nesting attempt by the road at Taurikura.

Lambert– Usual area Taurikura Ridge – his activity is high.

Waka – Had his transmitter changed because of a suspected intermittent fault in his old transmitter. He was in the pampas by the road at Mckenzie Bay.

Charlotte– She is hiding in the pampas on the point between Taurikura Bay and McKenzie Bay.

JR– Usual area –South Taurikura Ridge above Urquarts Bay – high activity.

Charlie- Still showing high activity at Craig Road – doesn’t look like he will nest this year.

Kiwiana – At the southern end of Mt Manaia. He had his 3 monthly transmitter band check (we check the young birds every 3 months as they are still growing). The landowners were on hand for a quick look at him in their backyard. This the kiwi named by The Whangarei Heads School. Not only are the kids at Whangarei Heads School following Kiwiana’s progress but the Dyke School in Scotland have him on their web page. Pretty cool that kids on the other side of the world are interested in our Backyard kiwi!

Webb – This is the young female we released recently in January – she is now at the Northern end of Mt Manaia and seems to be working her way north.

Clover – This is the young male we recently released – he is now about half way along the eastern side of Mt Manaia and cruising around.

Monthly Update for January
 
The highlight of January was the very successful public release of 3 kiwi at the Hunt’s farm on Robinson Road.
Feedback from the 200 people attending has been great. (Some photos attached – thanks to Kennedy Warne for these pics).

 
It was great to have Chris Espiru of Clover Technologies there to release a young male named “Clover”.  Clover Technologies have kindly supported us with funding for our kiwi work.  The other two kiwi released were young females – “Webb” who got her name by hatching the week that the All Blacks won the RWC (her sibling is named “Ellis”) and K’Uber  (named by Urbernet –sponsors of Limestone Island FOMLI).
 
Clover and Webb have temporary transmitters attached to see how they settle in and all seems well.
 
The new arrivals and resident kiwi would have enjoying the damp conditions of the week following the release. But now with the prolonged dry spell another round of nesting by our breeding kiwi is unlikely this season.  Darwin, Whitu and Waka have finished nesting leaving only Darwin nesting at the moment.
 
What the monitored kiwi are up to:
 
Darwin – Is in gorse at Lamb road, and as suspected he started his second nest in mid December and it is due
to hatch in late Feb.

Whitu – 1st chick hatched news year’s eve – 2nd egg was a dud.

Dallas –  his activity has dropped a couple of times lately so he may be starting another nest despite the dry conditions.

Lambert – 1st chick hatched news year’s day -2nd egg was a dud. Did a transmitter change on him and he was in pretty good condition considering he had just finished his second nest for the season.

Waka – Came back on the radar!!! –  After no transmitter signal since 18/10/12 when he was nesting in Mckenzie Bay. The transmitter data stream indicates that he hatched a chick – the transmitter must have stopped sending a signal for the past 2 months!

Charlotte – Is back on the roadside in Mckenzie Bay

JR – Helen helped me nab this character in the gorse and rank Kikuyu on Taurikura Ridge. He was a healthy 1990g and now has a new transmitter.

Charlie – Still showing high activity at Craig Road.

Kiwiana – At the southern end of  Mt Manaia.

Webb – This is the young female we released recently at the Hunts’ – she is now about half way done the eastern side of Mt Manaia.

Clover – This is the young male we recently released – he is at the southern end of Mt Manaia and cruising around.

We released two more kiwi at the Heads this month.  These kiwi came from Limestone as part of our ONE programme. “JJ” (a female named after Heather and Greg Stump of FOMLI) and “Kiwiana” (a young male named by Whangarei Heads School) were released at Dudins’ farm at McLeod Bay after visiting Whangarei Heads School first. JJ has moved high up onto Manaia Ridge and Kiwiana has made his way over the ridge and then back to above the school.
 
Meanwhile the local kiwi dads continue their second round of nesting for the season. Otherwise November was not a good month for WHLF monitored kiwi with a drowning, a transmitter failure and several kiwi being uncooperative for their transmitter changes.
 
• Darwin – Is showing high activity – hopefully feeding up for a second nest at Lamb road
• Whitu- Is sitting tight on his second nest – due to hatch late
• Dallas-  Still feeding up between nests near the main road below the Heads
• Lambert- Holding tight on his second nest – due to hatch late December.
• Waka- Unfortunately Waka’s transmitter has failed – hopefully he is doing ok at Mckenzie Bay.
• Charlotte- (Waka’s mate) Is spending time in the pampas on the point between Mckenzie Bay and Taurikura Bay.
• JR- Is due his 6 monthly check but is hiding in dense Kiekie at the southern end of Taurikura ridge.
• Charlie- This young fella –he is 3 years old this month- is still enjoying the single life.
• Drummond – We released Drummond at Kauri Mt back in July and she has stuck close to the release site – unfortunately this young kiwi did not show good water sense and has drowned in a dam – not an uncommon death for young wild kiwi before the mature.