Useful links

Thanks to an active intervention program, at Whangarei Heads we really do have kiwi in our backyard.

Read more!

September 20th, 2015

2015 August update

Peter Coates Civic Honour

Peter Coates was recently awarded a Civic Honours Award by the Whangarei District Council in recognition of his extensive service to the Whangarei Heads community.

 

Amongst the many things Peter has done he has been a cornerstone of Papakarahi Landcare and WHLF for over 15 years. A well deserved honour Peter – we are very grateful for all your had work. See http://www.wdc.govt.nz/NewsRoom/Latest-News/Pages/Civic-Honours-2015-Coates.aspx for the full details of the award.

Kiwi Predator Control Programme (Funded by NRC and Kiwi Coast):

* sm-Logo-montage -BYK reports

 

 

Catches for August:  

Stoats 3, Weasels 2, Cats 0, Rats 60, Hedgehogs 3 and 9 possums.

With kiwi chicks hatching at the moment the next few months are important for stoat control. September is the time of year when female stoats give birth to their litter of kits and the mature males range widely in search of mates (including any new born kits!).  So it is mainly these large males that are turning up in the traps at the moment coming in at the northern end of our trapped area. Once the kits have had couple of months to grow they will disperse in December – February  and that’s when we usually get our highest stoat catches.   With all this in mind I have started swapping over from using eggs as a lure in the traps to the more effective salted rabbit and increased the checking frequency from 6 weekly to monthly.

 

We have had a couple of wandering dogs lately. One was a visitors dog that  got tracked down pretty quickly, another was dog that has wandered several times and after being returned home his owner has moved him outside the Heads area. If you see a wandering dog ring Environment Northland (the pound) on 438 7513.

 

Meetings etc

Another  WHLF Backyard Kiwi sub-committee meeting is planned for Sunday September 20.

Kane McElrea and I gave Paul Dimery (NRC councillor) a tour of Backyard Kiwi’s work on the ground at the Whangarei Heads

Had Kiwi Coast think tank meeting on August 28.  The good work of this combined effort of the many Landcare groups, organisations  and agencies working together for kiwi recovery is going from strength to strength see http://www.kiwicoast.org.nz/

The Northland Kiwi Forum working group met on August 20 – minutes attached. Peter Handford of trap.org.nz gave a presentation on collecting and storing pest control data for groups.  Ngaire Tyson has organised a training day for Kiwi coast trappers contract trappers to come up to speed with this.

 

Moth Plant bio-control submission

See the email a bottom of this report from Ngaire Tyson of the NZ Landcare Trust seeking submissions to the EPA on the NRC’s application for the approval of a bio-control of moth plant. This weed is real problem for us at the Heads and any bio-control to limit its spread would be great.  Philip has asked me to make a submission in support on behalf of WHLF.  Feel free to make an individual submission if you want to.

 

Radio Tracked Kiwi at Whangarei Heads (Funded by NRC) insert link

4 of the monitored males are nesting and two have hatched chicks to date.  You may have seen the video that we have posted on BYK facebook from the trail cameras set up at Dallas’s nest .  see http://www.backyardkiwi.org.nz/profiles/dallas#more-3000

 

What your radio tracked Backyard Kiwi have been up to:

Waka – In his usual area at Mckenzie Bay. His nightly activity is still high at an average of 11 hours. Not looking like nesting yet.

Darwin – At Lamb Road quarry. 8.5 hours nightly activity, down slightly so may be looking at nesting.

Lambert – Usual area Taurikura Ridge. He is nesting hard with 4 hours activity at day 44, hatch is due mid-September.

Charlie – Has started nesting in the pampas right beside the main road in our high road kill spot!  If he can dodge the traffic he is due to hatch his eggs around mid-October.

Whitu – At Reotahi above the freezing works – Nesting with 3 hours activity per night. The data stream from his transmitter shows that he hatched his first chick on September 1 . I am now waiting for his activity to increase to see if he has hatched a second chick before checking his nest.

Dallas – Nesting at the Hill’s place south of the Heads School. His data stream showed that he hatched a chick after 74 days of nesting and a chick has be filmed by the trail camera outside the nest on several occasions. His activity is still on 3 hours a night showing that he is on a second egg, when this hatches I will check the nest and hopefully catch up with the chicks for DNA sampling and ID chip insertion.

https://youtu.be/bUBHT_yjTWU

EB – Still in the scrub near Kerr Road.  11.5 hours activity.

 

 

BNZONE program (funded by Kiwis for Kiwi):

The ONE dad’s out at Riponui and Rarewarewa have also been busy nesting.

Riponui  

Rippy – usual area, Riponui Reserve. Nesting, 4 hours activity, hatch due mid September.

Rewarewa

Ray – Usual area, Lovell’s Farm. Nesting , 3.5 hours activity, hatch due mid-September.

The Acrobat – usual area, Lovell’s Farm, still not nesting 10.5 hours activity.

 Waimarie – Nesting in shallow burrow in paddock. Hatch due mid-October.

Ngutu Roa – At SW end of reserve. Nesting in deep burrow. Hatched his first chick but his low activity shows that he is probably still on his second egg.

Sancho – nesting in the base of a Kohekohe tree in Lovell’s Bush. His data stream shows that his first chick has hatched and that he is on his second egg still. I had a carefully look for the chick yesterday but couldn’t see it and didn’t want to disturb him on his second egg so will check again on my next visit.

CFU – Nesting in shallow burrow in small stand of trees in paddock. His activity is 3 hours per night and his hatch is due early October.

The Boxer – He is nesting again at the west end of the reserve. His activity was 5.5 hours at day 15 and his hatch is due late October.

Cheers

Todd Hamilton
Backyard Kiwi Project Manager

 

Comments are closed.

WHANGAREI HEADS LANDCARE FORUM