February update
Whangarei Heads Landcare Forum – Backyard Kiwi – Feburary Report 2014
Thanks to all those dog owners who have shown responsible dog control over the summer. Apart from a few visitors taking dogs on tracks dog control has been great at the Heads. Our local kiwi certainly appreciate it!
What your radio tracked Backyard Kiwi have been up to:
Darwin – Was nesting at Lamb road quarry but the nest failed and his activity has increased again.
Whitu – He has re-nested in usual area at Reotahi. Hatch is due early April.
Dallas – At Hills’ by the Whangarei Heads School. His activity is high as he feeds hard after nesting.
Lambert – Usual area Taurikura Ridge – he is still proving very hard to locate in the dense pampas there.
Waka – Caught up with him at McKenzie Bay for his annual transmitter change. He is in good condition even after nesting twice in a dry summer and was 2110g in weight. Locals have heard a new female near by – so hopefully he has found a new mate after losing Charlotte.
Lucky –Has moved higher up the ridge behind McKenzie Bay.
JR- South Taurikura Ridge on the slip above Urquarts Bay – This guy has already had two successful nests this season and is now onto his third!
Charlie – At McNamnara’s at Craig Road – high activity after summer nesting.
Kiwiana – You may have seen the story “7 sharp” did on TV about his return from Massey University after treatment for a broken leg. He has stayed in his usual territory since re-release at the Blicks’ and is showing normal activity. Hopefully this means that he has fully recovered from his injured leg.
Webb – Still on the Kauri Mt coast at this stage.
Bill – Usual area on Kauri Mt coast.
Kiwi Owhiwa road
With the success of kiwi recovery in the Whangarei Heads area kiwi are dispersing northwards. One of Darwin’s chicks that hatched last year at Lamb Road, Paura Bay, was found drowned in a cattle trough at Owhiwa Road. “James” had reached 1625g in weight showing that the trapping by the Lamb Road Landcare group (and others) had protected him from stoats. James didn’t have a transmitter but we could identify him by his ID chip that he got on hatching because we had been monitoring his dad’s nesting.
The “Kiwi Coast” project has been doing great work helping to increase the predator trapping by Landcare groups in the area between the Heads and Tutukaka so these kiwi are getting better protection all the time.
Check out footage of the Days of their Lives!
HYPERLINK “http://www.backyardkiwi.org.nz/our-1st-film-star” http://www.backyardkiwi.org.nz/our-1st-film-star
JR is a male kiwi who was released at the Whangarei Heads back in 2006. We have kept tabs on him since then by the radio transmitter he wears on his leg. He has grown from 1290g when he was released to around 2000g now and settled into an area at the southern end of Taurikura ridge overlooking Urquharts Bay.
He found a mate and they started breeding in 2011. He has had a successful nest each year since then – it is the kiwi dads that sit on the nest after mum’s big effort laying two large eggs.
This year he nested in a burrow in a small bank that we could easily see. After 80 days of nesting his transmitter data showed that he had hatched his first egg so Kane McElrea of the NRC set up a motion sensitive trial camera near the nest (thanks NRC!).
We got some great shots of his two chicks taking their first steps in the outside world. Check out the footage, see the chicks get their first meal of grubs from the ground – and don’t miss the ear scratch!
The other interesting thing the footage shows is the amount of time that the chicks’ mum spends checking the nest out without ever entering it – previously we thought the mums just left things to the dad.
BYK caps now for sale
Get your own Backyard Kiwi Cap, and support the BYK project … available now for $25 from the Parua Bay Garage. Bumper stickers also available.