Pateke counts
Plenty of Pateke.
Alison Stains
A little old but of interest to those who care about Pateke.
We will obviously have to extend our daytime surveys further up into the forest in future.
I have seen Pateke way up on the open hills in pitch darkness probably 1km from their daytime roosts showing just how nocturnal they are. And Surprise, surprise WAY up stream on ecology track.
Roger and Patte Williams
Tawharanui Pateke Counts from Sharon Kast is a good record to have. This is consistent with the work of Katie Sheridan at Zealandia, her presentation to Sanctuaries of NZ hui last was of interest. Unfortunately no notes with her slides but I do remember the story was these birds go well up some of the waterways (consistent with sub fossil records that had pateke as one of our more common riverine forest bird species before mammalian depredation).
Also- ‘flock counts’ under represented the population by as much as 50 percent (proportion of known birds present at flock site at any one time, most go there eventually) and some birds with stable territories never left their home territory to visit flock sites.
Matt Maitland
For those interested in Pateke, here is a link to some interesting information and photos.