Whio News 2015

At Oparara/Ugly a 1080 drop in November 2014 was a success with rat numbers reduced from 58 before the drop to 0 after. Scott Freeman reported that summer was the best recorded at the site with 40 wild ducklings and five whione duckling released. Another 1080  drop was planned for this summer.

Kate Steffens reported from the Wangapka/ Fyfe site with very few floods and a dry summer they had the most productive whio season since monitoring began in 2003, with 36 fledgling from 16 pairs, and nine Whione juveniles were released from three clutches.

At the Te Urewera Whirinaki area they set up an entire site in one year instead of two. They installed 1600 double set DOC200s and needed volunteers to help with that. The heavy traps ranged between 16-24kg and had to be carried into the sites. 

Tim Allerby reported the traps caught well. One block caught 26 stoats during one trap check.

Sara Treadgold reported a total of 22 confirmed whio paris were see within the Manganui o te Ao – Retaruke security site. This included 25 ducklings seen over the season.

Predator control saw 120 mustelids and 1372 rodents caught between July 2014-April 2015.

Tongariro Forest Security Site

Mild weather during spring along with a  1080 drop in August and a trap replacement programme saw a total 215 ducklings with 185 surviving to fledge.

A new trap line was installed on the Whakapapanui in Whakapapa Village run by Whakapapa residents. Interesting was the arrival of a whio of very pale colouring and paired up and set up territory on the Whakapapanui. (See Flight 162 p5.)

Egmont National Park Whio Recovery

The whio population at Egmont had a similar  breeding success to the previous season and the census resulted in 86 whio being captured. Of these 31 were adult males, 31 were females and 17 were juveniles. (See Flight 163 p7.)

Egmont whio monitoring presents considerable effort with breeding across eight rivers within the National Park. From September 2014 to March 2015. A total of 32 pairs were located, an increase of two pairs on the previous season. A census was conducted with support and expertise of many whio practitioners and support from the Central North Island Blue Duck Trust. A total of 86 whio were captured though out the duration of the census.

Three adult birds caught were injured, two with  head wounds consistent with injuries by stoats.

Captive breeding

Seventeen juveniles (including three females),  were released into the Park. Ten whio including one female were released into the upper Waiwhakaiho River and seven including two females into the Little Maketawa Stream in February.

The trap network within Egmont National Park is serviced and maintained and since July 2014 trap catches were 245 stoats, 0 ferrets, 28 weasels, 16 cats and 1670 rats. Trap checks have continued for the 42 trap boxes on farmland. 

Emily King

The 2014 season had been the best yet with 39 ducklings reared and 37 released back to the wild. These were from four pairs with Mt Bruce’s pair having three clutches and producing 16 young. A record for a pair in one breeding season. Peacock two pairs produced 18 and Orana Park pair produced five.

The big event for 2015 was the opening of the hardening facility at the Tongaririo Trout Hatchery which has turned out to be a great asset for getting captive juveniles ready for release.

Peter Russell

Having their own water feature right in front of their home is a rewarding and entertaining result for hard work for Steve Clarkson and Lyn Watson.

Several years ago they built their attractive home that sits right on the edge of their main pond, and now after years of toil they have a  grand vista as a backdrop to their everyday living.

Just last year they acquired two Mute Swans. The pair settled in well, and add another interesting touch to the scenery. With luck there will be more than two white swans on that pond.

Steve and Lyn also run a few black and coloured sheep and Lyn takes full advantage of  using their wonderful wool to make a variety of garments and useful items.

Project Taranaki Mounga, a ten year $24 million project involving pest eradication and reintroduction of species over the 34,000ha of Egmont National Park was last December given the green light with a funding commitment by the NEXT Foundation. 

Local philanthropic organisation the NEXT Foundation announced it would invest up to $15 million in the restoration of Taranaki’s native ecology. The Foundation has committed to funding Project Taranaki Mounga, a 10 year project involving pest eradication and reintroduction of species in Egmont National Park.

The venture between the NEXT, DOC, iwi, and the Taranaki community will begin with pest and weed control and the ecological restoration of Egmont National Park and a small number of volcanic peaks and offshore islands. NEXT and DOC have committed to funding the first phase of 18 months with strong interest from other parties. DOC has committed just over  $1.6 million for the first phase.

Work will start on phase one this February and  during the 18 months the project intends to:

• complete a goat eradication feasibility  plan;
• develop a translocation strategy for black  petrel; pateke, kaka, kakariki, takahe, kokako and short tailed bats;
• develop a pest reinvasion monitoring regime;
• extend the predator trapping network to protect birds particularly whio and kiwi.
• translocate North Island robin into the park.

DOC Director General Lou Sanson said he was thrilled Project Taranaki Mounga has been given a green light with the commitment of funding from the NEXT Foundation.

“Project Taranaki Mounga has been recognised  as one of the next big exciting and bold conservation ventures,” said Lou Sanson.

The project’s vision is to protect our mountain for our wellbeing – Ko Taranaki tooku whakaruruhau.

“Given the strong Iwi connection and Whakapapa to Taranaki Mounga, Iwi are a critical partner in the successful delivery of this project.

Lou said the project will create a legacy of cultural, environmental and economic benefits for generations to come.

“Healthy flourishing ecosystems will sustain the quality and abundance of freshwater underpinning the Taranaki economy which adds to New Zealand’s image, and showcases this country’s leadership in pest eradication.

“It’s exciting knowing lessons learnt in Taranaki will be able to be transferred to even larger landscapes when successful,” said Lou.

When I was a kid (and that was a while ago), there was a stream a couple of gullies away from our place with freshwater crays (koura) living there. They were not big but they did taste good.

On a camping holiday at Taupo there was the  opportunity to head off to the lake outlet and dangle tempting tit bits on string and pull up a few koura, and they were slightly bigger than the ones at home.

So it was with interest that recently I read  about a South Island forestry company who decided to stock their fire-fighting ponds with  fresh water crayfish. What a smart idea. They now have 400 ponds.

Takes a while for the little koura to get big enough to provide a good meal, and I don’t know how they would co-habit with ducks, but for those with a good sized pond/lake it just might be a new idea.

It seems their distribution is shrinking through loss of habitat. So this could be an interesting venture or hobby it you have the right sized water area. The Department of Conservation  regard them as a threatened species, so if you lean more toward conservation than a good  meal, this could be an opportunity to do a bit for their survival.

Koura may possibly prefer free flowing water so a quiet pond might not be their home of choice.

But don’t be in a rush to eat them – it takes a while for them to reach eatable size. Feeding them might help. Oh - and you do need a permit if you consider farming them as a commercial venture.

Liz Brook

Predators and pests - battle continues
and that includes rats and mice…

Not an exact science – but  getting better.

It never ceases to amaze me a the continuing number of predators/pests that are dispatched on a yearly basis at “The Patch”, a western coastal wetland an dune property, southern North Island where I have lived for 27 years.

For a number of years we did not record the numbers dispatched, albeit with one Tims trap early on we did account for around 35 ferrets over three years.

However in February of 2008, a record was started. To date that list, which is compiled from mainly pests that my dogs find with others like the hares that keen hunters dispatch and me on a wasp run over the summers read like this: 301 hedgehogs, 131 hares, 37 possums, 40 wasp nests, 4 stoats/weasels, 1 ferret and 10 “others” mice, rats etc. I also run five bait stations for rats/mice.

In May 2009, with the appreciated assistance of Greater Wellington Regional Council, a number of DoC 200 traps were provided to me  and other adjacent wetland owners. I have six of the traps here, located mainly around the wetland areas of the property. In the time since they have accounted for an additional 75 hedgehogs, 80 stoats/weasels, with weasels being the predominate catch, 2 ferrets, 46 rats, 15 mice, a grand total since February 2008 of 742 ‘items’.

Of note, we have not found/shot a possum for over three years, albeit recently during an ‘agency’ initiative three were accounted for on a neighbouring property. What we have found though is that after a run of catching mustelids, the rat numbers go up for a bit an lately the hare count has been high, 17 in four weeks and eight on the run sighted on afternoon. We do consider that bird number, particularly pheasants have increased over recent years. With the ducks it is harder to make a comparison as water levels also pay a very important part in their survival due to hawks and pukeko.

For my traps I use the juice from Sardines in spring water. I have a small sealed container kept in the fridge, when I have about three to  four lots combined it is enough to do a round, once every three months is enough. It is easy  to drip into the trap box. I aim for under the  treadle plate or down the side of the box past the treadle plate, no need to open the trap as it can be tilted up.

The lead into the traps is bare, I have found that keeping this sprayed is best, and also the area around the trap as I consider it allows the breeze to whisk the smell away over the wider area. Note the trap with the hedgehog is has been used extensively by blackbirds to crack snail shells on. Snail juice stains the trap top and snail shells litter the surrounds. One negative of this is that activity by the blackbirds sometimes sets the trap off.

While we now trap very few ferrets, one - an albino is in the photo, also had another earlier in the year. I keep the traps located just inside a fenced margin, firstly just far enough in so that inquisitive  stock don’t set it off, but I also consider that the mustelids do run the margins so the traps are located in that zone. I did widen out the mesh openings to the traps from 3 x 3 squares to 4 x 4 as I found we were not catching big hedgehogs – which we do now.

Ian Jensen

There was a slow start to the New Zealand shore plover/tuturuatu breeding season, most likely due to the severe winter. The Isaac Conservation and Wildlife Trust said three out of four NZ shore plover pairs are breeding. The fourth pair had not bred last spring, due to a grumpy male. 

The first clutches had been lifted for artificial incubation, with eight chicks hatched. Two second clutches have been lifted, with another  due shortly. The third clutches will be left with the pairs to rear. 

Chicks will be directly transferred to offshore island holding aviaries, rather than to Trust aviaries, a new move to minimise dispersal, due to protect hatch site. Department of Conservation monitoring on Waikawa/Portland Island recently reported five pairs on eggs and one pair with a chick.

Photographed (left), a recently hatched critically endangered shore plover chick as it checks out its brooder box surrounds on the hunt for tasty mealworms. Shore plover are one of New Zealand’s very rarest of birds and are one of the world’s most threatened waders. They continue to be on the brink and captive breeding efforts are essential in creating and maintaining translocated offshore island populations.”

Sabrina Luecht

The Isaac Conservation and Wildlife Trust
Brown teal/Pateke

The Isaac Conservation and Wildlife Trust’s seven brown teal/pateke breeding pairs laid their first clutches, with 34 ducklings hatched in total.

Laying of second clutches has now begun. Two older pairs have been released on Rotoroa Island in the Hauraki Gulf, making way for a clutch of orphans coming off Great Barrier Island – providing new genes for the captive breeding programme. The Trust continues to be the major breeder in producing the largest brown teal output for release into the wild.

Find out more about the Trust’s captive breeding activities on Facebook

A unique wader on the brink

Once the common stilt of New Zealand, the endemic black stilt (Himantopus novaezelandiae) remains critically endangered and is considered the world’s rarest wader, despite over 30 years of intensive conservation management.

Black stilts have a distinctive elongated neck, jet-black plumage, red eyes, long red legs and a thin black bill. Due to their variable plumage, juveniles and sub-adults can be easily overlooked amongst pied stilts, while hybrids add to the confusion. Juveniles in their first winter plumage have a black back, smudgy grey hind neck and variable dark markings on the flank. The plumage darkens during their second summer moult, and by mid-summer they are predominantly black. Contact calls are a single or repeated “yep”. Territorial birds are noisy, having a higher pitched and more  penetrating call than the pied stilt.

Typical black stilt habitat consists of wideopen braided riverbeds and associated nearby wetlands, ponds and shallow lake edges. During flooding more stable side-streams, swamps and ponds are favoured. Nesting territories are located in areas with abundant food, such as shallow river channels rich in aquatic invertebrates. Outside the breeding season black stilts move locally within the Mackenzie Basin, but small numbers frequent the Canterbury coast (Lakes Wainono and Ellesmere), and Kawhia and Kaipara Harbours in the North Island.

At the time of European settlement this now exceptionally rare wader was widespread throughout New Zealand and bred at North Island locations until the late 19th century. Settlement intensified swiftly, exotic plants and animals were introduced, wetlands were drained and rivers were channelised. The environment changed rapidly and black stilt numbers decreased swiftly to devastatingly low levels. During the 20th century the range  contracted from being South Island wide, to being confined to Canterbury and Otago by the 1950s, South Canterbury and North Otago by the 1970s, and the Mackenzie Basin by the 1980s. The breeding population is now restricted to the area between the Lake Tekapo and Lake Pukaki basins in the north, and the Ahuriri River in the south. In 1981 the population fell to just 23 birds, which increased to 55 birds by 2005 and 85 birds in 2010. Before the annual release of captive birds, the free-living population was ~130 birds in 2012. We are now in 2016 and the population continues to increase, but only ever so slowly.

Today black stilts face a wide range of threats including habitat loss and modification (agriculture, hydroelectric development, weed invasions, flooding), introduced mammalian predators (feral cats, rats, hedgehogs and  mustelids), avian predation (Australasian harrier and black backed gull), human disturbance (recreational river users disturb nesting adults and crush eggs/chicks), and pied stilt hybridisation (now a lesser issue). The  development of irrigation has seen significant  changes in land use, particularly modification for conversion to dairy farming, resulting in considerable habitat loss. 

To address these threats and increase numbers, the Department of Conservation initiated the Kaki Recovery Programme in 1981. The programme has produced great results by focusing on wild egg collection, artificial incubation, captive rearing of chicks for release, predator control to protect wild populations, research and promoting awareness. 

Only two captive facilities globally breed black stilts for release into the wild – the Department of Conservation in Twizel and The Isaac Conservation and Wildlife Trust in Christchurch. To date the Trust has played a pivotal role in black stilt conservation with 45 birds housed per season. Each season three to four clutches are collected from captive breeding pairs. First, second and third clutches are transferred to Twizel for artificial incubation and hatching, while the last clutches remain with pairs at the Trust. Older chicks  and juveniles then transfer from Twizel to the Trust for preconditioning until release in the Mackenzie Basin. This process is vital for black stilt survival and resumes each breeding season at both facilities. The Trust aims to expand its operations by constructing separate incubation and brooder facilities by 2020, which will result in fewer transfers and enable more chicks to be held on site. 

While intensive conservation management has succeeded at increasing black stilt numbers, the species continues to struggle and remains critically endangered. Annual releases and predator control have prevented black stilt extinction; nevertheless various challenges remain with managing wild populations. Releases on the mainland are limited to certain sites and continue to be a numbers game. In New Zealand many threatened species benefit  from predator-free island translocations; however there are no predator-free island habitats with braided river systems. On average 120 chicks (including wild collected eggs), are released annually, slowly increasing the population. However the post-release survival  rate is only 33 percent with even fewer birds  becoming part of the breeding population. The species long-term survival therefore remains highly dependent on long-term captive breeding efforts and predator control. 

How you can help

• Follow the River Care Code when visiting  riverbeds. • Ground nesting birds, their eggs and  chicks are almost impossible to see. Do not drive on riverbeds from August to December. • Birds swooping, circling or calling loudly likely have nests nearby. Move away so they can return to them, or their eggs and chicks may die.
• A dog running loose can wreak havoc. Leave dogs at home or on leads.
• Jet boats disturb birds and can wash away nests near the water’s edge. The speed limit for boats is 5 knots within 200 m of a bank.
• Place bells on your cat’s collar and keep it  indoors at dusk, night and dawn.
• Plant natives and trap introduced predators  on your property.

Sabrina Luecht

The Isaac Conservation and Wildlife Trust

Why has James (better known as Jim) Campbell been awarded the Member of New Zealand Order of Merit? Usually it is for achievement or service to the community  and for Jim Campbell mainly for services to conservation.

But there is more – read on.

The Order is awarded to those “who in any field of endeavour have rendered meritorious service to the Crown and the nation or who have become distinguished by their eminence, talents, contributions, or other merits”. That is our DUNZ Patron, our Jim. 

The list of reasons below makes that clear:

• A sensitive farmer
• A compulsive tree planter
• A digger of large holes
• A breeder of birds
• An arch-enemy of vermin
• A National Trust Covenanter
• Patron of Ducks Unlimited New Zealand
• A teller of tall (and short) stories
• An outstanding host
• A generous, encouraging and humble gentleman.

There are few people of the Wairarapa who haven’t heard of Jim Campbell – and many well beyond. His reputation as a farmer, conservationist, wetlands creator, water fowl breeder and welcoming host, precedes him. At age 73, an age at which for many, signal retirement, Jim Campbell is constantly in motion – helping, giving, inspiring, leading and directing in the cause of environmental quality.

If ever an Honour was richly deserved; this is it – long overdue to an outstanding environmental role model.

Alan Fielding

and so he should…

Jim Campbell has been recognised for more than 50 years of service to conservation in the New Year Honours List.

Mr Campbell said he was humbled by the news.

“It’s huge. I’ll get used to it, I suppose. We knew the process was happening, it takes a couple of months. But it was a big lift.”

Mr Campbell has had a long involvement in habitat restoration and waterfowl captive breeding and recovery programmes, including whio (blue duck), pateke (brown teal), grey teal and mute white swan.

He has created many wetlands on his property, the largest being a 8ha area covenanted with the QEII National Trust, of which he is a life member.

Mr Campbell joined Ducks Unlimited in 1976, serving as president, board chairman and now co-patron.

He has been a trustee of the Masterton Henley Lake Trust since 2003 and has given more  than 60 years of support to the New Zealand Forest and Bird Society.

As trustee of the Mount Bruce National Wildlife Centre for 25 years, Mr Campbell was instrumental in promoting the building of the classroom facility, and the Sir Edmund Hillary Memorial Lectures.

However, Mr Campbell remained modest about his contribution. “A lot of people do more than I do, but when you start to add up what you’ve done it does get to be quite impressive at times,” he said. “It was a team effort and that goes for a lot of things.”

His passion for conservation was sparked as a child, when he took rides on the mail truck and visited the aviaries on Elwyn Welch’s farm. “I’ve always been interested in that sort of thing, and I was probably encouraged by Elwyn Welch who was one of the pioneers who had a farm where Pukaha Mount Bruce is now.”

Jim has racked up a number of other accolades including a Wellington Regional Council inaugural Ballance Farm Environmental Award.

Courtesy of Wairarapa Times-Age.
Alisa Yongalisa.