Kiwi are being monitored at the Motu Reserve near Gisborne, said Steve Sawyer.
Kiwi are being monitored at the Motu Reserve near Gisborne, said Steve Sawyer.
As part of ongoing and successful restoration efforts, new technology is being used to keep track of kiwi at Whinray Scenic Reserve at Motu.
New VHF transmitters are being attached to the birds to monitor their movement, says Steve Sawyer, of conservation managementcompany Ecoworks New Zealand.
“Currently, 20 kiwi are radio-tagged at Whinray Reserve (near the Waioeka Gorge and breeding is set to start again, with the first eggs laid during July,” Sawyer told the Gisborne Herald.
The old radio transmitters, which last 12 months, are being replaced with new $360 VHF transmitters which will allow the Whinray Kiwi team to monitor the birds and their breeding.
“The local Motu community, through the Whinray Eco Trust, manage the pest control and wildlife recovery in the reserve,” Sawyer said.
“Restoration work started back in 1999 [when] only eight kiwi remained. Ferrets and other pests had killed all but the last brown kiwi in the area.
“It is now home to over 30 adult and juvenile kiwi, with many others living on private farmland in the surrounding Motu area. Over the last 26 years, the stoat control project has allowed kiwi and many other species to recover.”
Certified Kiwi handler/ operations manager of Ecoworks Nicola Carter, with Fern, a kiwi. Photo / Supplied
Sawyer said hundreds of stoats had been removed from the reserve.
“Eighteen out of every 20 kiwi chicks are killed each year by stoats so the brown kiwi population across NZ is disappearing rapidly.”
Sawyer said a range of pests had been targeted in the reserve and greater Motu area due to the threats they posed to native birds, animals and plants.
More than 2500 possums, at least 8000 ship rats, ferrets, weasels, wild cats, deer and pigs, had been eradicated.
“This has allowed the bush to regenerate, forest birds to breed successfully and even lizards, wētā and native bats to increase hugely in number.”
Tuki is a Department of Conservation certified kiwi detection dog. Photo / Supplied
Sawyer said a species of striped skink had also been found.
The striped skink is a small, tree-climbing lizard rarely seen and declining in numbers.
“After years of pest control, it has recovered and lives within mature tōtara forest in Whinray Reserve,” Sawyer said.
A significant population of native long-tailed bats was also present.
“The Whinray trust monitors the bats by using acoustic recorders which can detect ultra-high frequency clicks emitted by the bats as they navigate their way along forest-covered streams inside the reserve.
“They will then fly up to 30km in a single night to feed on insects above streams and in forest clearings.”
Native Hochstetter’s frogs and forest birds were also growing in numbers, Sawyer said.
“The forest bird populations have increased massively since 2014 when the intensive rat control began. Prior to this the forest was very quiet with extremely low bird numbers.
“I think we got there just in time before we lost key species.”
“Over recent years, we have recorded flocks of kererū in neighbouring gardens in Motu and flocks of 20 flying overhead at Whinray. We estimate that Whinray itself supports well over 200 kererū.”
The North Island robin “was also a very rare find and we now have breeding pairs scattered across the reserve”.
Sawyer said rifleman, North Island tomtit, whitehead, korimako (bellbird), warbler and falcon were multiplying due to the control of rats and stoats.
“This is all thanks to a 26-year effort by the local Motu community, working with DoC and the many sponsors and supporters in our community and across New Zealand who have helped us make this possible to drive the recovery of this forest jewel in our region.”
“Joseph Banks initially described the enormous volume and melody of bird song in Queen Charlotte Sound in 1769,” Sawyer said.
“We want to replicate this at Whinray to turn the clock back several hundred years and allow visitors to experience New Zealand forest as it would have been centuries ago.”
