Editorial: Preserve birdlife for our grandkids

The ground-nesting Californian quail are under threat from cats.

Somewhere in the scrub of Napier's Sturm's Gully nests a covey of Californian quail.

As it's my favourite walking spot, I spy them almost every day, the stocky hen and cock birds walking almost as fast as they fly.

If you haven't seen the male's conspicuous top-knot, you've certainly heard his boisterous 'Chi-ca-go' call.

I rate them as the most attractive of our introduced gamebirds - and that's from somewhere who's for the most part indifferent to the dour swathes of introduced bird species.

The distressing truth dawned on an evening walk a few weeks back. Just minutes after passing a female with what was obviously nesting material in her beak, I hadn't walked more than 30 paces before counting five cats.

The brutal truth is that nesting on the ground poses a significant, if not complete, attrition rate.

It's why the new Kotahi Aviary near Cape Kidnappers is such a laudable endeavour.

After it's completed early next year, the 80m long structure will house the shore plover and blue duck (whio), allowing them to be included in the Cape Sanctuary programme.

Cape Sanctuary co-founder Andy Lowe said without intervention, the birds will cease to exist. "It's criminal that in our lifetime, we've allowed this to happen."

The sentiment is heartening to hear.

The introduction of warm-blooded mammalian predators is changing this country's DNA.

In suburbia, the cats reign supreme. Maybe it's time to look at aviaries, nesting boxes or similar urban-based sanctuaries for species we'd like our grandchildren to stand in awe of.