Graeme Simpson: Take care of taloned friends as hatching looms

Sery (right) and Ford, one of the pair of native falcons nesting in the Whakarewarewa Forest. Photo / Betty Shepherd

There's the sound of tiny talons in the Whakarewarewa Forest.

Chicks of one of the nesting native falcon or karearea pairs have hatched. Sid Vicious and Bet settled in the Exit Trail area but are well away from traffic.

"This is the fourth year I've observed them together so this is pretty exciting stuff," says Betty Shepherd, one of the volunteers who monitor the falcons. "I'm on cloud nine."

There's more good news with another breeding pair, Maia and Hatupatu, finding a new home.

Betty and another one of the volunteers, Heather Willis, describe it as "a one-bedroom condo with a super outlook", close to their original nest site near Windy Rd and the new grade 2 dual-use trail, Te pou koropu.

The Rotorua Trails Trust has taped this area off with a short 100m detour.

"They currently aren't being aggressive, but this will increase as hatching time is closer," says Betty.

"They abandoned their original nest for unexplained reasons and an egg retrieved from the nest was about four days from hatching."

Please respect all the signage and tape, not just for the sake of your scalp. The effort of defending their space puts a large amount of stress on these birds. The stark fact is that up to 75 per cent of young falcons die before reaching 12 months old.

The On the Wing urban falcon release project is run between Rotorua Museum and Wingspan Birds of Prey Trust, to help save endangered karearea.

Hatupatu and Maia were part of the second release into the wild by Wingspan, became a mated pair and their eggs hatched in Whakarewarewa Forest in late 2015. It was the first time chicks hatched in the wild as a result of the project.

This year a new and second pair is nesting at Waipa and doing well – although Ford, the male, is not quite the expert provider that Hatupatu is.

We suspect he is not that experienced and we cannot be sure of his age. Sery, the female, is only in her first year and we know this from her banding.

"She makes a lot of noise and seems agitated at times, it initially appeared that she was not getting breaks she wanted off the nest but in the last few days this appears to have changed.

"If you hear a kek, keking coming from the trees on the trail don't be too concerned, it appears that this female is a little more vocal than others we monitor."

Both Betty and Heather say the mountain-biking fraternity and forest users have been fantastic.

"Mostly they are aware of the falcons' presence. Yesterday I watched some riders going through and they looked skyward up to the falcons' favourite tree just hoping to get a glimpse as they breezed on through. So special."

The volunteers are checking both sites daily, sometimes twice a day.

"So far there've been no attacks, just a couple of flypasts which are more like a hello thing but not with landing gear down," says Betty. "Soon as the talons drop they mean business."

The volunteers have named these birds in the interim for monitoring and recording purposes.

You can sponsor one of them and name it yourself or make a donation:
www.wingspan.co.nz