February 14^th Kiwi release (Funded by Kiwis for Kiwi)

442 people attended the kiwi release

Thank you all for the team effort that made the recent kiwi release at Dudins’ so successful.  The head count was 442 and even though it was big crowd the feedback was that it was still a fantastic kiwi experience.  These releases really do engage people, they loved welcoming EB, Kaha and Manaia to their new home. EB (named after the late EB Firth who’s family have kindly supported Backyard Kiwi after being involved in selling Heather Hunt’s book “Kiwi – the real story”http://www.backyardkiwi.org.nz/home/about-us/kiwi-the-real-story-picture-book) was the only one of the three kiwi fitted with a radio transmitter. EB moved up the eastern side of Manaia the night of the release but I lost his radio signal after that and didn’t pick it up until nearly two weeks later (I was getting grumpy looking for him!). He is now in the scrub between Kerr Road and Kauri Mt Road – almost 6kms away! So much for getting a kiwi to monitor in McLeod Bay – this is the third guy that has walked out of there while kiwi from other release sites have previously walked into McLeods – they obviously just want to look around before setting up home.

Members of the Firth Trust
With illustrator Heather Hunt and “KIWI the real Story”

Upcoming Release
In association with the Bream Head Conservation Trust we are planning a kiwi release for Bream Head – meet at the Urquart’s Bay carpart at 5.45pm on Monday March 16.

Kiwi Predator Control Programme:
Catches for February:  Stoats 2, Weasels 3, Cats 1, Rats 51, Hedgehogs 11 and 12 possums.

Kauri Die Back
Martin organised a boot cleaning station from the NRC for the start of the Manaia track. He, Danny Tuato’o and Tony Phipps got a sweat up installing it on Sunday morning – well done guys- thank you.

Radio Tracked Kiwi at Whangarei Heads
What your radio tracked Backyard Kiwi have been up to:

Waka – Usual area at Mckenzie Bay/Taurikura point- activity is 8 hours – he is due a transmitter change but he is holed up in a dense gorse patch at the moment.

Meet Murdoch, Darwins new chick 11days old

Darwin – at Lamb road quarry. Nesting in the pampas there – he hatched 1st chick after 64 days – it has been ID chipped and DNA sampled (photos attached). At 11 days old he was 275g and has been name Murdoch by Lamb Road locals in honour of Murdoch Ross. Darwin is still on second egg which should be hatching any day now..

JR - Still no signal from this guy –looking more like transmitter failure all the time

Lambert - Usual area Taurikura Ridge. Has started nesting again – his third for the season! He had got to 27 days nest on 2/3/15 (on his way to 70-80 days). His nightly activity is mere 3 hours.

Whitu – Seems to have settled on the face above the freezing works – 10 hours activity per night.

Charlie – Usual area at Craig Road- nesting over 80 days with no signal for hatch- the transmitter may have missed it the change in activity. His activity has been up on a  couple of nights but his nest is in pampas and rushes and is too dodgy to check until I’m sure he has finished nesting.

Dallas – Usual area by the school – 8 hours activity..

Lucky – still no signal after extensive search- another possible transmitter breakdown..

Breck – Kerr road area. 9 hours activity.

Adam Willetts (Ranger for the Bream Head Conservation Trust) is keeping us updated on the kiwi monitored at Bream Head each month so that we can put them on the Backyard kiwi website updates:

Jules – central Bream Head reserve…BHCT has decided to cease monitoring Jules as he has been too hard to track and constantly evades capture. Monitoring two kiwi will suffice as representative of Bream Head Scenic Reserve area especially with kiwi call counts, trapping results and biometrics monitoring.

Freda – At Busby Head.  Signal is intermittent mortality/low battery signal but has been sighted alive. Due for new Tx ASAP.

Kelly Slater – Homebay….returning intermittent mortality/low battery signal but has been sighted alive. Due for new Tx ASAP.

BNZONE program (funded by Kiwis for Kiwi):
The ONE dad’s out at Riponui and Rarewarewa have finished their second round of nesting too.

Riponui
Rippy - Usual area with 10 hours nightly activity..

The Knight – has hatched his second chick from his second nest for the season.  LC1411 hatched after 85 days of nesting was transferred to Limestone Is 11 days later on 17/2/15.

Rewarewa
Hanga – still feeding up after nesting.

Ray – Nesting – hatched 1 chick after 75 days that was transferred to limestone on 26/2/15, his second egg was a dud .

The Acrobat – He is due a transmitter change but is still playing hard to get in deep burrows

Don’t forget the National Kiwi Hui
The National kiwi hui is to be held in Northland for the first time in many years.  It is to be held at the Marsden Bay camp -

One tree point on May 14-15 –(field trip to the Heads on afternoon of May 13) put the dates in your diary- these hui are always great and this year you don’t have to travel too far.

Kiwi Call counts

The kiwi call count period is May 7 to May 26 this year – I will send an email out closer to the date but if you know already that you are unable to do your station this year please let me know.

 Kiwi release this Saturday
Things are coming together well for the kiwi release on Saturday 14th Feb –  3 kiwi transmitted on Limestone are ready to come off Saturday morning and the weather is looking good at this stage.
Release at the Dudins’ property McLeod Bay at 4.30pm.

Kiwi handler,Ben Barr shares a kiwi moment at the 2014 kiwi release

Kiwi Predator Control Programme:
Catches for January:  Stoats 1, Weasels 1, Cats 2, Rats 68, Hedgehogs 12 and 11 possums.

Only once before have I only caught 1 stoat in January (the average catch for January over the past 10 years is 5.2 stoats!).  As I said last month hopefully this is an indication of how effective the controlled pulse of 1080 at Manaia has been.

Radio Tracked Kiwi at Whangarei Heads
What your radio tracked Backyard Kiwi have been up to:

Darwin – Nesting in the pampas at Lamb Road quarry.  Hatch is due late February.

JR – South Taurikura Ridge- Unfortunately I haven’t had a signal from JR’s transmitter in over a month, even after a good search so he is either hiding somewhere or his transmitter has failed.

Lambert – Taurikura Ridge. His activity has dropped to 6 hours so he may be starting to nest again.

Whitu – Has moved over the ridge from his usual territory. He is now on the slope above the freezing works at Reotahi.  Adam (from BHCT) and I caught up with Whitu and changed his transmitter – he was in very good condition and weighed 2500g, this is because he has had a relaxed summer not nesting! We found Whitu with a new wild adult female – this is probably the reason that he has moved over the ridge! She weighed 2400g, had a bill of 144.3mm and now has a transponder (ID chip) under her skin.  She has been named Marama by Clarie and Graham of Reotahi.

Charlie – Craig Road at McNamaras’. Still on his nest.  Hatch due in March.

Waka – Mckenzie Bay – no sign of nesting.

Lucky – Like JR I haven’t had a signal from this guy for a while so his transmitter may not be working.

Breck – Keeping busy at Kerr road – nightly activity of up to 10 hours.

Dallas- As reported last month Dallas successfully hatched a chick in a pampas bush next to the main road. Heather put the story of Dallas and his chick “Aroha” on facebook and it got picked up by the Leader newspaper.

Adam Willetts (Ranger for the Bream Head Conservation Trust) is keeping us updated on the kiwi monitored in Bream Head:

Jules – In thick pampas on the slip on the North face west of the Peach Cove Track. His transmitter shows non-nesting for 35 days. He is proving hard to catch for his annual transmitter change.

Freda – At Busby Head.  A low transmitter battery gave a mortality signal, then no signal, then normal signal and he was found alive but couldn’t be caught. Rolf and Adam plan to change his transmitter as soon as they can.

Kelly Slater – Above Home Bay – not nesting.

Cheers

Todd Hamilton
Backyard Kiwi Project Manager
Whangarei Heads Landcare Forum
ph 021 1145 385

WHLF Backyard Kiwi November 2014 report
(funded by the NRC):

 


Backyard Kiwi Celebration

Thanks to Heather  Hunt for the fantastic evening celebrating the success of Backyard Kiwi at Newday café.   BYK toasted the community and extended congratulations to everyone who contributed to the ‘2014 Manaia Predator Control Project’.  BYK also released 2 more kiwi prints  to complete the series of 6 fine art prints. On top of that the “Free Range Kiwi” made its official debut and Heather invited everyone to …… “stick your Free Range Kiwi in the ground where it reflects light – it will pop out – make you smile and I hope become a talking point for kiwi recovery around the country”. 
Thanks to Newday café and Grinning Gecko Cheese Company for providing superb food. Please support these local businesses that support their community. Thanks to Philip King, Catherine McNamara, Heather hunt and Ben Barr for their entertaining and inspirational words.

The exhibition is on from 24th of November to the 5th of January, the prints and the Free Range kiwi mini road sign make excellent Christmas presents so go and check them out!!

Kiwi Print exhibition Newday Cafe, 24th November to 5th January

Free Range Kiwi , mini reflective sign

Meet the Free Range Kiwi
A Champion of Kiwi Recovery

Manaia Landcare

For the follow up monitoring results  of the 1080 pulse at Manaia see http://www.backyardkiwi.org.nz/manaia-landcare/page-4).   Thank you for all those involved, not only has this team effort lead to a fantastic medium term boost to the forest and fauna health of Manaia it has been the catalyst for the formation of a new Landcare group- Manaia Landcare MLC – this is great for the long term future of Manaia.   Thanks to Martin and all those that came to the recent shed BBQ meeting to put their thoughts into the future of MLC – see Martin’s attached notes from that meeting and please contact him if you have any input or want to get involved in the action on the ground.

Kiwi Predator Control Programme:

Catches for November:  Stoats 3, Weasels 0, Cats 4, Rats 54, Hedge Hogs 13 and 13 possums – we are working extra possum traps around Manaia to try and mop up those possums on the edge of the 1080 pulse area.

Likewise I’m working the predator traps hard as this is the time of year that the young stoats from inland disperse and reinvade the trapped area.  Thanks to those that have got me rabbits – I now have a full freezer.

Radio Tracked Kiwi at Whangarei Heads

After a good 1st round of nesting over the spring the dads are now re-nesting for a second round.

What your radio tracked Backyard Kiwi have been up to:

Darwin – In pampas at Lamb road quarry, feeding up after nesting- activity 9 hours per night.

JR – South Taurikura Ridge. Has started his 2^nd nest, activity 4 hours per night, hatch due early January.

Lambert – Taurikura Ridge. Also on his 2^nd nest , activity 4 hours, hatch due mid December.

Whitu – Usual area at Reotahi. He has finally started his 1^st nest, 4.5 hours activity, hatch due late January.

Charlie – Craig Road at McNamaras’. Activity 9 hours, proving elusive in scrub and pampas..

Dallas – 2nd nest in a pampas bush that is within 5m of the main road McGregor’s Bay/Taurikura. Activity 2.5 hours activity and hatch is due around xmas.

Waka – He is still moving between Mckenzie Bay and the pampas on the peninsula at the south end of Taurikura Bay – Activity ranging from 7 to 9 hours but he still hasn’t started nesting!

Lucky - He has still up to the very top of Taurikura Ridge. Activity 8 hours.

Breck-spring 2014

Breck – this is the kiwi caught in a life capture possum trap at Kerr road last month. The landowner, Callum, and I caught up with Breck for a health check – he/she was holed up in a tomo– his/her skin is healing  and weight has increased by 115g in a month. See attached photo – the blue thing is the radio transmitter.

BNZONE program (funded by Kiwis for Kiwi):
The ONE dad’s out at Riponui and Rarewarewa are also starting their second round of nesting.

Tutukaka LC release
We released two of the creched kiwi from Limestone at Tutukaka. These kiwi are part of our combined BNZONE programme with Bream Head Conservation Trust, Tutukaka Landcare and the Kiwi coast. Over 230 people got the opportunity to see them up close at Glenbervie school and then at the release.

Meetings/Reports/Happenings etc.

Kiwi Coast think tank meeting 25 November

WHLF Backyard kiwi meeting 2 November

Manaia Landcare meeting 6 November.

Had a kiwi session with Huanui College while they were on camp at McGregors Bay.

Have a good December and please remind any visitors over the summer with dogs to control them.

Cheers

Todd Hamilton

Backyard Kiwi Project Manager

Whangarei Heads Landcare Forum

ph 021 1145 385

http://www.backyardkiwi.org.nz/

WHLF Backyard Kiwi October 2014 report (funded by the NRC):  

ANOTHER KIWI KILLED ON THE ROAD!

Another kiwi has been hit by a car on the stretch of road just north of McLeod Bay.  The badly hurt kiwi was found by a landowner who took it for treatment but it died. It was an adult female with no ID chip so was a wild hatched kiwi. This is the sixth kiwi killed on this short stretch of road in recent years – it is a definite crossing area for kiwi and we have put up “Kiwi Crossing” signs. We are looking at more signage. Please keep an eye out at night for kiwi on our roads.

Radio Tracked Kiwi at Whangarei Heads    Chicks are still hatching all over the place!

What your radio tracked Backyard Kiwi have been up to:

 Darwin – Finished nesting in the pampas at the Lamb Road quarry.  He hatched 2 chicks named  “Frank” and “Harold” (see photo) after Frank Lamb who recently passed away.  Both these chicks had feather samples taken for DNA records and ID chips inserted before going back into the nest with Darwin.

 JR – South Taurikura Ridge. JR has already hatched 2 chicks this season and now his nightly activity has dropped so he may be renesting.

 Lambert- As I reported last month this champion dad has already hatched 18 chicks since 2009 and by the look of his declining night time activity is starting to nest again.

Whitu – Still hasn’t nested and I keep loosing his transmitter signal only for him to reappear a few days later. This may be because of the big rock fall at Reotahi – he may have lost his mate and be looking for her or his signal could be being blocked by the rocks if he has found a way to tunnel in to the rock pile.

Charlie – Craig Road at McNamaras’. This guy is well overdue his 6 monthly check but has a habit of roosting (curling up for his daytime sleep) in places I can’t get to.

Dallas – Has renested very close to the main road – McDonald road intersection again. His mate Kahurangi certainly likes to lay eggs near to the human action! Please be extra careful when walking your dog on the roadside.

Waka – He is still moving between Mckenzie Bay and the pampas on the peninsula at the south end of Taurikura Bay – hopefully he will find a new mate soon.

 Lucky – Still playing king of the castle on the very top of Taurikura Ridge – no sign of nesting yet for this young fella.

 Breck- This is a new kiwi that was caught in a possum live capture trap by a landowner at Kerr Road. The landowner was quick to give me a call so   I could check that the kiwi was ok. It was named “Breck”, weighed 1890g and had a bill length of 110mm, she or he was bald on the bottom half of her body (see photo) which the vets think may be caused by youthful hormone imbalances!!.  Breck is now radio transmittered so I can monitor her health.

BNZONE program (funded by Kiwis for Kiwi):
The ONE dad’s out at Riponui and Rarewarewa are still busy hatching chicks too. 2 more were transferred to Limestone Is into Bernie’s safe hands.

In return two young kiwi that had safely grown to the required release weight were recaptured on Limestone and released in the Tututkaka Landcare Coalition managed area.  These young kiwi “Hou” and “Koru” were last year’s chicks and visited Glenbervie School before meeting over 100 locals at the Bowden’s property at Tutukaka and being released.  It is always great to see the smiles on peoples’ faces when they get to see a kiwi up close.  Kiwis for Kiwi have been great supporters and funders of this work and the Kiwi Coast also supply funding.  Thanks!

Kiwi Predator Control Programme:

Because this is the time of year when there are heaps of kiwi chicks about stoat control is extra important. Stoats are being caught just north of our area but things are still very quiet at the Heads, even though I’m working the traps extra hard! The lack of stoats is because of the Manaia Landcare 1080 work done in the spring. That MLC effort cleaned out much of what was left of the local stoat population. Unfortunately the new season young stoats are starting to disperse from untrapped areas inland (as they do every year at this time) so we have to keep trapping to minimise the reinvasion.

We are also putting an extra effort into catching the possums that are moving back into the Heads at the moment.

Monthly Catches:
Stoats 0, weasels 1, cats 2, rats 61, hedgehogs 17, possums 12

NRC Pest Management Plan.
Philip King and I attended a workshop/think tank that gave input into the new Pest Management Strategy Plan that the NRC is currently drafting.  We will let you know when the plan is released and how it may affect us.

Backyard Kiwi Artwork

Join us in  celebrating another great year for kiwi on the Whangarei Heads peninsula. Backyard Kiwi  are releasing two more of Heather Hunts  magnificent kiwi prints   as part of an up coming exhibition at the Newday Café at Parua Bay – 24 November – 7pm – come along and meet the Free Range Kiwi too!
Share a glass of wine and Newday nibbles and award winning Grinning Gecko Cheese!

Proceeds form the sale of prints support the Backyard Kiwi Project

Cheers
Todd Hamilton
Backyard Kiwi Project Manager, WHLF

Todd Hamilton and Helen Moodie at the Pride of New Zealand Award night

Thank you for the all the wonderful support we got for the NZ Pride of New Zealand award.  After winning the Upper North Island Environmental award the publicity for Backyard Kiwi and Whangarei Heads cranked up. The National award ceremony was even better publicity and was a privilege to be part of - we (myself, Helen, Heather and Martin attended) were very proud to represent WHLF Backyard Kiwi. Kathleen Mato of the Hawkes Bay deservedly won the National award for her ongoing community work on water quality and was a delight to meet.

Manaia Pest Control The combined WHLF, NRC, Doc, Kiwi Coast pest control project for Mt Manaia has been a great success – see the BYK website http://www.backyardkiwi.org.nz/manaia-landcare  for the full story –  a big thanks to Marita Hunt and Jeremy Warne for their fantastic presentation of the story of the project.  The get together at the end of the 1080 work was full of enthusiasm to continue work on Manaia as the Manaia Landcare group. A BBQ at Martin’s shed on November 6 from 6pm is planned to keep things moving along – please come along.  

Kiwi Predator Control Programme: The next few months stoat trapping is crucial for kiwi chick protection. Female stoats are current raising their litters and large male stoats are ranging widely look for mates (any female stoat) – 3 large males recently turned up in the new Kiwi Coast funded traps I service for the Kohinui Catchment Landcare group (between Owhiwa Road and Te Rongo Road). The increase in predator traps between the Whangarei Heads and Tutukaka should help keep stoat numbers down – especially when the young start dispersing in December-January but we still need to keep the pressure on them at the Heads. From a record keeping point of view the end of September marks the end of the trapping season for us. Total catches from the WHLF predator traps are shown below in comparison with last season. This doesn’t include the possum and rat work done by individual Landcare groups.  Those of you running predator traps – can I please have your catches for Oct 2013 to Sept 2014 to add to the tally.

Predator trapping 2012-2014

I will do a full report some time but a couple of points of note: Stoat catches have returned to our more usual numbers after | 2012-13 being the biggest season tally for us since our knock down year of 2002-2003 Weasel numbers are way up on our usual catches – possibly due to the lower stoat numbers (stoats prey on weasels) Hedge hogs – after a steady decline to an all time low of 49 last season this year was a record total of 140 – scientists had told us that our trapping wasn’t intensive enough to control them at low numbers and they were right! I’m short of rabbits for bait – If you have any they will be gratefully

Radio Tracked Kiwi at Whangarei Heads Chicks are hatching all over the place!

What your radio tracked Backyard Kiwi have been up to:  Darwin – Nesting in pampas at Lamb road quarry.  He hatched his 1st chick after 69 days nesting on the 26 September. This chick is named “Frank” after Frank Lamb who recently passed away. I will monitor him to see if there is a second hatch. JR – South Taurikura Ridge. He hatched two chicks, the first on 1 September after 71 days nesting and the other a few days later (see photo) – we need some names for these guys – any suggestions. They have been ID chipped and DNA sampled.

JR’s Chick Spring 2014

Lambert – Taurikura Ridge. Nesting in the pampas in Geoff Pike’s pines. This champion dad has hatched another chick after 79 days nesting- his 18th since 2009!  I even managed to get a long over due transmitter change done on him.

Whitu – Usual area at Reotahi. Still hasn’t nested – hope he didn’t loose his mate to the big rock slide in his territory.

Charlie – Craig Road at McNamaras’. Has finished nesting with what looks like two chicks from his transmitter’s data stream – first hatch on 19 Sept after 71 days nesting. I couldn’t get close to the nest in gorse and pampas without risking squashing the chicks so have left them be.

Dallas – This guy stopped nesting after 67 days and as he had nested in a long hollow log – in rank kikuya within 5m of the main road at Taurikura.  I couldn’t see if he had any chicks. But Jack and I were lucky enough to catch up with him and his mate shortly afterwards. He was a healthy 2200g and cuddled up with “Kahurangi” – a Limestone Island bred female that we released back in 2009!  She was a healthy 2800g and hopefully getting ready to produce some more eggs.

Waka – He is moving between Mckenzie Bay and the pampas on the peninsula at the south end of Taurikura Bay – I gave him his 6 monthly check recently and he was a fat 2950g – he really does need to find a replacement mate and put that body weight into nesting!

Lucky September 2014

Lucky – He has moved up to the very top of Taurikura Ridge. I caught up with him in the pampas for a transmitter change. This young wild male is still growing and is now 2350g and has a bill length of 101.3mm (compared with 2010g and 99.3mm back on 8/5/14).  

BNZONE program (funded by Kiwis for Kiwi): The ONE dad’s out at Riponui and Rarewarewa are busy hatching chicks too. 5 have been transferred to Limestone Is into Bernie’s safe hands to date.

Kiwi Kills A young female kiwi was found wandering in the garden of a house at Reotahi during the day – it was starving due to a broken bill and had to be put down.  There have been rumours of people using ground laid leg hold traps in the area, please any leg hold traps must be raised 70cm above the ground!!! Another kiwi, a large female, also had to be put down after being hit by a car – guess where? At the Craig road hotspot right by the kiwi crossing sign, the poor bugger that hit her wasn’t feeling very happy but he justcame around the corner and couldn’t stop. The up side is that both these kiwi were wild hatched kiwi that wouldn’t have even been about if it wasn’t for the trapping work being done and the driver of the car was a local trapper.  

Meetings/Reports/Happenings etc. Kiwi Coast think tank meeting 1 August WHLF Backyard kiwi meeting 3 August

Waimate North Landcare Trappers day 17 August was a great day attended by 150 Landcare folk. We made a day of it and took a car up with the BHCT rangers and Bernie from Limestone.

Northland Kiwi Forum meeting 19 September – this group continues to work for the betterment of Northland kiwi.

Martin and I attended the 50th anniversary of Rodent Eradications Symposium at Auckland University and were heartened to hear about by the research work being carried out on pest control – especially the importance of community groups. Took part in review of Kiwi Coast funding of WHLF Backyard kiwi work by external consultant.

Kiwis for Kiwi – Save the Kiwi Month To support the Kiwis for Kiwi publicity about kiwi recovery this month Bernie from Limestone has put together a “Kiwi walk and wine and cheese evening” on Limestone to be auctioned on Trade me as a combine FOMLI – WHLF event. Please bid away!!

Two new Backyard Prints and The Free Range Kiwi reflective sign for sale.

Backyard Kiwi  are having a partyHeather Hunt is releasing two of her magnificent BYK prints “Running” and “Crouching” in an up coming exhibition at the Newday Café at Parua Bay – 24 November – 7pm. Meet the “Free Range Kiwi” making it’s first official appearance  on a gleaming black and white reflective sign ideal for the out doors – gardens, letter box and driveways – Come along! we should be able to help out with the Christmas present hassles.

Kane has been promoted Lastly I would like to thank Kane McElrea on behalf of all of us for the great work he has done for the WHLF as the NRC project manager for us over the past 4 years. He has been promoted within the NRC and he will be taking up other responsibilities.  Kane has been great to work with as he has a genuine belief in community groups and has worked hard to support plenty of action on the ground by us and other groups. Cheers Todd Hamilton Backyard Kiwi Project Manager, WHLF ph 974 8160 (home)  021 1145 385

WHLF Backyard Kiwi July 2014 report
funded by the NRC 
 




Another busy month with plenty of significant happenings:





Manaia Pest Control:


The combined WHLF, NRC, Doc, Kiwi Coast pest control project for Mt Manaia
continues to rock on. 



Over 50 hard working folks have been involved in the two Saturday pre-feed
operations and then the follow up of careful 1080 toxin placement in bait
stations. Martin has organised these events to go like a well oiled machine.
It has been fantastic to see everyone come off Mt Manaia after a hard day’s
work with satisfied smiles on their faces knowing that they have done a
great job to look after a very special place.



We monitored the bait take and it all points to a very successful operation
that should not only deal to possums and rats but also clean out the stoats 
there.

We should be in for a boomer year for kiwi chick survival this
season, along with all the other flora and fauna benefits.



All the toxin not eaten by pests has now been carefully removed and Martin
plans to do some follow up monitoring with pre-feed. The poisoned possum
and rat bodies in the bush still pose a risk to dogs for the next few
months.



A get together celebration is planed for Sunday 24 August at the Hunts’ shed
at 4pm.

BYK will have the full story and photos on our website explaining the project sharing information gathered from this awesome project
We’ll send you a link when it goes online 
later this month by email and Face Book

Manaia Pest Control- 1st victim

Kiwi Call Count:


Overall the number of calls per hour per station was 6.8, up slightly from
last season’s 6.4 and the number of individual kiwi identified extrapolates
out to a population of over 500. Considering that breeding conditions were
less than ideal this autumn the results indicate the ongoing progress of 
kiwi recovery at the Whangarei Heads – something that we can all be proud 
of.





Kiwi Predator Control Programme:


As expected the traps are pretty quiet at this time of year. 

Trap catches for July: 1 stoat, 2 weasels, 0 cats, 42 rats, 6 Hedge Hogs, 11
possums. 

This doesn’t take into account the effect of the Manaia toxin work which has
taken out an estimated 3000 rats!!!





Dogs:


Unfortunately we have had some new dog owners move into the area who have
not followed the lead of the locals, who are on the whole great at
controlling their pets. One of the new owners has 32 dogs!!! We have been
working with Doc and Environmental Northland ENL (the pound) to deal with
the wandering dogs. If you see a wandering dog please ring ENL on 4387513.







Radio Tracked Kiwi at Whangarei Heads:
Nesting is in full swing. What your radio tracked Backyard Kiwi have been up
to:




Waka - North of usual area at Mckenzie Bay. High activity of
11.5hrs and moving quite a bit. He may be looking for replacement mate for
the drowned Charlotte. 



Darwin – In pampas at Lamb road quarry. Nesting 10 days on
29/7/14. Activity is good and low for 10 days nesting at 4 hours.


JR – South Taurikura Ridge. Nesting – 39days on 29/7/14, 3hrs 
activity.


Lambert - Usual area east side of Taurikura Ridge. Nesting. 32
days on 23/7/14, 4 hrs activity.



Lamberts nest

Whitu – usual area – Reotahi. Activity 11 hrs.


Charlie – usual area at Craig Road. 1st nest lasted approx 13
days. He is now re-nesting – 14 days on 22/7/14 and activity is better this
time at 5hrs (11 hours last nest).

Dallas – usual area McGregors Bay- as suspected his 1st nest
near the sewage pumping station had failed before his transmitter triggered
into incubation mode – I found dud egg there. He is now re-nesting across
the road, which at least is away from the footpath. 45 days on 29/7/14,
3hrs activity.

Lucky -Taurikura Ridge. Activity variable – down to 4 hours
some nights – so he may be starting to nest.







Funding Reports:
June 30 is the end of the financial for some of our funders. We completed
final reports to both the Kiwis for Kiwi Trust and the Kiwi Coast to outline
how we had spent their funding of our work.



The WHLF Backyard Kiwi report is included as part of the annual Kiwi Coast
Report at: 


http://www.kiwicoast.org.nz/kiwi-coast-annual-report-2014/





The Pride of NZ Awards
:

We won!

I was humbled to be nominated to represent the community kiwi recovery at
Whangarei Heads for the Pride of NZ awards by an anonymous nominator (turns
out it was Gail Green from Parua Bay School). After getting through the
Northland round the Northern Regional Awards were held in Auckland last
night. Heather Hunt, Helen and Jack Hamilton attended to represent us and
received the award on our behalf and featured in today’s Herald.





The National Awards are to be held in September. I was a bit worried
initially about accepting the nomination but it is great publicity for the
Whangarei Heads kiwi and community kiwi recovery work in general. I’m very
proud of what we have achieved. 







Cheers 




Todd Hamilton 



Backyard Kiwi Project Manager,

June 2014
It has been a busy month with plenty of significant happenings:

Manaia Pest Control

After much planning and preparation the combined WHLF, NRC, Doc, Kiwi Coast
pest control project for Mt Manaia has well and truly seen some action on
the ground. Martin did a great job getting all the paperwork and
consultation done. He was also very busy remarking the bait-lines and
lowering the bait stations with help from Grant Stevens, Danny Tuato’o and
me.

Then it was all go on Saturday – 31 people put a huge effort in to put
pre-feed into the bait stations – it was a great team effort – a BIG THANKS
to them all and especially Martin for his organization and leadership.

The pre-feed is to attract the rats and possums to the bait stations and to
get them feeding there. Another round of pre-feed is planned for Saturday
July 19 to really get those pests keyed into the bait stations before a
pulse of toxin is put in them.

Kiwi Call Count:
This has been another big team effort. Thank you to all those folks that
have been sitting out in the cold to listen for and record the number of
kiwi calls. The last of the data from the 22 sites is coming in now. Thanks
everyone and thanks to Fay Clayton for helping out with the data entry. I’m
still collating the results as they come in and will have a summary for you
next month – so far the call count numbers look to be down on last year -
this is far more likely to be due to the poor breeding conditions leading up
to the call count rather than a decrease in kiwi numbers.

Kiwi Predator Control Programme:
As expected the traps are pretty quiet at this time of year.

Trap catches for June: 0 stoats, 2 weasels, 4 cats, 45 rats, 9 Hedge Hogs, 4
possums.

I am still using eggs as the lure as the trap checks are out to 6 weekly for
the winter.

Have a look in the predator trapping section of the website for a copy of
a trapping report it summarizes our trap results from last season and
compares them with the previous 10 years and this season to date.

Trappers’ Day coming up:

This year’s Regional Trapping Workshop has been scheduled for Sunday August 17 at the Waimate North Showgrounds.
This will be brought to you by the NZ Landcare Trust and the Kiwis for Kiwi Trust.

The guest speaker will be James Russell, who is involved in Predator Free
NZ, and is a Senior Lecturer at Auckland University. He is particularly
interested in the ecology and control of small mammals, for which he was
awarded the 2012 Prime Ministers Emerging Scientist Prize. James will talk
about the history of pest control, island eradications in New Zealand, and
how these build towards the concept of a Predator Free New Zealand.

Ngarie Tyson ( Ngaire.tyson@landcare.org.nz ) will send out further details
and ask for RSVPs in the first week of August, but mark the date in your
diaries now if you are interested!

BNZONE program (funded by Kiwis for Kiwi):
We recently got the very good news that Kiwis for Kiwi have approved funding
for the “Whangarei Kiwi Corridor Kiwis for kiwi BNZ ONE Programme”. This is
the work we do that leads to kiwi releases for WHLF, Bream Head conservation
Trust and Tutukaka LC – many thanks to Kiwis for Kiwi for their continued
support. This work is also supported by the Kiwi Coast- many thanks also.

Radio Tracked Kiwi at Whangarei Heads
Nesting has begun! What your radio tracked Backyard Kiwi have been up to:

Darwin – usual area at Lamb Road, high activity.

Whitu – in the pampas at Reotahi. He has an activity of 10 hours per night,

Dallas – nesting near the sewage pumping station by McDonald
Road. 4 days on 18/6/14, 7.5 hrs activity.

Lambert – usual area Taurikura Ridge. Nesting, 8 days on 29/6/14, 6.5 hrs activity.

Waka – high activity of 11 hours a night at McKenzie Bay.

Lucky – McKenzie Bay – His activity has dropped to 6hrs so may be nesting.

JR – on the South Taurikura Ridge above Urquart’s Bay. Nesting – 4days on 24/6/14, 6.5hrs activity.

Charlie – at McNamnara’s at Craig Road – Nesting 11 days on 27/6/14 but activity is still 11 hours!.

Dead Kiwi

Unfortunately two dead kiwi were found by locals this month, both wild birds
without transmitters or ID chips:

One drowned in a pool, it had got through the fence and the
pool had a thin cover on it that he walked on then got trapped under. The
cover has been removed now. – his bill was 101.6mm and he weighed 1900g

On the night of Saturday 28 June there was another road kill
in the same place that there were road kills back on 22/10/13 and 4/5/13.
This is the spot where we have erected “kiwi crossing” signs!!! So please be
careful when driving at night. He was a healthy wild bird of 95.3mm and
2070g.