Newsletter

Theme of the week : Blue

With this in mind, it was with no surpirse that Rangitaiki biodiversity staff were off for a fortnight of whio (blue duck) survey on the Whirinaki River.

Did you know - these birds are only one of three which choose to habitate fast flowing rivers. Studies have found that whio are reducing in numbers around the country due mainly to habitat loss andpredation (mainly through stoats).

It is estimated that there are only2,500 birds remaining - meaning they are 'nationally endangered'. The Whirinaki Forest Park is one of four designated areas to protect the whio in the North Island to ensure that this species survives for all New Zealanders to enjoy into the future.

We're especially lucky as the Whirinaki River runs by many of our tracks with prime oportunities for viewing these special ducks. We undertook the survey to assess the survival rate of the females and their offspring.

This required four people wadingthrough freezing cold fast flowing water, in wet suits and herding the whio into nets. Once a pair was caught they were banded and females had transmitters also attached to their tail feathers.

There are about 21 pairs along the main stretch of the river, ofwhich 16 are now banded. This spring we will be monitoring their breeding success and survival to find out what is affecting them.

Advertising is expensive - especially when you're in a start-up business, running an off-the-beaten-track event. Epic Events director Nick Reader faced a bill of a couple of hundred dollars per image for a brochure for a new Whirinaki Forest Park mountainbike ride he's planning for November. Lucky for Nick, and us, his eventhas a better chance of financial success thanks to a set of photos we commissioned by Tauranga photographer Ross Brown. The photos are available free to anyone promoting the forest park and are just one of the ways we're making it easier for sustainable, quality ventures to get started and provide opportunities for the communities next to our important conservation sites. It's not exactly a new way of thinking for us, let's just say we've learned that everyone struggling to change a tyre on the side of the road would prefer a helping hand to words of advice.

Thanks to thehard work of the Kaharoa Kokako Trust (KKT),kokako are beginning to spread beyond the Kaharoa Conservation Area onto neighbouring properties. KKT is a community group, who for the last ten years have toiled away at pest control operations prior to the breeding seasons of these iconic native birds. Ecologists recently conductinga survey identified several pairs of kokako have made their home in pockets of bush on privately-owned land outside the Conservation Area. With five significant kokako recovery programmes currently taking place within the region, the findings strengthen the Bay of Plenty's claim as a stronghold for the endangered bird. Approximately 60 pairs are monitored at Kaharoa,22 pairs at Mokaihaha over 30 Pairs at Rotoehu, 15 at Opuiaki and 22 at Manawahe. Through deforestation and introduction of pest species kokako populations are lockedinto small pockets of forest and their ability to breed is significantly reduced. To see them emerge from these pockets isencouraging.It is hoped that eventually an ecological corridor can link the five areas providing a way for species such as kokako to move freely between areas, thereby increasing their genetic fitness and further increasing the likelihood of their long term survival. KKT are now beginning to work with neighbouring landowners to increase the kokakos protection outside of the conservation estate.