And for overseas volunteers...bien venido, wilkommen, dobro dosli, bien venue!
The Ark in the Park hosts overseas volunteers who come for longer periods of time. For weeks or months they can assist with the usual maintenance duties as many of our local volunteers do, but often have special projects e.g. monitoring species, establishing vegetation plots, assisting in scientific studies. Most of these volunteers are studying or have studied land management, ecology, or various branches of the biological sciences and interning with the AIP project gives them a different perspective from that of their home country.
The positions are voluntary so there are no salaries but AIP can arrange suitable accommodation nearby at a modest cost. Commonly we arrange short periods of time at other projects to add more experience of conservation the New Zealand way!
For further information, contact John Sumich
A volunteer reports:
My time in the bush for Ark In the Park
Five months
ago, after a 25 hour flight, I arrived in Auckland. My name is Masha Leenen and
I am a Wildlife Management student who travelled all the way from the
Netherlands to New Zealand to study the reintroduced North Island Robin
population in the Waitakere Ranges Regional Park.
Already on
my first day in the dense bush of the Cascade Kauri Park I saw my first pair of
Robins. I was amazed by their inquisitive and friendly character. Compared to
European bird species, the North Island Robin can almost be described as tame.
In order to monitor their breeding success, I first had to find the territories
of the Robins. Throughout the five months of my study I therefore fought my way
through supple jacks and other obstacles in the bush. This was the most
difficult part of my internship, considering the size of the area in which the
Robins were released but it also gave me the chance to discover beautiful
streams and remote waterfalls.
Once the
territories were found, I was able to monitor the North Island Robin more
closely. The search for their nests thereby was the most exiting part although
it sometimes took me a couple of hours to follow the female to her nest. By using an extension mirror I was able
to monitor the development of the eggs in the nest and calculate the hatching
day. This was particular important for the banding of the chicks, which usually
took place at about ten days after the chicks had hatched. I applied several
leg rings of different colours for future identification of the birds’ origin and
gender. Once the chicks were
banded and carefully put back into the nest I was able to see them grow
independent throughout the following weeks of their development until they left
the territory.
Being so close to an endangered bird species and getting the chance to monitor their
behaviour and breeding activities was an unique and breathtaking
experience.
I am very
pleased with the knowledge I gained - not only about the North Island Robin but
also about conservation methods in general. Therefore I want to thank all of
the volunteers of Ark In the Park who are spending their free time in the bush and
without whom a project like this would not be possible. In special I thank Karen Colgan and John
Sumich, my supervisors, for their support and the opportunity to be involved in
this great project as well as for unforgettable funny moments in the bush!
I hope to
meet more organisations in which people are working as hard as you are to
enable endangered native bird species to return to their natural habitat!
Thanks for the lovely time!
Masha Leenen
Click [here] to download a copy of the report that Masha completed on her return to the Netherlands (PDF file, 3.8MB)