Newsletter Summer 2011
Double Vision
Although currently possessing excellent vision, Andy Warneford was wondering about his acuity when in the single visual field of his binoculars one early December morning he saw four kokako...
Topics:
• kokako thriving in the Waitakeres
• rat research
• Waitakere biodiversity is top of the table
• bird monitoring in comfort (some of the time)
• transformation of the Ark storehouse
Newsletter Spring 2011
A Great Cause for Celebration: kia kaha kokako
On September 10 many of those with a love for the wonderful New Zealand environment came together to celebrate another great achievement, the successful reintroduction and breeding of kokako in the Waitakere Ranges.
Topics:
• kokako celebration
• Diary of a kokako catcher
• Monitoring day
• Those numbers, again.
• Easy bird watching!
July 2011 Newsletter
Whitehead Release No. 3
"A lot of air time" laughs Jenny Waite as she describes the rough crossing to Tiritiri matangi for our most recent translocation. Months of planning seemed destined to failure as stormy weather arrived. The expected...
Topics:
• Whitehead capture and release
• Kereru feeding frenzy
• Kokako update
• Senior (robin) Citizens
• End of an Era
• Concert night
April 2011 Newsletter
Home Grown
Timing is everything and by timing the visits of our first kokako pair, Maurice and Kowhai, to their nest and observing when the frequency of visits increased we knew an egg had hatched and a chick was being fed...
Topics:
• Ark kokako fledgings
• Matuku neighboring wetland reserve
• Culver Academies lend a hand
• News from mexican offshore islands
December 2010 Newsletter
First Kokako Nest in 80 Years!
Easing ourselves onto the rimu leaf-littered ground, we kept our eyes on the slightly darker, denser collection of branches in the canopy that Robbie had pointed out to us...
Topics:
• First kokako nest
• World Premiere of 'Predator Wars'
• Mysterious Trench
• Stoat genotypes put to use
September 2010 Newsletter
Wasp Study
From journalist in Mumbai to being a volunteer in the Waitakere ranges could be argued a significant change, but the absence of the odd 20 million people hasn’t fazed new volunteer Natasha Sahgal...
Topics:
• Wasp study
• Lizard monitoring
• Team Robin
• Kokako old and new
• Starbucks, Boeings...and Natasha
June 2010 Newsletter
Moby and Punga
Moby and Punga—not quite the same ring to it as Romeo and Juliet but hopefully these star-crossed lovers have a better fate.....
Topics:
• Kokako release
• Canopy corps
• Rare plants for rare fauna
• Kokako old and new
• Contractors
September 2008 Newsletter
Strange Birds
....Some 4 km away from the Cascade Kauri Park where we released hihi this year and last, are several homes along a bush- fringed dead-end road. Yvonne and Mike's home overlooks native forest extending down to Swanson, but they were aware for many months of hihi calls in the valley below them. Placing sugar-water feeders that the birds are familiar with was the right inducement. Soon, the hihi was coming close to the deck railing on which the feeder was mounted...
Topics:
• What the hihi are getting up to
• skinks are important too
• roving robins
• concert report
June 2008 Newsletter
Double Act
An autumn as busy as this is unlikely to occur very often, but Ark in the Park rose to the challenge of two translocations, one in April, the second in May. After our translocation of whiteheads in2004, there was a rapid dispersal of some of these birds through the Waitakere Ranges with sightings as far away as Huia, [20 km] after only 3 weeks. With unbanded chicks seen 12 km away in the first breeding season and sightings also in the general Ark area, we knew the birds were still present...
Topics:
• hihi capture and release
• whitehead capture and release
• news of overseas volunteers
• hihi monitoring
• track improvements
March 2008 Newsletter
Hihi Success Rewarded With Another Transfer
February marked the passing of 1 year since the first release of hihi at Ark in the Park, perhaps the most significant release yet in the history of hihi translocations, given that the vegetation of the Ark most closely resembles the mature North Island forest habitat hihi would once have predominantly occupied, as compared to the other release sites to date. The results of the first year have yielded many positives, with hihi readily utilising the abundant natural food on offer at the Ark site, as well as the sugar water feeders they were familiar with on the less botanically diverse Tiritiri Matangi Island, their original capture site. A further positive sign was the discovery of two nests in natural cavities during the breeding season (as well as ledglings seen from a third), despite the fact that all Ark birds would have been raised in eye-level nest boxes on Tiri...
Topics:
• success of 2007 hihi transfer
• bus shelter transformed to an Ark gateway
• third breeding season for robins
• the support given by Friends of Arataki
Our chairman, John Sumich, compiles a newsletter every three months. Click on one of the headings (or images) below to view a pdf file of that quarter's newsletter. They provide an entertaining and very readable summary of what has been going on in the Ark.