Regions |

Taranaki kids learn about whio

Department of Conservation — 16/04/2013

Sorrel Hoskin, from DOC’s Taranaki Area Office, writes about St Joseph’s Primary School’s recent visit to Egmont National Park to learn about the work being done to protect the endangered whio/blue duck:

Combine 90 excited primary school kids, two passionate DOC rangers, and an enthusiastic regional council educator. Top up with fun facts about whio and mix well. Result? A slightly chaotic but fun filled day of learning about one of our special species, the whio.

Students line up outside the North Egmont Visitor Centre.

The group outside the North Egmont Visitor Centre – the mountain is hidden behind the clouds

Taranaki school students recently spent a day out in Egmont National Park. As it was Whio Awareness Month DOC staff took the opportunity to share some of the work they do on the mountain to help protect the endangered duck.

Biodiversity ranger Emily King usually works with whio and kiwi – so a gaggle of chattering five year olds was a whole new experience, but she soon had them captivated with cool facts about our only white water swimming duck.

Ranger shows students how the stoat trap works.

Ranger Mike demonstrates the stoat trap – SNAP!

There are around 60 whio living in Egmont National Park and ongoing monitoring and pest control is key to their survival and population growth. DOC carries out this work with support from the Central North Island Conservation Charitable Blue Duck Trust and East Taranaki Environment Trust. The good news is the population is growing.

Whio Awareness Month was celebrated throughout New Zealand to recognise the “Whio Forever” project, a Genesis Energy/DOC partnership helping implement a national recovery plan to protect whio breeding areas and habitat. The idea is to double the number of fully secure breeding sites throughout the country and boost pest control to enhance productivity and survival.

A student, 5 year old Asten, holds a stuffed stoat.

Five year old Asten gets close to a stoat

Community relations ranger Mike Tapp set up a game of predator hide and seek along a bush walk. Kids had fun finding the stoat, rat, cat, weasel and ferret hidden amongst the undergrowth, and learnt about some of the key predators of the whio and other native birds.

Taranaki Regional Council’s Kevin Archer took groups of children for a walk through some of the forest – pointing out where whio and other native birds might like to live.

While feedback from the students was mixed and often amusing (who knew that polar bears were a major predator of whio?) some of the key messages were getting through.

A whio swimming in the stream.

Five year old Jordon’s favorite part of the day was seeing Ranger Mike set off the predator trap to squash the animals that attack whio, “The trap went SNAP!”

St Joseph’s teacher Jenna Sullivan said the day had been a great success and showed how a school, DOC and the regional council can come together to create a real hands on learning experience for the kids.

In Taranaki education, Egmont National Park, predators, School, Taranaki, whio

Voluntourists help out in Oteake

Department of Conservation — 11/04/2013

Volunteers experienced hands on conservation work in vast golden tussock, under big open skies, when they removed fences in Otago’s Oteake Conservation Park recently.

Over three kilometres of fencing was taken out over a week, saving DOC $8000. The project was part of one of DOC’s volunteer conservation projects that run throughout the year.

Volunteers Francisca of Chile and Pierre of France

After a day of removing fences, the volunteers and DOC staff headed back to the nearby Tailings Hut, which was restored by volunteers last year. Evenings were spent preparing food, eating and socialising. Food—and the social experience around it—made up a significant part of the volunteer experience.

The volunteers all had different motivations; some wanted to experience the Oteake landscape that they wouldn’t otherwise be able to access (due to lack of confidence in backcountry driving, or not having a four wheel drive). Others wanted a new experience, and some were ‘voluntourists’—a term used to describe a new form of travel where tourists travel while assisting the community.

Volunteers Monica winding wire and Francisca feeding

The volunteers spent the week removing staples and lightening rods (long pieces of metal between the posts), and manually hand-winding wire into coils for recycling. Removal of the lightening rods was the least-favoured task, with people jostling positions to avoid removing the frustratingly stubborn wire.

Safety is always a concern with volunteer projects, where people undertake an unfamiliar task in an unfamiliar environment. It was an interesting challenge to ensure participants wore the geeky looking glasses and handled the unpredictable wire.

Volunteers Francisca, Paul and Monica setting up

DOC’s working holidays

DOC runs volunteer working holidays all over the country to allow New Zealanders and overseas visitors to participate in conservation projects. The 2014 programme will be released in June/July. See www.doc.govt.nz or visit your local DOC office for more information.

In Otago, Volunteers Conservation Park, Oteake, volunteers, Voluntourists, Working holidays

Ranger for a day: a close encounter with kiwi and weka

Department of Conservation — 25/02/2013

By Trudi Ngawhare, Community Relations Ranger, Gisborne

Bobby Rangihuna-Harema, a high school student aspiring to be a farm manager, got the opportunity to be a ‘Ranger for a day’ at Motu near Gisborne after winning a Conservation Week competition late last year.

Ranger Joe Waikari setting a possum trap.

Ranger Joe Waikari showing Bobby how to set a possum trap

The Gisborne Herald gets behind Conservation Week every year. They were looking for a different angle and asked if we had a reader’s giveaway. The DOC ‘Ranger for a day’ was an initiative that we had always wanted to do, and this felt like the perfect opportunity.

Bobby, a 14 year old Lytton High School student who will enter a trade academy this year, was entered into the competition by her mum Jenny who thought it would be a good vocational experience. She saw it as an opportunity for Bobby to experience another view of Tane Mahuta (God of the forest).

“This is another area to have a look at when it comes to land management and farming,” said Jenny.

A full day was planned, with the first stop being a photo session for Bobby and her mum at the Gisborne Herald.

Then, after an hour’s drive to Motu, Bobby helped Ranger Joe Waikari track and complete a health check on Tom, a male kiwi.

Joe listening for Tom the kiwi’s transmitter

The work to address the decline of North Island Brown kiwi (and the protection of other threatened species within the Whinray Scenic Reserve) is part of an important recovery programme run by Whinray Ecological Charitable Trust (WECT), with support from the Kiwis for Kiwi Trust.

During a quick check on the weka traps, Ranger Joe was able to introduce Bobby to a North Island Weka.

Ranger Joe introducing Bobby to a North Island weka

Finally, Bobby and Joe took a short hike on the upgraded Pakihi Track (part of the Motu Trails national cycleway) for a bit of native frog spotting.

Ranger Joe Waikari and Bobby checking out a Hochstetter frog

By the end of the day, Bobby was a very happy but exhausted ‘Ranger for a day’, who experienced three rare native species in one day that many never see in a lifetime!

Bobby and her mum praised Ranger Joe for leading them up long steep ridges and through thick bush…. No, not really, but it did provide for a humorous and entertaining hikoi (walk).

Thanks to Bobby and her mum for being such keen ‘Rangers for a day’; and to the Gisborne Herald for supporting Conservation Week and providing an awesome avenue to promote conservation.

In East Coast kiwi, Kiwis for Kiwi Trust, Motu, Pakihi Track, ranger, Weka

Jobs at DOC: David Lynn—Historic Assets Ranger

Department of Conservation — 22/02/2013

Come behind the scenes and into the jobs, the challenges, the highlights, and the personalities of the people who work at the Department of Conservation (DOC).

Today we profile David Lynn, Ranger—Visitor and Historic Assets, in DOC’s Gisborne/Whakatane Area Office.

Out mucking in, helping capture, weigh and measure
North Island weka, at Motu

Some things I do in my job include…

Track maintenance, hut maintenance, track inspections, managing the awesome Anaura Bay Campground, managing ‘Gateway’ school students, my Duty Officer role, fire fighting, as well as around 12 years at DOC as a Conservancy Records/Admin officer.

Fire training. This is a house at Opotiki. A learning experience, as only months later I witnessed a real house on fire at Pahiatua. I was first on the scene, kicked the door down but, through our training, knew it was too late

The best bit about my job is…

Getting out there and walking our lovely tracks and rivers. I’ve often stopped and looked around—whilst in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of a fresh water river—and looked at the great scenery, and thought…’What an awesome job I have’.

The scariest DOC moment I’ve had so far is…

At a social event—hoping like mad that all my workmates had also dressed up as rock stars on our social club pub crawl—before I walked into the pub we were all meeting at.

Close up of David's face with Gene Simmons make-up, sticking out tongue.

The Gene Simmons stunt double! It won me Best Dressed
at one of our social club fixtures

The DOC employee that inspires or enthuses me most is…

It has to be the staff I see walking kilometres with big chainsaws, and loaded with gear, into tracks to cut trees. We have some real work horses out there doing great work.

Most people don’t know I…

A bit gross to some, but most people don’t know that I endured 31 years on and off of having plastic surgery to my face. My nose has been made from skin from my forehead, my top lip is actually 1/3 of my bottom lip, but hey this is me now and I’m amazed at what doctors can do in this field of surgery. This happened due to a type of growth that occurred within a week of birth that wiped out my top lip and nasal area.

My stomping ground is…

Gisborne, known to most as Gizzy. A neat town, off the beaten track some say but the beaches, fishing/diving and weather are tops.

David standing on a large truck full of building supplies.

The project: getting over 150 boxed steps built at Cooks Cove, Tolaga Bay. This is step two of many—weighing and getting all the wood/gravel/building equipment transported, ready for pick up by heli to the work sites. A massive job I got to manage from start to finish

My best ever holiday was…

Taking the wife Anne, and children Jessica and Daniel, over to Surfer’s Paradise last year. What an awesome place.

My greatest sporting moment was when…

I was selected for the North Island Indoor Bowls team in 2003 and then again in 2004. Only 10 men and 10 woman get selected in this team. We lost to the South Island in 2003, but got revenge in 2004.

North vs South Island winners 2004

Deep and meaningful…

My favourite quote is…

Live life to the fullest , you never know what is around the corner.

The best piece of advice I’ve ever been given is…

Your best friends will be by your side in every way, you will learn fast who your best friends are.

In work and life I am motivated by…

I think in both work and life I’m motivated by doing the very best I can and seeing the rewards after. I’ve been very successful in my sport and education, and have always had employment from the age of 17 (25 years of government service was just achieved in January this year).

My conservation advice to New Zealanders is…

Get out there and see what New Zealand has to offer. Some of the places I have seen (through working at DOC and travelling the country in my sport) are just great.

Question of the week…

‘Question of the week’ will differ each week. If you have any suggestions for questions, please leave us a comment.

Which celebrity would play you in a movie about your life?

I would have to say that I actually need two celebrities: one called Paul Kaye off the film Blackball—a little known comedy about bowls—and his stunt double, a younger Clint Eastwood could jump in, in places, but without without Clyde the Orangutan (off Every Which Way but Loose).

In East Coast, Jobs at DOC Anaura bay, people, rangers

Tagging yellow-eyed penguins on the Otago Peninsula

Dave Houston — 20/02/2013

Dave supports biodiversity programmes anywhere between Auckland and the Auckland Islands, but specialises in the Chatham Islands and penguins.

Using a band or ring has been vital to the monitoring and conservation of birds for more than 100 years. Yellow-eyed penguins were first fitted with leg bands as part of a landmark population study by schoolteacher-biologist Lance Richdale in the 1930’s.

A flipper-band on a yellow-eyed penguin

Unfortunately, leg bands proved to be difficult to read and also caused some injuries so, by the late 1950’s, flipper bands became the standard for marking penguins.

The current banding programme for yellow-eyed’s started in the 1970’s and has enabled the monitoring of penguin survival (to a ripe old age of 24 years) and allowed researchers to know the age and history of the individuals at the focus of their research.

Flipper bands are not without problems. They decrease the underwater efficiency of the bird and, particularly if poorly fitted or maintained, can cause feather wear and injury. Alternatives to bands have been explored and one under investigation at the moment is the use RFID tags of the same type used in dogs and cats. While safe and long-lasting, they do have the downside of requiring electronic readers to find out if a bird is marked and who it is.

Yellow-eyed Penguin Trust staff inserting a RFID tag into a penguin chick

Whichever method used, it is important to ensure that those applying the tag are doing so correctly in order to minimise the risk to the bird and maximise what we learn as a result. Penguin chicks get tagged just before they go to sea and I recently took the opportunity to join DOC staff, Yellow-eyed Penguin Trust and Massey University Veterinary students and oversee the tagging of this season’s batch of chicks on the Otago Peninsula.

Ranger Mel Young showing Wane Begg and Jim Fyfe the best way of measuring head length

Assisted by volunteers willing to crawl through flax, gorse and nettle, we visited several sites, going to nests found earlier in the season, before locating and capturing the chicks. Bags are used to restrain the birds while they get weighed, measured and tagged before being released back at their nest site. The weight tells us how good the food supply is (5-6 kg is the normal range) and measuring the head and feet of the chicks gives us an indication of the sex – the males are slightly larger.

Volunteer Monika Fry with penguin chick ready for weighing

Also along for a day was Jeff Corwin of “Animal Planet” fame, filming for the third series of “Ocean Mysteries”. Jeff, trailed by his camera crew, enthusastically crawled through the shrubbery, helping capture and measure chicks. Later in the day he assisted researcher Dr Thomas Mattern with the retrieval and deployment of GPS/dive loggers attached to the parents of some of the chicks we tagged as part of a long-term project looking at where the birds feed.

Ranger Mel Young talking penguins with Jeff Corwin

The opportunity to assist with this work, and spend a few days on the beautiful Otago Peninsula in no less than spectacular weather, was very much worth the being stung by nettle, scratched by gorse, bitten, beaten and pooped on by penguins.

Dr Thomas Mattern and Jeff Corwin waiting for a GPS-fitted penguin to return

Postscript

Since my visit some 57 adult yellow-eyed penguins on the Otago Peninsula have died suddenly, possibly due to a marine biotoxin. Birds found dead on the beach have been identified by their tag, enabling rangers to locate the nest and keep a close eye on their almost-fledged chicks. Understanding how the penguins encountered the bio-toxin will be helped by the GPS and dive logger data.

Yellow-eyed penguin foraging tracks. Credit: Dr Thomas Mattern

In Native animals, Otago Bird Banding, Otago Peninsula, Yellow eyed penguin

Archives For 30/11/1999

Taranaki kids learn about whio