Greg Van Der Lee started life in DOC as a goat hunter. He now works in Hauraki as a Partnerships Ranger—engaging more people in conservation. Come behind the scenes and into Greg’s world…
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Today’s photo shows one of the Coromandel brown kiwi relocated to predator-free Motutapu Island in the Hauraki Gulf last week.
It was the biggest ever single translocation of Coromandel brown kiwi and was done to create new diversity and future-proof the species.
Did you know?
- There are only around 1,500 Coromandel brown kiwi on the Coromandel Peninsula.
There are 5 kiwi species:
- Little spotted kiwi on several offshore islands and at Karori Sanctuary in Wellington
- Great spotted kiwi/roroa in the northern South Island
- Brown kiwi in the North Island
- Rowi at Okarito, on the West Coast of the South Island
- Tokoeka in the South Island (Fiordland, the Haast Range and on Stewart Island) and on Kapiti Island.
2 of the 5 kiwi species have distinct geographical varieties within them:
- Brown kiwi have four geographically and genetically distinct forms: Northland, Coromandel, western and eastern.
- Tokoeka also have four distinct geographical forms: Haast, northern Fiordland, southern Fiordland, and Stewart Island.
A $1.5 million plan to turn Great Mercury Island into a pest-free wildlife sanctuary was revealed this week.
To profile this announcement we’ve chosen this photo—taken at sunset in Peach Tree Cove, on Great Mercury Island—for our ‘Photo of the Week’.
Great Mercury Island (also known as Ahuahu) is owned by Sir Michael Fay and David Richwhite. It is located off the coast of the Coromandel Peninsula (seen in the distance in this photo) and is one of seven islands that make up the Mercury Islands. The other six islands are DOC-managed nature reserves.
Photo by Neville10/flickr, used under Creative Commons license.