By Chris Phillips, Takahe Ranger at Burwood Bush Takahē Rearing Unit
A recent winter blast of heavy snow and rain meant a busy week at the Burwood Bush rearing unit in Te Anau.
Our takahē took it in their stride and were quick to take advantage of the extra takahē pellets we put out for them – irresistible takahē tucker!
Takahē tucking into their pellets
The water and snow have now receded uncovering damaged fences, drainways and crossings that all need attention.
Happy families of takahē wander round oblivious to all the stress and strain inflicted upon those who hold the prestigious honour of being their guardians.
A winter blast paid a visit
Renegade takahē, Wal and George, continue to taunt us with their evasion tactics. We need to catch them so we can put them in quarantine prior to sending them off to their new home at Cape Sanctuary. It has been several weeks and so far our numerous attempts at capturing these wily characters have been unsuccessful.
Working hard in the snow and rain
Before each attempt we cunningly plan manoeuvres, pour over possible outcomes and counter moves and develop robust, supposedly takahē-proof strategies. So far though, we have been out witted and invariably left sitting in the tussock on empty transfer boxes weeping whilst Wal and George squawk triumphantly from somewhere safe in their 80 hectare kingdom.
A health check and vaccination for this takahē
The flightless takahē is a unique bird, a conservation icon and a survivor. The takahē was once thought to be extinct, but was rediscovered in 1948. Even today, despite years of conservation effort, the takahē remains critically endangered.
The Department of Conservation Takahē Recovery Programme in partnership with Mitre10 Takahē Rescue is committed to ensuring the survival, growth and security of takahē populations throughout New Zealand.
By John Carter, trapping contractor for DOC, Te Anau.
It’s the weekend and I am working but my son Jasper, aged five, loves to help. I am trapping possums on the Milford Track.
John and son Jasper tramping
Jasper joins me for the final 20 of the 600 possum kill traps that need checking. The Sentinel traps have proven very successful on this check with over 300 possums caught.
A sentinel trap
And then it happens – somewhere between trap 580 and 590. Jasper alerts me to his first ever wobbly tooth and while eating a muesli bar it disappears from his mouth.
Where’s my tooth?
Jasper is distraught. Not because the tooth has fallen out – but because it has gone. Lost! How will the tooth fairy find it? Will the tooth fairy be cross with me he asks. Not if we write a letter to her explaining what happened I say. So, Jasper writes this letter to the tooth fairy and the real reason why he is so concerned is revealed!
“Dear tooth fairy, I am sorry I lost my tooth on the famous Milford Track. You will find it there. Can I still have my money please? Love Jasper”
By Kendall DeLyser, Ranger – Visitor Information, Te Anau.
Last week the team at the Fiordland National Park Visitor Centre took a trip to Doubtful Sound on the DOC vessel known as Southern Winds. What a wonderful experience!
The magical Doubtful Sound
A day out on Doubtful Sound is magic, no doubt about it. In sun, the massive landscape is breathtaking and the ocean puts on its best turquoise colour. In rain, the hills take on a mysterious feel and countless waterfalls braid their way down the rocky cliffs.
Coffee break
For many of us the trip marked only the first or second journey to Doubtful Sound, despite living in Te Anau for many years.
The DOC vessel Southern Winds
That day, fresh snow blanketed the surrounding peaks, and the bright sun cut through the chill of the winter wind. Dolphins played in the wake of our boat.
A dolphin played in the wake of our boat
We identified the special islands and pest-free areas along the way, which helped us better appreciate the monumental projects that our DOC colleagues and conservation partners have undertaken there.
There were special islands and pest-free areas along the way
I think we all returned home that day with a better sense of Fiordland, and a different appreciation for the work DOC does to maintain the beauty of the place as we know it.
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).
March is Whio Awareness Month. To celebrate this, we profile whio fan Andrew ‘Max’ Smart, Ranger—Biodiversity Ranger, in DOC’s Te Anau Area Office.
Catching juvenile whio in the Arthur for translocation to the Neale Burn
At work
Name: Andrew ‘Max’ Smart.
Position: Biodiversity Ranger.
Office: Te Anau Area.
Some things I do in my job include managing the whio monitoring in the Northern Fiordland Whio Security Site and in four recovery sites. I manage the pāteke/brown teal re-introduction project in the Arthur Valley, liaise between the kākāpō team and the Te Anau Area Office, I’m the species dog certifier for the lower South Island, and assist with other biodiversity work as required (this may be translocations of tīeke/saddlebacks, kōkako, mohua/yellowheads, robins, takahē or kākāpō). I also monitor tawaki/Fiordland crested penguins and check stoat traps in Dusky Sound.
The best bit about my job is surveying for whio in wild and remote rivers with my trained whio dog and working with groups like the Fiordland Wapiti Foundation, to help protect whio habitat. It’s always nice when you feel like you are actually making a difference. Also up there is the opportunities I have had getting to places I wouldn’t normally be able to get to, like the Antipodes and Bounty Islands.
The beautiful whio/blue duck
The scariest DOC momentI’ve had so far is going for a slide down a rock face in the Murchison Mountain whilst on a takahē monitoring trip on 29 February 2004 (leap day). I ended up breaking my little finger on my right hand and breaking and dislocating most of my bones in my left foot. Which surprisingly I was reasonably happy about.
I remember sliding down the face and thinking ‘If I don’t grab that small tussock I’m dead’. That’s when I broke my finger and missed the tussock…. I said quite quietly in my head, ‘Well it looks like I’m going to die, this isn’t quite how I thought it would happen’, then hit the bottom and stopped. I thought, ‘Well that was lucky, I wonder where that big drop that I thought I was going to go over is?’. I looked around and I was less than a metre from it—hence why I was reasonably happy with just a broken foot and finger.
I ended up in hospital for eleven days with a plate and five screws in my finger and five screws and two pins in my foot. I’ve still got the hardware in my finger and quite large bone spurs in my foot where the screws were. My foot gets really sore and stiff after doing a river survey, especially in winter. I keep my screws from my foot in a little jar on my table at work—always a good way to gross people out.
The DOC (or previous DOC) employee(s) that inspire or enthuse me most are Cam Speedy and the other members of the Whio Recovery Group who are so passionate about whio, even after some of them have worked with them for so many years (not looking at anyone in particular Peter Russell and Andy Glaser). This also demonstrates how great a species whio are to work with.
Hard at work, surveying down the Clinton North Branch
On a personal note…
Most people don’t know that I was born in Akaroa and that I have a twin sister (not identical – I have been asked).
My best ever holiday was a nine week trip to North America a couple of years ago. We visited 15 National Parks and numerous National Monuments and State Parks in the USA and another three National Parks in Canada. The highlights of the trip would have been Utah and Arizona (Zion NP, Grand Canyon NP, Monument Valley, Natural Bridges National Monument, Arches NP, Canyonlands NP, Dead Horse State Park, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Capital Reef NP and Bryce Canyon NP), along with New York City and the Labrador Coast. A walk over Clouds Rest in Yosemite NP was also very cool.
Another trip also right up there was when I saw Mountain Gorillas in what was then Zaire, climbed sand dunes and walked to the bottom of Fish River Canyon in Namibia, paddled around in a dug out canoe on the Okavango Delta and got saturated by the spray at Victoria Falls.
In my spare time I tend to do things around the house as we have just built a house and there are always plenty of little jobs to do.
If I wasn’t working at DOC, I’d like to still be working with animals. Not sure where but definitely working with animals.
Before working at DOC I worked as a forest technician undertaking time and motion studies.
Hard to believe it but we were waiting for the cloud to break in the valley below, so that we could get down to start a whio survey
Deep and meaningful…
My favourite quote is – (I don’t have one, I’m not really a quote type of guy).
The best piece of adviceI’ve ever been given is – I can’t think of what that would be but I’d have to say if it was, it would probably be “Don’t sweat the small stuff”.
In work and life I am motivated by trying to enjoy it as it seems to be getting shorter by the minute.
My conservation advice to New Zealanders is take conservation seriously; it shouldn’t just be a ‘nice to do’ and shouldn’t be seen as a cost, but an investment in the future.
Me and Tea on the way back from a successful day in the Joes River
Watch a video of Ranger Andrew ‘Max’ Smart on a whio egg hunt:
From Fiordland to Motutapu island, in the heart of Auckland, is a long way to travel in a day – particularly if you’re a flightless bird. Nine takahē made the journey on Sunday November 4.
The birds were captured early in the morning at Burwood Bush Takahē Rearing Unit, near Te Anau, by rangers who run Mitre 10 Takahē Rescue. They were placed in transportation boxes and driven to Queenstown Airport to catch an Air New Zealand flight to Auckland.
The birds joined passengers on board a regular Air New Zealand flight to Auckland.
DOC Takahē Recovery Programme Manager Phil Tisch and Mitre 10 Sponsorship and PR Co-ordinator Alison Rowland at Auckland Airport with the takahē
The takahē proved popular with the Air New Zealand stewards and passengers on the flight. They were thrilled to be able to see the rare birds – there are only 260 in the world – inside their boxes. On arrival at Auckland Airport the takahē were carried from the plane to DOC and Mitre 10 utes and driven to Devonport. There they were transferred to a DOC boat, Taikehu, and ferried to Home Bay on Motutapu.
Ngai Tahu representative, Stewart Bull, made the journey from the deep south with the birds. He linked with Ngai Tai and Ngati Paoa representatives to provide a powhiri for the takahē on Motutapu. The birds were then released into native vegetation planted by volunteers from the Motutapu Restoration Trust.
Mitre 10 staff and family at takahe release on Motutapu
Ella, a takahē released on Motutapu on August 27, 2011, curious about new takahē arriving on November 4, 2012
The birds join four other takahē released on Motutapu on August 27 last year. The first release marked the declaration of Motutapu and neighbouring Rangitoto – the islands are joined by a short causeway – as pest free. Ella, one of the takahē released last year, was seen at Home Bay checking out the action surrounding the arrival of the new birds.
A powhiri for takahē on Motutapu
The translocation on November 4 was the largest movement of takahē outside Fiordland ever. The aim is to have up to 20 breeding pair on Motutapu. This will make it the largest population of takahē outside Fiordland. This is an important step in securing the survival of takahē as the other pest free islands providing a safe haven for the species – Kapiti, Mana, Maud and Tiritiri Matangi – are now running out of room for the birds. Motutapu provides a large safe site, with a good habitat for takahē, that will enable the overall population to keep growing.
Two takahē are released onto Motutapu Island
A big thank you to Phil Tisch, the Takahe Programme Manager, who travelled with the birds all the way from Burwood to Motutapu Island; Phil Marsh and Helen Dodson who helped trap the birds in Burwood; Claudia Babirat who filmed the whole transfer; Glen Greaves, the Takahē Productivity Manager, who helped out with the release; and Andrew Nelson and Hazel Speed from Auckland who put a huge amount of effort into organising the event on the day.
DOC’s partnership with Mitre 10 is crucial in the work to ensure takahē survive. Takahē were thought to be extinct until rediscovered in 1948 in the Murchison Mountains deep in the Fiordland National Park. DOC has been working with Mitre 10 to save takahē since 2005.
