As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a regular segment on On The Track... particularly about out-of-place birds and rare vagrants. There seem to be more and more bird stories from all over the world hitting the news these days so, to make room for them all - and to give them all equal and worthy coverage - she has set up this new blog to cover all things feathery and Fortean.

Thursday, 31 January 2019

In pursuit of the rifleman: NZ's smallest bird is one of its most elusive



Amanda Saxton 05:00, Jan 20 2019
A bird in the hand is worth a whole heap of conservation cred for one Kiwi couple. Amanda Saxton joins the hunt.
"No, no, no, no, you silly bugger," scolds Morag Fordham, as a North Island robin crashes into her net.
Snaring the right species is difficult on the Hauraki Gulf's Tiritiri Matangi, a sanctuary island where laughing saddlebacks and rogue robins can dart past your nose at any moment.
Morag and her husband Simon have set up what looks like a bush volleyball court on a forest track. They're trying to catch New Zealand's tiniest avian – the rifleman, named for its military-green feathers and weighing the same as two ten cent coins – to band adolescents' bare ankles.

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