Mohua goes from rare to common in 21 years

Wednesday, 8 May 2019, 10:19 am

Press Release: Department of Conservation

8 May 2019

Mohua numbers have risen more than 30-fold and overall, native bird numbers have doubled in the 21 years since monitoring began in 1998, recently analysed Department of Conservation (DOC) results show.

DOC Principal Science Advisor Dr Colin O’Donnell says the long-term study charts the response of 13 native bird species following sustained predator control to suppress rats, stoats and possums.

“Our most recent bird count data from last spring shows seven native bird species are still increasing in numbers, four species remain stable, and two have declined.”

“For the first time in 21 years, mohua have become the most common bird counted, which is what they would have been in this valley prior to European settlement.”

“The results are exciting because year by year we’re seeing a re-balance of the valley’s birdlife and don’t know when population limits will be reached,” says Dr O’Donnell.

Continued

Birds bounce back after pests poisoned

By Lucy Ibbotson and Hamish MacLean on Sat, 2 May 2015

The Mohua population in the Catlins is expected to increase following last year's 1080 aerial drops in the area. Photo by James Reardon.The Department of Conservation announced recently that efforts to save native birds from pests have delivered promising results. Lucy Ibbotson and Hamish MacLean take a closer look at the impact in Otago.

Recent 1080 aerial drops near Queenstown and Wanaka have ''substantially'' reduced pest numbers and boosted native bird populations, Department of Conservation staff say.

Doc completed its aerial 1080 pest control operations over nearly 20,000ha in the Dart, Routeburn and Caples valleys in August last year and just over 7000ha in the Matukituki Valley in December.

A 1080 drop in the Makarora area was postponed but could take place this year.

Doc's nationwide ''Battle for our Birds'' campaign has resulted in more than 600,000ha of conservation areas being treated during the past eight months, using aerial 1080 drops to control rodents, possums and stoats.

In the Dart and Routeburn valleys, close to 100% of mohua nests monitored during January produced chicks and 97% of adults survived.

All key mohua populations received pest control last year so there were no non-treated areas monitored.

However, in 2006, nesting success without pest control in the Dart was just 47%.

Rat tracking percentages were drastically reduced in the Caples and Dart-Routeburn valleys from 26% to 6% and 20% to 0%, respectively.

Queenstown Doc conservation services manager John Roberts said ongoing stoat trapping, combined with the drop, had also enabled six whio (blue ducks) to be reintroduced to the Rock Burn Valley, near the Routeburn Track.

Continued ...

Island move gives birds better shot at survival

A hard-won battle with the weather has enabled the Department of Conservation to strengthen the population of a threatened bird species.

After weeks of waiting on the weather, DOC and the Mohua Charitable Trust were this week able to transfer 22 mohua from the Catlins to Resolution Island in Fiordland.

The birds were captured in Eastern Southland by a team of 20 catchers and flown by helicopter to Dusky Sound. The Catlins mohua will join a population already established on Resolution Island to strengthen the genetic makeup.

Mohua are one of the rarest songbirds in the country and have recently been voted by New Zealanders as bird of the year, in the Forest and Bird's annual poll.

It was hoped Resolution would become a "genetic hotspot" for mohua and other threatened birds.

About 60 mohua were transferred from Landsborough Valley in South Westland in 2011.

DOC Te Anau biodiversity ranger Hannah Edmonds said October was the ideal time to try to capture the birds because they were pairing up and seeking to establish a territory.

"They tend to stay in the one area during this time," she said.

However, it was only on Wednesday, after weeks of waiting, that conditions were perfect for the operation, she said.

Read on

Monorail could further endanger bird of the year

By: Jacob Brown, | New Zealand News | Wednesday October 30 2013 11:42

It has been crowned bird of the year, but there are fears a controversial monorail project could further endanger the Mohua.

Otherwise known as the yellowhead, it has topped Forest and Bird's annual poll to find New Zealand's bird of the year.

Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei used the tagline "vote Mohua, not monorail", to get people to vote for it.

She says its habitat needs to be protected, as it's already endangered.

"The whole issue of protecting birds in order that you have to protect their habitat, and to protect their habitat you have to prevent the destruction of it.

"And the monorail will destroy a significant proportion of the Mohua's habitat."

Conservation Minister Nick Smith is visiting key sites along the monorail route today.

http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/auckland/news/nbnat/199089495-monorail-could-further-endanger-bird-of-the-year