Rare kākā seen in Christchurch

Michael Hayward16:48, Jan 17 2019

An endangered kākā has been spotted in a Christchurch backyard – about 100 kilometres away from home. 

The Department of Conservation (DOC) has had only two or three sightings of the native parrot in the Garden City reported to it in the last 30 years.

Mandy Dickie was shocked to see the kākā, which is classified as nationally vulnerable, feeding on some big cankers in the wattle trees in her Mt Vernon backyard last week.

Did you see the kākā? Email reporters@press.co.nz

She said she initially thought someone's parrot had escaped, but after getting binoculars out it was clear the colouring was wrong for that; "The deep red on the tummy, it had a white head, the lovely nutty brown colour on the back and wings."

Continued

Restoration of iconic native bird causes problems in urban areas

After a century-long absence, kaka were successfully reintroduced in Wellington in 2002 - but the restoration of the iconic native bird has ruffled a few feathers.

Kaka are a delight, says Victoria ecologist Associate Professor Wayne Linklater. "They're wonderful birds to watch and listen to, and you watch kids' faces light up around them." But, just like their cousins the kea, kaka are boisterous, brainy and also potentially problematic in urban areas.

An emerging challenge in Wellington's suburbs is kaka damaging property - gouging into trees, roofs and buildings.

"Kaka are cavity nesters and, like most birds, attract in numbers where there is food," explains Wayne. "They're quite happy living in cities, where there are human-made cavities and food everywhere."

This has led to neighbours arguing about whether people should be feeding kaka, says Wayne. "Wellingtonians love feeding birds and connecting with wildlife - somewhere between 25 and 40 percent of residents at least occasionally feed birds in their backyard. It extends from throwing out some scrap food to placing large quantities in bird feeders.

"It could be that for many kaka their primary food source is people's backyards, and this is driving them to gather in particularly large numbers in some neighbourhoods."

Continued  

Killing kakas with kindness: New Zealand bird lovers threaten future of parrot

Nuts, seeds and bread left out for native birds are causing a bone disease which leaves chicks with fatal abnormalities 

Eleanor Ainge Roy

Friday 20 January 2017 01.01 GMT Last modified on Friday 20 January 2017 06.14 GMT

The threatened native kaka population of New Zealand’s capital city is being killed by too much love. 

Kaka is a native New Zealand parrot and there are roughly 500 of them in Wellington, living in parks and reserves close to suburban homes, as well as in the Zealandia sanctuary.

Last year 80% of the precious kaka chicks monitored by scientists from Wellington city council died, and they have now discovered why.

Food such as nuts, seeds, crackers and pieces of bread left out by well-meaning Wellingtonians for the adult birds are causing the young chicks to develop metabolic bone disease, when their parents regurgitate the food into their mouths.

Depending on how much of the inappropriate food the birds have consumed the disease can cause them to grow up with distorted limbs, severe weakness and bone abnormalities, including beaks that do not close properly and feet pointing the wrong way.

Four Kaka chicks tested last week by the council were all found to have differing levels of metabolic bone disease, and the scientists will give the chicks another two weeks to increase their strength and leave the nest. They will then decide whether they can survive on their own, or will have to be euthanised, as two were last year.

In its worst form the disease renders the birds practically helpless and they starve to death, or shatter their bodies when they hit trees while learning to fly.

Read more 

Conservation groups to create pest-free Kapiti 'Mainland Island'

An ambitious project to create a virtually predator-free 16.5 square kilometre 'Mainland Island' in Kapiti is about to step up a gear.

A grant of $294,000 has been awarded to the Kapiti Coast Biodiversity Project by the Ministry for the Environment, based on a pitch by a collective of conservation groups working together.

The groups hope to create an intensive pest-controlled zone almost the size of Kapiti Island. It would cover Paekakariki township, Queen Elizabeth Park, Whareroa Farm Reserve, and part of the Perkins/Middle Run farm.

Raumati, Pukerua Bay and farmland surrounding the larger zone would be important "halo" areas, where work would also be carried out.

Spokesman for the group Dr Paul Callister said the main parties behind the project are Nga Uruora, the Whareroa Farm, and Friends of Queen Elizabeth Park groups, with support from the Paekakariki Rat Pack.

"In some ways this is the Kapiti Coast's version of Zealandia, except we are trying to do it without an expensive fence.

"Instead we are using trapping methods, but we have the same aim of bringing back birds such as kaka and kakariki to the coast, as well as protecting other flora and fauna."

Similar projects such as Ark in the Park in the Waitakere Ranges showed it could be done, he said.

"They are very successful, they've got birds like kokako and stitchbirds back in, the really rare birds.

"We know that kaka and kakariki will arrive at some point from Zealandia, so we're trying to do the ground preparation for that."

The small groups had already put considerable work into pest control and replanting, but with more funds for traps, and hopefully more volunteers, they could increase their efforts and "join up the gaps", he said.

"We've already seen the birds increasing. It's hard to quantify, but kereru are much more common, and tui - we're hearing moreporks a lot more.

"This is a 10, 20, 50 year project … this is all for the next generation as much as us; it's a long-haul plan."

The grant would be divided between funding work to increase trapping lines, and a number of support projects like a survey to see what lizard populations remain, and how they can be supported.

Govt 'careless and callous' about threatened birds

Wednesday, 16 April, 2014 - 16:07

The National Government is increasing the threat to two of the world’s most threatened and unique birds by opening up Victoria Forest Park to petroleum drilling, the Green Party said today.

Scientists have recently published a ranking of the 100 most evolutionary distinct birds under threat from extinction. The birds on this list are of special conservation concern; they have no close relatives that share their DNA and are truly irreplaceable. Two birds on this list, the kaka and the south island wren, known in New Zealand as the rock wren, live in Victoria Forest Park which the Government has just opened up for petroleum exploration.

"The National Government is proposing to allow petroleum exploration in the habitat of two of the world’s most unique and threatened birds, the rock wren and the kaka," said Green Party conservation spokesperson Eugenie Sage.

"The kaka and rock wren are irreplaceable birds species on the edge of extinction and yet the National Government is increasing the risk to their existence, rather than protecting them.

Continued

Heavy metal hurting native birds

The kaka's penchant for unusual food has left a handful of chicks with the staggers and struggling not to throw up.

A spike in lead poisoning among New Zealand's resurgent endemic parrot population is being investigated by researchers.

Massey University's Wildbase Hospital in Palmerston North had two dead kaka chicks come in, and a post-mortem revealed lead poisoning was the cause of death.

They then found the birds' three nest-mates were also showing signs of being poisoned, including changes to their blood cells and nervous systems, causing the birds to regurgitate food and lose balance.

Continued