Ruud Kleinpaste: Looking after our birds

This weekend I am in Taupo – basically to celebrate a Company that has been trapping vermin and exotic pests to create predator-free forests and landscapes.

EPRO is their name and they have been doing it for 25 Years – worthy of serious congratulations!

They literally provide long-term strategies for ecological restoration.

Many of our Native taonga (but especially birds) are in trouble;

Often stories in the news – such as the famous Miami Kiwi: Paora was the kiwi that became famous for all the wrong reasons; but not because it was predated by exotic mammals.

For some reason we got upset because humans were touching the bird and stressing it far too much.

The irony is that around the same time, a kiwi was found, Mauled to death by a dog in Ohope (Whakatane).

Yes, a Dog! And the dead kiwi was found behind Ohope Beach school, not just a forest in the middle of nowhere.

That bird was also one of the important ancestors for the next generation of kiwi in that area!

A set-back for the Whakatane Kiwi Trust.

Not many people realise that dogs are the biggest threat to kiwi in habitat around human settlements.   Kiwi smell is very attractive to dogs… and dogs will have a go (yes, Ma’am: even your tiny lap dog will chase that bird!)

They may not necessarily want to eat or bite the bird, but just a paw on the back of the kiwi can cause serious crushing troubles;

Kiwi have no sternum (breastbone) for the simple reason they don’t have wings and don’t need a sternum to attach flight muscles to. That makes them very vulnerable to crushing from dog bites and pressure from above.

They literally bleed to death internally.

So EPRO can control stoats and ferrets and rats and feral cats, but when Homo sapiens goes for a walk in the forest with an UN-leashed dog, kiwi are often the victims.

And please don’t tell me your little cute Roly will not harm anything ….

A totally different way to look after our native birds, is by supporting the science that’s going on throughout the Motu:

We are currently banding Harriers (Harrier-Hawks)… or “Large Piwakawaka” as I call them…

These birds are banded in Canterbury and Marlborough: a small metal band on one leg, (the usual DOC band with small numbers on them), and a larger brightly coloured band with large, three digit numbers on them, that can be read through binoculars from quite far away, when the bird is sitting on a fence post or feasting on road kill.

We are hoping to confirm that these harriers are doing some migrating in autumn and spring (towards the North and South, respectively).

If you find a banded bird, record the date and location and report to DOC:

www.doc.govt.nz/non-gamebird-band-report-form

If the bird is injured, please take it to the nearest Wildlife hospital

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