Wed, 09 Sep 2009 9:26 am – Posted by Mandy | 7 Comments
Guest blogger: Campaign Manager for the Kakapo & Kakapo Ranger, Dana Boyte
This is a story about beating the odds and coming out on top. A true New Zealand story. The kakapo is threatened by the very things that make them so unique and amazing.
Their sweet musky scent is far too alluring for cunning stoats and cats and makes them a breeze to track down. And back before the days of mammalian predators the kakapo evolved its near perfect camouflage of mossy green feathers, and its ability to freeze and stay perfectly still when danger approaches as a brilliant defense against predators such as the Haast eagle. Nowadays it makes them sitting ducks and an easy lunch.
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Published in: General
Tags: codfish island, kakapo
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Wed, 12 Aug 2009 12:29 pm – Posted by Mandy | 4 Comments
Guest blogger: Kakapo feeder, Stephanie Gray
Beginning with a hot-pink sunrise over Stewart Island’s Raggedy Ranges, my fifth day on Whenua Hou wrapped up beautifully with a game of petanque on Sealers’ Bay.
Sinbad, Photo: Stephanie Gray
In true island-style, we bowled over and around heaps of glossy kelp, skipped the jack to the creek’s edge, and considered the variable speed of steel through sand.
My feed-out route today took me southwest of the valley, through a verdant canopy of miro, kahikatea and rimu rustling with bellbirds, tomtits and ever-present kakariki. Having found my mud-legs by now, the climb is easy and sweet in the sunshine.
I find Heather’s feed station in a pool of dappled light, and laugh aloud at the state of it. Her water hopper has been ripped off the stand, and the snark (a receiver that collects information on the birds’ comings and goings) kicked to one side and chewed.
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Published in: Southland / Stewart Island
Tags: codfish island, kakapo, kakapoo recovery group
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Mon, 10 Aug 2009 9:27 am – Posted by Mandy | 14 Comments
Guest Blogger: Kakapo feeder, Stephanie Gray
By the look of the empty feed bowl, Sinbad enjoyed his kumara cubes and macadamia nuts last night.
Kakapo feeder Stephanie Gray gets to know one of the juvenile kakapo on Codfish island
He’s tidy too, leaving only a few crumbs, unlike the chicks who scatter lumps of pasty, half-chewed pellets up to two meters from their hopper—a kakapo feed station. I start to wipe down the hopper when, with a rustle of leaves and little grunt, Sinbad pokes his head through fern fronds.
The feed-out map and guide I carry mentioned that this particular bird may be roused from daytime slumber to visit, but I’m still taken aback at the sight of this beautiful, inquisitive creature. Sinbad ambles past again, lifting huge clawed feet high above the muck of peat mud and I blurt “Sinbad, you’re amazing. I love you.”
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Published in: Southland / Stewart Island
Tags: codfish island, kakapo, kakapo recovery programme
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Wed, 25 Mar 2009 1:38 pm – Posted by Emma Gilkinson | 4 Comments
Guest blogger: Kakapo nest-minder, Emma Gilkinson
It’s 8.30 pm and I’m glued to the black and white screen. Sarah the Kakapo is the star of the show. At the moment she is a still feathery pillow with eyes like shiny black berries that open and close from time to time. I’m sitting in a tent 300m away from her nest, in the heart of the forest of Codfish Island, the epi-centre of the Kakapo Recovery Programme. An infra-red camera has been installed at Sarah’s nest to relay her movements to the palm-sized monitor I’m watching.
8.36 p.m. Sarah’s left claw emerges to scratch her left cheek.
I note that down. I’ve come to Codfish Island to be a volunteer ‘Nest Minder’ for a fortnight. Nest Minders are required to keep a vigilant eye on kakapo Mums overnight during the breeding season. The nocturnal birds leave their nests at night to feed, but if they’re gone too long their eggs or chicks risk getting too cold and may need incubation or warming up on the nest with a ‘heat pad’.
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Published in: General, Native land animals, Southland / Stewart Island
Tags: codfish island, kakapo recovery programme, volunteer
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Tue, 23 Dec 2008 7:40 am – Posted by Heather Anderson | 4 Comments
After receiving our training from the four friendly DOC rangers on the island my 2 compadres and I are now fully fledged kakapo supplementary feeders. On the first day we each did a round of feeding stations alone with one ranger. This was a perfect introduction to the feeding and cleaning protocols and also to the island in general. The Kakapo Programme Officers who are on the island during my stay have all been here for over 2 years and are incredibly knowledgeable about the history, flora and fauna of Whenua hou and of course the kakapo.
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Published in: General
Tags: codfish island, kakapo, kakapo recovery programme
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Fri, 19 Dec 2008 9:34 am – Posted by Heather Anderson | 5 Comments
I write this diary from the Sealers Bay hut, Codfish Island, Whenuahou. I have just arrived on this beautiful 1396 hectare nature reserve which lies to the north west of Stewart Island, in the most celebratory fashion. I was flown in on a fixed wing light aircraft across the Foveaux Strait which homed in on a magnificent landing on Sealers Bay beach. I hadn’t known what to expect of Cod fish Island but the sight I beheld surpassed my wonderings and wanderings.
Photo: Tama Pugsley
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Published in: General
Tags: breeding, codfish island, kakapo, recovery
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