Fiordland crested penguins, or Tawaki are about to arrive on New Zealand’s West Coast beaches, locate their nests, woo their mates and prepare to breed. Weird, but they lay two eggs, one big and one small, however usually only the second larger egg and chick will succeed. If it’s not predated. And if the parents […]
Allocating just 1 percent of the government’s annual $96 billion spending to core conservation work would more than double the Department of Conservation’s current budget, suggests Alex Stone. The Government announcement of a predator-free goal for New Zealand by 2050 sounds good. But, so far, the budget for this is woefully inadequate and comes on […]
Equipped with our cameras, a tripod and warm clothes, mum and I headed off for the Tongariro National Park, stopping at geocache sites along the way. Geocaching is a great way to get out in nature, a fun way to exercise and a wonderful little hobby that can lead you to places you otherwise may […]
Every day we have been enjoying seeing and hearing tūī on our property and around us for over a month now. While they have visited the area before, it was more of a fleeting in the past. This is the longest they have been around home at any one time. Tūī are boisterous and very […]
It has been 6 months since the announcement that New Zealand would be predator free by 2050 garnered worldwide attention. But Caroline Wood asks – how will we get there? Forest & Bird led New Zealand’s first predator-free success story when Auckland branch member, Mr. A. McDonald, from Waiheke Island, used a £5 government grant […]
An archival project has uncovered a possible “new” record of a huia being spotted 17 years after the last confirmed sighting. By Caroline Wood. Ecologist Nikki McArthur recently came across an intriguing hand-written note while documenting historical bird records collected by RHD Stidolph, one of the founding members of Birds New Zealand. It is a […]
For the last two and a half years Sue Fitchett, a Hauraki Islands Forest & Bird committee member has been collaborating on a brochure with the Waiheke SPCA on how to be a responsible pet owner. Here she tells us more about this often controversial subject. Yes, two and a half years is a long […]
Although the bar-tailed godwit has to hand over its crown as Bird of the Year to the kōkako, we felt it wouldn’t be right to do so without a reminder of how incredible these birds are and why we should let them roost in peace. Every September around 100,000 godwits (kuaka) arrive in New Zealand […]
Many people get the wrong end of the stick when it comes to seagulls. But there’s actually more to these chip-stealing birds, as Claudia Mischler writes. “All gulls are the same!” “Gulls are too noisy!” “Those pesky gulls stole my fish and chips!” Does this sound familiar? Many of us have a love-hate relationship with […]