I cautiously peered into a gnarled puriri tree and stared eye to eye with a black petrel. I was elated – the birds were back, all the way from South America and preparing to breed, right here in my backyard. ‘My’ backyard is not mine at all, but is where my husband and I currently […]

Our ten week cat-cam pilot study to investigate the wild diets of our cats, their foraging habits and general behaviour has given us several interesting insights into the world of our cats. Domestic cats are creatures that live so closely to us, and yet – in NZ at least – studies have been limited. Indeed, […]

Little Barrier Island is one of those magical places where time feels as if it stands still and birds, so rare elsewhere, abound. Kokako and saddleback are just part of the everyday soundscape and bellbirds are so common that their song is a constant companion not just an occasional delightful toll. Huge kauri and hard […]

**Newsflash** Duncan was caught and happily returned to his home yesterday afternoon (May 15th). To go to the TV One news report – see here – http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/story-duncan-kokako-comes-close-video-5437943  In 2011, Duncan – our endangered kokako – disappeared from our pest controlled sanctuary in the Waitakeres and two years later he has turned up in suburban Glendowie. […]

Good Afternoon to the Hon. Dr Nick Smith, How do you place a price on lives that have been saved from tragedy Dr Smith? By taking away the “seat belts in the conservation estate vehicle“. The area and programme managers are the “seatbelts”. The steering wheel may be your mandate, your perception of the “best […]

Frogs typically make good captive breeders, so the fact that for eight years experts couldn’t successfully raise one froglet from our Archey’s frog was proving mind-bogglingly frustrating. Enter Richard Gibson – an English reptile and amphibian breeding expert with over 20 years of experience. He flew here in late 2011 to take up a position […]

Recently, I got the chance to head down to the Denniston plateau – a piece of land that is currently being eyed up by coal-miners – to marvel at the ‘Persian carpet of biodiversity’ that the famed photographer Rod Morris talks so fondly about. I’ve been a macro-photographer for four years now, and as you […]

The furore sparked by Gareth Morgan over New Zealanders’ somewhat careless attitude to the way in which we let our cats stalk our neighbourhoods to pick off native birds is best evidenced in the suburbs surrounding Wellington’s much prized fenced sanctuary Zealandia. In neighbouring Kelburn – where my parents live – whiskered faces can be […]

For many of us, the summer break probably consisted of sun, swimming, perhaps a little family drama … and just getting away from work for a while. It was an opportunity to get away from work for Debs Martin, Forest & Bird’s Top of the South Field Officer, too … but only so she could […]