By George Hobson, Forest & Bird Wellington Youth Leader Being eye-to-eye with a hoiho (yellow-eyed penguin) sitting peacefully on its nest is one of my most memorable experiences. It wasn’t just the wider environment of enormous, ancient forests and dynamic coastlines. Nor was it simply the strong fishy stench coupled with an astonishingly beautiful bird. […]
The announcement of funding for three conservation pest control projects in Northland, while great news masks the fact that the majority of Northland native forests on conservation land have no meaningful and consistent large scale pest control. On private land thankfully, pest control is expanding. The funding announced will expand ground based pest control […]
A recent video clip of a stoat sussing out how to get onto the top of a picnic table where a kārearea (New Zealand falcon) was standing at Aoraki/Mt Cook National Park, sent shivers up my spine, no fear of the big bird on the stoat’s part. This was followed by a stoat darting around a lacebark […]
Molesworth is New Zealand’s largest farm, as you will know if you’ve ever been lucky enough to visit the magnificent landscapes of this isolated 180,000ha station – about the size of Stewart Island/Rakiura – that links Marlborough to North Canterbury, Tasman, and Kaikoura. Yet few people know it is part of our public conservation land […]
Forest & Bird’s Regional Conservation Manager Sue Maturin reflects on the government’s review of the ‘General Policy for National Parks’ (General Policy) amid fears the public is being left out of an opportunity to improve one of our country’s most important conservation policies. Next to the National Parks Act, the General Policy is the most important […]
Blog updated 18 December with a Kauri Dieback Science FAQ written by leading kauri dieback experts Updated 22 January – The rāhui covers all tracks within the forest. A list of areas in the Waitakeres where you can still walk can be found here – Rahui Clarification. “Please stop visiting the Waitakere Ranges forests until it […]
If it’s not clear why a Government announcement of ‘no new mines on conservation land’ could be almost immediately followed by a story about a ‘mine granted consent on conservation land’, read on. The simple answer is that the proposed Te Kuha opencast coal mine near Westport has just been granted resource consent from the […]
Voting for Bird of the Year ends this Monday at 5pm and our amazing campaign managers have fought tooth and nail (or feather and claw) to get their bird ahead. We’ve seen videos, memes, scandals, even smear campaigns. But at the end of it all, it is their stories and passion for birds that could win hearts and […]
The pīwakawaka, commonly known as the fantail, is a familiar sight in gardens across New Zealand. Science communicator Amy Smith puts forward her case for why these chirruping birds deserve a second term as “Bird of the Year”. While other common garden birds spend their time in the tree tops, living their lives high above us, […]