Newsletter Number 54 June-August 2013

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1 Newsletter Number 54 June-August 2013 Winter Winter began with snow and rain but our fence held firm thanks to regular maintenance by Ecosanctuary staff and volunteers. In July the weather changed, and a series of lovely winter days ensued through into August. Any of you visiting the Ecosanctuary would have seen the bird-feeders bustling with activity, the dominant tui adopting commanding positions in nearby trees, bellbirds standing on tip toes to reach the sugar-water, and flights of silvereyes descending on the feeding station the moment the tui vacated it. Meanwhile, the impressive takahe, Quammen and Paku, stalked the grounds beside the Fernbird track, while the namesakes of this track could be heard scuttling in the shrubbery while making their periodic loud chirps. Overflying kaka scraarked as they passed, and the breeze whispered in the many snow tussocks planted by the restoration team. Doubtless the jewelled gecko and tuatara were also basking in the sun. All this activity suggests the Ecosanctuary fauna are gearing up for spring, and a bumper breeding season looks to be coming! Memorial Tree for Les Cleveland On a calm July day, trustees and staff joined Margaret Cleveland and friends to plant a tree in memory of our patron, Les Cleveland, who passed away on 15 May. At the start of an informal ceremony, Neville asked everyone to remain silent for a couple of minutes. The birdsong was glorious. Bellbirds sang, kaka and tui flew overhead, and a fantail swooped and pirouetted around the party. On the way down, we had observed no less than eight native birds (bellbird, tomtit, rifleman, brown creeper, silvereye, grey warbler, tui, and kaka) on the short walk to the clearing. The selected tree was a Hall's totara - a fitting symbol for a man of Les's mana. In 500 years it will still be there, still growing. On the walk back up to the Visitor Centre the overwhelming regeneration in the forest understory is testimony to a thriving forest ecosystem, that is growing in structure and complexity - and thus in value for native fauna - by the day. A young jewelled gecko was observed - thanks to Elton, our guide - and is just one of the many native animals that have been introduced to the Ecosanctuary's forest since pests were removed. As Neville said, Les would have been delighted Photo: Matt Thomson 1

2 From the Trust Margaret Cleveland and ONHT Chair, Neville Peat plant Les's memorial tree. Photo: Alyth Grant The trust s AGM at the end of July attracted more than 50 members and a few non-members who were attracted by a presentation of the late Diane Campbell-Hunt s study of ecosanctuaries around New Zealand. Trustee, Colin Campbell-Hunt, gave a stimulating and insightful account of Diane s research, which will be published by Otago University Press in October. The chairman reported a bumper year for threatened species, with tuatara the headline act. A total of 87 tuatara were released into the ecosanctuary and two captive-reared tuatara were placed in a viewing pen. Another high-profile development on the rare species front was the formation of a takahe pair, who are now regularly seen only a short walk from the visitor centre. Treasurer Ross Smith reported income similar to the previous year (if revenue from the 2011 Sirocco visit is excluded). But he warned that we do need to lift income this year as our cash reserves are dropping. Net current assets of $119,000 included $40,000 earmarked for an endowment fund, which is expected to be launched later this year. The budget for had been done on a conservative basis, aiming for a break-even with tight control over expenditure. The idea of recognising the value of volunteer labour in the annual accounts (about 1,000 hours a month, estimated to be worth $250,000) was raised. The treasurer will consult with auditors about whether it is possible to record a note in the accounts. Neville Peat, ONHT Chair. 2

3 Ecosanctuary Report It s wonderful to welcome the warmer and longer days of spring not to mention the reopening of the café. I have missed Moira s coffees! Our visitor numbers are also starting to climb slowly. Our key tasks of late have been preparing for Sirocco s visit, the transfer of saddleback and updating our Occupational Health and Safety Plan. The Education Programme is well ahead of its targets for primary and secondary school student participation. Educator, Tahu Mackenzie, has developed a trial programme for gifted and talented students who will work on Tuesdays caring for a particular area within the Ecosanctuary, putting fruit out for birds etc. Tahu is also working with George St Normal School and the Botanic Gardens in creating a new wetland for the DCC. There are lots of public events coming up including our presence in the Meridian for Conservation Week September 8-15 and the Golden Centre on September 13. We will also be at the Port Chalmers Seafood festival on 21 September. Recent generous support from the Harry J Wilson Trust and their commitment to support us in the long term has meant a lightening of our fundraising load. Hope and Sons continue to provide generous support and Cooke Howlison s new Hilux is much appreciated. We also received funds from the DCC towards our volunteer coordinator s salary and from ACE Shacklock for vegetation plot re-measuring. The very generous support of individuals, in particular Alyth Grant and Bruce & Sue Cathro, means we can fund projects that are difficult to get funding for such as the two bay garage. Chris Baillie, General Manager Biodiversity News Fauna Kakapo As this newsletter goes to print we are just a few days from Sirrocco s return. In preparation staff and volunteers have been busy cleaning and tidying his living and viewing pens, upgrading the path and arranging the permit. The new two-bay garage will provide hygienic and spacious facilities for Sirocco s minder to prepare his food etc. Tuatara Winter is a quiet time for tuatara, but on good days, such as we had in late July and early August, they have been observed going about their business. Kaka Captive-reared Marcus has been given his release papers, leaving the aviary empty. He was released with a transmitter attached and has stayed within the ambit of the Ecosanctuary, once being observed preening a young wild female, which is a good sign. One of Orokonui's female kaka, which was raised at the Botanic Gardens, returned there in July, attracting media attention. With the aviary empty, it has been used to capture young kaka for banding and attaching transmitters. Ten transmitters have been attached to birds, and five new juvenile kaka have been banded. 3

4 Elton and Kelly attach transmitters to young kaka. Photo: Alyth Grant Takahe Quammen at a pond along the Fernbird Track. Photo: Neville Peat Photo: Matt Thomson Paku and Quammen have become great friends and can often be seen preening each other. They are regularly seen at the top of the Ecosanctuary, particularly in the vicinity of their hopper beside the Fernbird Track, at which they routinely queue at 11 am for feeding time! It s great that our 'advocacy birds' are now doing their advocacy job - now it's just up to people to come and see them. Quammen and Paku retain a dignified reserve and wild character and are a fantastic sight. Saddleback A translocation of additional saddlebacks to Orokonui is planned for the first week of September, with birds sourced from Breaksea Island. Hopefully the remaining birds from the previous transfer will help to anchor the new arrivals within the Ecosanctuary. We are grateful to the Kaitiaki Roopu o Murihiku guardians for supporting the translocation. Robin Robins, which have a booming population in the lower part of the Ecosanctuary, are now beginning to be seen at the top of the Ecosanctuary, which is great news for visitors. As the robin population grows, robin territories should ultimately expand to include the entire Ecosanctuary, making robin encounters more and more likely. 4

5 Butterfly garden Our butterfly garden planting and the track to it are complete thanks to the support of the Harry J Wilson Trust. Two benches have been installed, designs for butterfly feeders are being considered, and a small rock wall has been proposed as a thermal refuge. Now we are just waiting for the butterflies. Haast tokoeka It was a very auspicious day when a little tokoeka was seen on a track by Kelly Gough, evidence that our young tokoeka have started breeding. This is a very historic occasion, the first kiwi to have bred in eastern Otago for over a hundred years. Kiwi poo and occasional probe holes can be seen from many of the walking tracks in the Ecosanctuary. A newly discovered tokoeka burrow suggests more breeding is being planned! Photo: Matt Thomson All 19 of the originally transferred Haast tokoeka are doing well. Valerie and Michael Fay have produced a report which shows they still favour the southern end of the Ecosanctuary (nearer the Visitor Centre), and all birds were putting on weight and growing their bills longer at the last measurement when the birds were caught in December. One of the birds from the first transfer is much heavier than other birds in this cohort, has the longest bill, and a slower growth rate - all consistent with being an older tokoeka than the rest. Interestingly, young male tokoeka have slower weight gain and bill length increases than young females, and tokoeka gender can be determined using these two parameters. Mike and Valerie have also produced a report on a tokoeka call count project, which details a considerable effort by volunteers at ten listening posts, and the subsequent effort to triangulate tokoeka positions from estimated distances of simultaneously heard calls along compass bearings from different locations. It clearly is not as efficient as radio tracking, but produced results that were consistent with the previous radio-tracking study, and does not cause any stress to the tokoeka. As all the evidence suggests that our Haast tokoeka are doing well, the need for monitoring is now less. Otago skink Work has been underway creating layers of rocks for thermal refuges to provide habitat of Otago skink. Schist rocks have been obtained from Oceana Gold and from Andrew Noone to help create this habitat. Staff and volunteers salvaged 34 fence posts and three strainers to help construct the enclosure (yes, believe it or not, most of the Ecosanctuary was once used as farm land and fences are still present in the forest understorey in places). It is likely that Otago skinks will be released in the enclosure in October. 5

6 Glam rockers make good parents Paradise shelduck (Tadorna variegata) Derek Onley Ducks are not something you expect to find in forests, let alone perched high up in a gum tree, but then New Zealand birds don t always play by the rules. During the first year of bird counts in the Orokonui, pre-fence, eight years ago this spring, a pair of paradise shelducks nested amongst the eucalypts in the lower valley and were regularly seen careering speedily along the stream, narrowly missing tree trunks with a flick of the wing and yelling their heads off as they did so. Pūtakitaki and the other shelducks, the small group to which they belong, are unusual amongst the 130 or so ducks of the world in that both males and females are brightly coloured. Other female ducks are usually duller than males, an adaptation that presumably helps camouflage them while doing most, if not all, of the egg and chick raising duties. NZ s grey duck doesn t comply of course; both male and female being equally brown. Female paradise shelducks are bright chestnut brown with white heads, even more colourful than the black males though, as avian eyes have four rather than the three colour receptors that we have, they can see further into the ultraviolet, so a male may well look like a gorgeous, glam rock star to his mate. If the camouflage theory of female duck plumage is to be believed then it is not surprising that paradise shelducks nest in holes or really thick overhanging vegetation. European shelducks regularly nest in rabbit burrows but despite our paradise shelduck taking to paddocks for food they have yet to recognise that equally plentiful new resource. The pūtakitaki in the lower sanctuary valley nested again last year, somewhere in the thick jumble of overgrown felled pine trees immediately uphill to the west of the lower gate. The first I knew of them was when an agitated male (unlike many other male ducks, they don t shirk domestic duties) was flying up and down and calling from the outside of the fence. Inside the fence 7 newly hatched ducklings were trying to join him. If mum and dad and the four half grown young grazing on rye grass 3 weeks later were anything to go by, they probably did eventually get out. Though I m not sure how. 6

7 Vegetation and flora Permanent plot re-measurement A variety of sources of funding have been obtained to help trustee, Kelvin Lloyd, re-measure the 52 permanently marked vegetation plots established on conservation land within the Ecosanctuary over The British Ecological Society, and two New Zealand trusts (The JS Watson Conservation Trust, and the Robert C. Bruce Trust) have all agreed to contribute funding, and Gary Paterson, a Royal Society of New Zealand-funded Primary Teaching Fellow, will help Kelvin to relocate and measure the plots. This work has already been started, with 11.5 plots relocated and re-measured to date and the remainder to be completed over the coming spring and summer. Results should be reported in the autumn. Revegetation Valerie's team planted another 160 trees on the Trust land at the top of the Ecosanctuary in June and 300 in August, while Marie's team filled gaps in the plantings around the Visitor Centre with another 100 trees. Weed control Arboricultural students from Otago Polytechnic have helped fell another batch of wilding trees in Marie's Block. With less time required for animal pest management, Ecosanctuary staff are looking to direct more time toward controlling plant pests such as these wilding trees and Darwin's barberry. Biosecurity news Pest control 566 tracking tunnels were set in late August. After six nights all tracking papers were retrieved and showed no mouse prints at all. 275 mouse traps have been checked once every 2 weeks along with 136 DOC and Fenn traps none have caught anything. This is an amazing achievement given at the same time last year, 76% of tunnels were tracked with mice. This testifies to the ever-increasing experience being built up by Ecosanctuary staff, the permanent trapping network that is now in place and the re-facing of a number of suspected problem culverts. Elton is confident in the Ecosanctuary's ability to keep mouse numbers at very low levels, which is simply outstanding given the 307 ha of mouse habitat within the Ecosanctuary, and the difficulty that other New Zealand sanctuaries are having in controlling mouse populations. The external trap catch rate is low due to the season, but the team is still capturing mice, a few rats, and the occasional weasel at two-week intervals. Infrastructure and facilities Two bay shed Significant donations from Bruce and Sue Cathro and trustee, Alyth Grant, have seen the leanto proposal being abandoned in favour of a two-bay shed. We were a bit pushed for time but really needed to get the shed built prior to Sirocco's visit. Preparing the site has required moving the shade house, but this has been done (see below) and completion is on track, but it will be tight! Thanks to the many volunteers, staff, and contractors who have applied their energy to the task. 7

8 Alyth Grant left and Valerie Fay right help shift the shade house Photos: Matt Thomson (left) and Alyth Grant (right) Then the framing of the 2 bay garage goes up. Photo: Kelvin Lloyd Tracks Tracks are in good condition with some low level track maintenance having been undertaken. Volunteering On a cold August Friday with drizzle, poor visibility and a wind whistling over the saddle, I heard rustling in the shrubbery near the Visitor Centre. A Haast tokoeka perhaps, or takahe? No, it was volunteer John Bartlett, who had been tasked by Elton with cutting down some visually offensive flowering gorse among the native regeneration visible from the cafe. John and his wife Diane have been volunteers for the past 5-6 years, and mainstays of Valerie's Monday planting and weeding projects. Last year John cut down his working week a further day, and has been volunteering at the Ecosanctuary on Fridays too. He refills bird feeders, gives the takahe the 11 am treat, checks traps, clears tracks, cuts gorse, and does anything else that Elton or Kelly want done. John says his day job is confined to the indoors, mainly behind a computer, so he enjoys the opportunity to work outside and hear the birdsong. He enjoys making a difference - and in that respect shares the motivating factor for most of us. Thanks John and Diane! A record 1230 volunteer hours were reported by Matt for June 2013, the largest total since we started collating the donated hours from the many different sources. This really does 8

9 make us feel that the Ecosanctuary is embedded in the local community, which is critical to its sustainability. Orokonui will be hosting an intern, Anne Schnurpfeil from Berlin, from October to February. Anne, who undertook an internship the previous summer with Landcare Research in Dunedin, will now be undertaking a project in which she would like to interview volunteers to assess their reasons for volunteering, their motivation for volunteering, constraints to volunteering, and the value of the work they undertake. Anne has a key interest in forest regeneration so the volunteers involved in planting and the maintenance of plants can look forward to conversations with Anne. She is also interested in environmental education so will observe Tahu's education programme. Thanks Many thanks to Landcare Research (Dunedin) for donating plastic markers to better record vegetation plot locations! We warmly welcome the following new members: Individual David Casey Sandy Robertson Sigrid Coulmann Betty Kennelly Agnes Hodges Mike Neill Not for Profit Puraukanui Amenities Society Outram Gardening Club Corporate Monarch Wildlife Cruises Family J & M Newton Murray & Shirley Bolt K Powell Kate Kerr Kate Wilson Michael Deaker Anaru & Margaret Eketone Janene & Barry Oliver Graeme Allen Judith & Rodger Barrett David & Carolyne Smith Erika Buky Lynne Smith Beatrice Lee & Kelvin Lloyd Nigel Thrush Family Anne Reddington Membership Cards are available for collection at the Visitor Centre next time you visit. 9

10 Thank you to our sponsors Marie and Graeme Bennett Alexander McMillan Trust Dunedin City Council Caversham Foundation Biodiversity Funds Ministry of Education Otago Daily Times Otago Community Trust Otago Regional Council Callis Charitable Trust The Rotary Club of Dunedin Cooke Howlison Community Conservation Fund Community Environment Fund Naylor Love Construction Harry J Wilson Trust Blackhead Quarries Ltd Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority Dunedin Forest and Bird WWF New Zealand MTF City Forests Hope and Sons Blueskin Nurseries Topflite Rotary South Rodgers Law Port Otago Power Farming Otago Wildland Consultants NHNZ Farra Engineering Fund Managers Otago WHK Ryman Healthcare Bendigo Valley Trust ANZ Staff Foundation BOC Ltd John Swan Gallaway Cook Allan Amenities Society Click Media COGS Mohua Charitable Trust Oceana Gold Robert C Bruce Trust ACE Shacklock Trust Southern Victorian Charitable Trust JS Watson Conservation Trust Ecosanctuary contact details: Street address: 600 Blueskin Rd, Waitati, Dunedin Postal address: P.O. Box 6425 Dunedin info@orokonui.org.nz Telephone: (03)