A road trip with Ryan and ... 2 kiwi eggs

On Sunday at 5:50 in the morning, Ryan and I left home and headed to the other end of town to meet Jenny. Jenny was looking after a very small chilly bin that had something very precious inside.

Inside the chilly bin were 2 kiwi eggs.

All packaged up ready to go.
Sitting flat on the seat, padded on the sides with padding
and securey fastened with the seat belt.

Our job was to transport the eggs to Rotorua's Kiwi Encounter. This is a purpose built facility that looks after around 250 kiwi eggs a year. At 'K.E,' as it's known, they incubate the eggs and then look after the chicks until they are big enough to go back to where they came from or to be released at another location (remember how I have mentioned how important it is to spread the genetics around in earlier posts.)

Kiwi Encounter is one of a handful of facilities around the country that work as part of the Operation Nest Egg programme which is sponsored by the BNZ bank.
If you are interested in learning more about O.N.E  or Kiwi Encounter, follow these links
www.kiwisforkiwi.org
http://www.rainbowsprings.co.nz/247/kiwi/kiwi-encounter

Anyway, back to our story.
As I have mentioned in earlier posts, some of the kiwi at Rotokare wear transmitters so that we can monitor their progress. The battery in their transmitter needs to be changed every 12 months.
So the dilemma began- the transmitter needed to be changed but the kiwi was sitting on not only 1 egg but 2!
Once a kiwi has a transmitter change it is unlikely to return to that burrow. Something we don't want to happen when they are sitting on eggs BUT we can't risk the battery going flat and not being able to find the kiwi again.

This was a perfect example of scientists working with scientists and doing a bit of problem solving. Simon made a call to the experts over at Kiwi Encounter and they suggested that the eggs be 'lifted' when the kiwi was out of the burrow feeding.
Then the plan was put together between the team at Rotokare and the Taranaki Kiwi Trust for how the mission would unfold.

A team would go into the bush late at night, wait for the kiwi to leave his burrow (we know it's a male, as it's the males that incubate the eggs.) The team would then take the eggs and very very carefully package them up ready for their long trip to Rotorua.
I won't write about the process they go through when they lift the eggs as hopefully I can be part of a lift sometime in the near future (and I will write a blog)

So, the eggs- one aged about 35 days and the other about 65 days. Kiwi eggs take about 80 days in the wild to hatch and between 75-78 days in an artificial breeding facility such as K.E

The eggs had been lifted off the nest at 1:30 that morning. Jenny had got back to her place about 4:30. We arrived just before 6.
After a quick loading up of the car, we were off. In side the chilly bin the eggs were beign kept warm with hot water bottles and thick woolen socks! The chilly bin was not opened from the moment the eggs were put in it until they were taken out in Rotorua.

I have to admit to being as nervous as the day I bought Ryan home from hospital after being born. Such precious cargo was being entrusted into my care!

The drive to Rotorua took a long time! I have never noticed how bumpy the roads are and how windy the corners are in some places. Having left Hawera at 6, we didn't get to Rotorua until just before 12.

Arriving at Rainbow springs

Ready to take the eggs into K.E

When we arrived at K.E, we were met by Claire who is one of the amazing team of kiwi experts that work there. She took us through the process of preparing the eggs for incubation.

Ryan and I were extrememly lucky to see what they do with the eggs!
The kids and I had visited K.E a few years ago and paid for the tour of the facility but being on the other side of the glass this time and having 2 specialists talking with us was amazing.
People on the pulic tours are not allowed to take photos so I felt priviledged to have been allowed.

The eggs are checked over, 'candled' which is where they put illluminate the egg and are able to see the developmental stage of the foetus. They wash the egg, weigh the eggs and probably a few other things that I didn't pick up on.


While Claire worked in the quarantine room doing another round of checks and putting the eggs into the incubator, Ryan and I had the opportunity to have a 'out the back' tour of the rest of the facility. It was totally awesome having a one on one tour with someone so knowledgeable about all things Kiwi. As always I had a million questions!
I'm not sure what the lady's name was that showed us around, but she was interested to hear about how we have been managing our meal worms at Rotokare. That was a real 'feel good' moment for me.
She explained that she works as a casual on call member of the team. Most of the team have some sort of science degree as well as a captive wildlife management certificate from UNITEC in Auckland. I have learnt through my fellowship that this certificate is pretty much a nessecity in NZ for people working with captive animals.

 

 

 

Before even looking at the eggs, paperwork is checked

Carefully unwrapping the eggs

Initial weight of the eggs

Preparing the water for washing the eggs.

On the other side of the glass window were a group of people! I felt really weird being on show.

 

 

After an hour at K.E, our job was done.

 

Thanks Simon and the Rotokare Trust for entrusted me with the job. I can't wait to do it again!

 

Year 8 volunteer morning

Last Thursday I had the opportunity to go with our 5 year 8 students out to Lake Rotokare for their morning's work.
These sessions started at the beginning of the year with the vision that they would teach the students the value of volunteer work, the opportunity to see some of the work that goes on at the lake and some exposure to see how conservation / ecology 'scientists' work.

This term's first adventure saw us doing some maintenance work on the Barrier Free track. This track is accessible for those in wheelchairs and pushchairs. It's really important that it is kept clear and as tidy as possible.

The students cleaned out and replenished the nectar feeder, trimmed trees back, cleared out culverts and other tasks that needed doing. We were lucky to work alongside Chauncy and were also joined by Chauncy's son Phoenix.


My biggest highlight of the day was hearing and seeing a Tieke up close. It didn't seem to mind us all being there watching it as it flittered around eating supplejack berries. The students were captivated by it's call and watched it with great interest! They went back to school absolutely buzzing about their up close experience with it.

I know they are looking forward to their next work day later in the term as much as I am!

All ready to get out and do some work

Cleaning the nectar feeder

Topping it up

Cleaning out a culvert

Pruning back some overhanging branches

Observing the Tieke

The tieke  observing us

 

Teamwork will always get the job done!

Never too young to help out. Really impressed with how caring and patient my students were

Not happy with just clearing this culvert, they had to clear the way all the way down into the marshy area.

Back at school

There was no 'easing' back into school and school life! The first few weeks were amongest the toughest teaching I have ever done in my teaching career.
What made it easier was our 'sci-fit' sessions that I have been running 3 times a week for all the students at our school.
Our daily fitness sessions have been turned into science experiences for 3 15 minute sessions on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The students are loving it! These short, fun, highly hands on experiences that are encouraging Nature of Science process skills such observations, curiosity, communication and prediction are really hooking the kids into learning more about science. Some weeks we have repeated the same experience on the 3 days because they want to change a variable or they want to observe again.
This programme has been a great way for me to work with all the students in the school again and start sharing my passion with them.

Forgot to take my camera the day we worked with slime, we were fascinated the next

day to see how the slime we saved has started to merge together to make

new colours.

Paper twirlers in week 2 fascinated the students. We trialled 4 different types of paper

Working collaboratively to see if 4 hands work better than 2

 

  

 

 

Observing the behaviour of raisins

One of the students wondered what would happen to the dancing raisin if you added cooking oil to the lemonade. This started a really good discussion on water pollution!

 

Ramp racers were rather competitive but really worthwhile in the discussions that took place. The first day each group looked for the 'best' angle for the ramp, the second day they looked for the 'best' performing car to use out of 5 cars. The third day we combined the best performing ramp and car and competed against the other house groups. Loads of fun and loads of learning.

 

I'm pretty sure the kids now look forward to 'sci-fit' as much as I do!

 

 

Saying ka kite to my fellow fellows

The following week, all 26 teacher fellows converged on the Royal Society in Wellington for our final symposium. A time to celebrate our journey thus far and prepare ourselves for returning to school.

The first day of the sympsosium saw us break into our 2 fellowship groups and do some focused work on returning to school. Us primary science teaching fellows were joined by our principals for the day so we could start to plan the self review that we would be undertaking in the term after we returned to school. Before getting stuck into the serious work, we were able to take our principals on a series of science experiences run by the ever capable Bridgette Glasson.
For some of the principals in the room, the approach of science 'experiences' being delivered in the way that they were was totally new. It was great to see so many of the principals having fun and enjoying what they were doing.
I think it really showed them a little of what we have been learning about and a little about how the approach to teaching science has changed since the implementation of the new NZ curriculum in 2007.

Learing new approaches to gather data while learning about the weather

Of course it was fun .... it also taught us lots about forces and working collaboratively

 

Preparing balloon racers- learning about trialling, testing, communicating and of course whose would go the furtherst!

New approaches for gathering data through learning about phases of the moon 

 

 

The second day of the symposium was really really enjoyable. We got to listen to presentations from the other teachers about their fellowship. Unfortunately due to only having about 3 hours of time, we were broken into 3 groups. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to what the others had been up to and what they had been learning about.
I was extrememly nervous about doing my presentation and was worried that I wouldn't be able to use up the time limit we had ..... not sure why as I ended up being cut off at about 13 minutes without getting to the end of what I had prepared. I didn't realise how much I had learnt and how many amazing opportunities I had had in 6 months!

Certificates, chocolates, bubbly and photos then it was time to say goodbye and head home.
We started the journey as teachers interested in science education, we finished this chapter as science champions! Ready to go back into our school and make a difference.

Being presented with my certificate by our inspirational leader Jenn.

What a good looking bunch.... trying to be serious

I had to laugh at this- years of group photos and I have never had one like this taken before.

John Auty- don't give up your day job!

Thanks sooooo much to The Royal Society of New Zealand, The Ministry of Buisness, Innovation and Employment and to Rawhitiroa School for providing me with the opportunity that you have. It really has been life changing!
Thank you to the Rotokare Scenic Reserve Trust for hosting me! Particular thanks for Simon, Melissa and Chauncy for sharing your life with me for 6 months.
To Jenny, Litchie and all the amazing volunteers at the lake, thank you for letting me tag along.
To my mum, Barry and all the wonderful friends who have looked after my kids and my dog- thank you soooo very very much. Knowing that Ryan and Emma were being cared for so well, made my task of being away so much easier.
And last but by no means least- To Ryan and Emma- thannk you for putting up with me being away so much. Thank you for asking so many questions. Thank you for the phone calls and skype calls, the lovely pictures you drew for me to take away and being brave when I wasn't home. Thank you for being so interested in what I was doing.

I thought that keeping a blog would be a bit of a chore and only started it because it was a requirement.... I have been pleasantly surprised! I have really enjoyed writing each post, I have loved the feedback and positivity that people have shared with me. I have been blown away with where in the world people have read my blog!
I am planning to keep the blog going to keep a record of my adventures at the Lake- and I plan to have many many more of them!

Aroha nui

Julz

Last day at the lake

It was a sad day on Friday the 27th of June. My last official day at the Lake.
I turned up expecting to pack up my desk, have morning tea, hand out some gifts and be gone by lunchtime. I still had assignments to finish and a presentation to get ready for the end of fellowship symposium next week.
I really had no idea how my day would turn out!

Jenny followed me into the office telling me that she was off to change the transmitter on one of the kiwi we monitor in the sanctuary. It was Ana, one of the female kiwi we were given from Orana Park in Christchurch a year earlier.
I was asked if I wanted to go with her- like she needed to ask!!! Of course I would. My other plans went out the window and off we went with our tracking aerial.
Jenny had tracked her a few days earlier and knew the general area that she was in. The plan was the Jenny and I would track Ana down and then Simon and Chauncy would come out and do the transmitter change.

As we got closer to our starting point the skies darkened and the rain began to fall.
This poses a dilemma- do we leave it for another day when it's not raining and run the risk of the battery running flat before it's fine again or go ahead and find her and hope it stops raining before we need to extract her from her burrow. It's not good practise to let a bird get wet.
After a discussion on the radio with Simon we decided to go ahead and keep tracking and then make a decision when we found her.

Notice Jenny's shiny raincoat ..... it's not normally like that!

Miss Ana was not as easy to find as the first kiwi tracking adventure I went on with Jenny!

We kept losing the signal, and boy did we have to climb amongest some thick supplejack to find her burrow.
When we eventually found her the rain had eased off a little so the transmitter change went ahead.

Ana had made her home in a hollow log with 2 entry/ exit holes.
All 4 sets of hands were required when it came to getting her out as 2 people were needed to guard the exit holes, one to follow her movement as she moved up and down the log and one to start digging her out.
I had the job of tracking her movement in the log. I was amazed that I could easily hear her movement inside the log. Once she got near the end of the log, Simon could start digging her as we effectively had her trapped in a section of the log. We had her out in no time with little fuss.

Chauncy at one end of the log

 

Jenny at the other end of the log

Devising a plan of approach- notice the supplejack!

Once she was out of her burrow, Simon and Chauncy worked as fast and quietly as they could to change the transmitter and get her back into her hole. It was fantastic to watch Simon at work with the kiwi. I have not seen a transmitter change before and I was fascinated with the intricate detail that went into making sure the transmitter went on correctly.

Seeing the teamwork between Simon and Chauncy was great as well. Whoever said that men can't multi task would have been pleasantly surprised to watch Chauncy hold an umbrella over Simon and Ana AND write down notes for Simon. So clever!
 
The rain had stopped while the transmitter change was happening but umbrellas were used because there were still large drops of water falling from the canopy. We needed to keep the bird as dry as possible. Ana was covered in a towel to reduce her stress level and the light she was being subjected to as well as the odd drop of water that managed to get between the umbrellas.

 Watching a master at his craft.

 

I really enjoyed the opportunity to watch Simon work in this environment.

Much of interaction with Simon during my time at the lake has been in the office environment.

It was awesome to see him in this environment. You can see where his passion for the project comes from when you see him out in the field. 

 

 

On the way back to the office after the transmitter change we were graced with the presence of a pair of Tieke! They were happy for us to stand and watch them for a few minutes. This seemed a perfect way to finish my time at the lake.  So it was then back to the office to dry out, drink coffee, eat cake and celebrate our day's work.

Hard to believe that 2 terms have come to an end.
This is not the end of the relationship between myself and Rotokare. I have become so passionate about the place and all that it represents that there is no way I could just walk away.
I am going to become one of those people who turn up to help on their days off work or at 9 am on a Sunday morning for a working bee! One of those people who talk about the place with the  people they meet out on the tracks. I am going to be one of those people who answer the call that a job needs doing and my hands could do it. I can't wait for the next chapter of the Rotokare Residence to start!

Arriving at the Lake

What a glorious day it was the day the Tieke arrived at Lake Rotokare.

It was quite an emotional arrival at the lake, with what seemed like 100s of people there waiting for the stars of the show.

Jenny arrives with the first load of birds

 

Add caption

The unloading begins.


When the birds all arrived they were carried down to the landing and the waiting crowd.

 

 

 

Once the birds were all in place, Darren Ratana from DOC, performed a short karakia to welcome the birds. After that 8 of the 10 boxes were loaded into 2 boats and taken across the lake where they were released.

 

 

I loved the way that the lake was sparkling- it added a touch of magic to the day.

And off they went.

 

Waiting up at the other end of the lake were representatives from main sponsors of the project OMC, individual bird sponsors and a handful of other very lucky people including 4 students from the 2  local schools. They witnessed the majority of the birds being released.

 

On the other side of the lake, those that wanted to make the short walk up to the end of the Barrier Free track also had the opportunity to see 8 tieke released.

It was a wonderful opportunity to be part of this release group as there were a lot of the local community present.

Included in this group were also about 10 students and their parents from my school.

I spent time walking and talking with Allan Anderson and his wife. Allan has been part of the Bushy Park Sanctuary team for many, many years and had worked closely with the Rotokare team organising our translocation. I had talked to him many times over the week at Bushy Park and it was a priviledge to be with him as 'his' birds were released into 'our' sanctaury. He was part of the team that translocated Tieke into Bushy Park in 2007. This is the very first time that Bushy Park has been able to gift birds to another sanctuary and a bit of an emotional day for us both.

 

As the birds were released, I have to admit to a few tears. I had been part of a history making event. I had been part of an experience that is helping to save 2 different endangered endemic birds. It is certainly something I will never ever forget.

What made the day even extra special was that it was my 37th birthday.

 

 

The group waiting at the end of the Barrier Free track

 

In the middle of this photo is Maj who was the Rotokare Sanctuary Manager at the start of the Tieke/ Popokatea translocation process. It was great to have her with us for the day. This project has been on the go for a number of years and as I have learned, the logistics that go into making it happen require dedicated focused leadership.  

 

Melissa unscrewing the boxes just before releasing the birds.
This is where I stopped taking photos as I wanted to just enjoy the moment with my son.

A huge sense of relief washed over the team as the visitors left and the sun began to set. A few hours were spent talking and sharing a drink to celebrate the occasion.
The following day a few of the Rotokare team along with Kevin and Sharon took to the tracks around the lake. A few calls were heard and a few birds were seen. What a great start.


This post has been a long time coming and 3 months has passed since release day. We are now seeing and hearing tieke and popokatea very regularly spread all around the sanctuary. Pairs of birds are being observed as well which is really exciting come into breeding season.
Hopefully by xmas we will be seeing unbanded juvenille birds around Rotokare.

I can't wait for the time to come when Rotokare is able to gift some of our birds to another sanctuary or island project somewhere around the country.  For species like Tieke, their future lies in the hands of sanctuaries. Without pest-free areas their survival will be continually threatened.

I am so incredibly grateful to the Rotokare Scenic Reserve Trust for giving me the opportunity to be part of this adventure.