Tieke translocation 2. Bushy Park

 

It's hard to believe that as I write this there are 60 tieke settling in to residency at Rotokare :)

The thought that I was part of getting them there, really makes me swell with pride. I'm not a sentimental person but I have to admit to having shed a few happy tears in the last week.

If you have been following my posts you will have read all about the Hauturu translocation and about the techniques and processes that we went through.
I guess this post will be the highlights of the second translocation and how the Bushy Park translocation was different to Hauturu.

Bushy Park is a mainland island sanctuary just north of Wanganui. It is about 89 hectares in size. If you would like to read more about Bushy Park, here is a link-
www.bushyparksanctuary.org.nz

Our translocation is pretty special in Bushy Park's history as it is the first time that they have been able to take birds from their sanctuary to give to another.
They only translocated their Tieke / Saddleback into their sanctuary in 2007. That to me says that they have the perfect environment for birds to flourish. In only 7 years they have gone from a founding population to having enough that they could give some away. Another fantastic example of how organizations can easily work together for the common good.


The team arrived at Bushy Park on a very chilly Monday morning. Kevin, Sharon, Morag and Simon (from the Hauturu translocation were there,) Gemma and Emily from DOC in New Plymouth, Kris (he works for Forest and Bird at Bushy Park) and Annette (a colleague of Kevin's from Wellington) made up the catch team, along with Jenny (yip Kiwi guru Jenny from Rotokare) Simon, Chauncy and myself.
During the week we were joined by many of the wonderful Rotokare Volunteers. It was awesome to share the experience with the Rotokare commuunity. Being so close to home this time made it really accessible to everyone. It made me feel really great to be able to spend time with different volunteers over the week and teach them about the techniques used and answer the questions that they had.
The feedback on the quality of the teamwork between the paid staff and volunteers was fantastic to hear. The Rotokare Volunteers showed the true spirit of Rotokare and our can-do kick arse attitude. 

I have to admit that during this translocation I actually felt useful when it came to the catching birds! Much of the credit for that needs to go to Morag Fordham. I first met Morag while on Little Barrier Island but never got the opportunity to work with her. This time we teamed up together and we were pretty dammed successful! It was lovely to work alongside someone like Morag who has a really gentle nature (but firm when she needed to be) someone who took time to explain things and involve everyone as much as she could. 

On the first catching afternoon we somehow managed to catch 10 birds in about 20 minutes. This meant that at times there were 2-3 birds in the net waiting to be untangled. As the adrenalin started pumping, I was amazed at how calm and together Morag stayed. She was totally focused on what needed to happen and directed Chris and I to do the jobs we could do.
I did laugh afterwards though when she apologised for being bossy!
I thought she was amazing!

Thank you Morag for teaching me soooo much. I really hope I get the opportunity to work with you again.


The logistics of Bushy Park were a little easier than Hauturu, not a lot of travel, no quaratine, no permits but a few challenges still presented themselves. The first was aviary space.
There were 3 old aviaries at Bushy Park. Old and BIG. These aviaries were built as pre-release aviaries for birds that had been translocated into Bushy Park. I have been told that back when these birds arrived they had to be housed in the aviaries for a period of time before being released into the bush. So.... aviaries that were HUGE and not in the best state of repair ..... Not a problem for the Rotokare team- they built a purpose built aviary INSIDE one of the big aviaries. The one that they chose to use had been used as a kiwi creche at one stage.

The building begins

the build up of leaf litter and branches on the roof was pretty thick. It made 2 oclock in the afternoon feel like 6 oclock. In this photo Chauncy had already knocked off LOTS. It made such a huge difference.

An early photo before the vestibule was built at the front. The second entrance means that people can come and go out of the aviary while the birds still remain safely inside.

Having much fun in his work



 

The finished product.



Another difference we found at Bushy Park was the type of vegetation available to put into the aviary. On Hauturu there was a lot of Kanuka and Manuka and trees that had sturdy branches. This type of foliage meant that the birds had plenty of perches available to them. At Bushy Park the only Manuka that was there had been purposely planted on the outside of the main bush area. The forest was really established meaning that there weren't easy to get to branches for us to use.
Instead we had to use nesting boxes. Luckily there were all the boxes that the Bushy Park team had used back when they translocated the tieke into the sanctuary in 2007.




Jenny hanging boxes to the sides of the aviary.

Accomadation was pretty basic. There was a small bunkhouse with 11 beds in it, a small living area, a small kitchen and ablutions (out the back door.) I did do a chuckle to myself the first day I was there when I went to get lunch organised- on Hauturu everything in the kitchen was on the BIG side- big pots, big pans, lots of everything.... in this kitchen everything was small.
Don't get me wrong though, it was a great place to stay.

 

Lunch in the bunkhouse. A little squashed when we were all in there.
Dinner however .......


 

 Dinner was a lovely affair- Eating at the homestead (as seen in the first photo at the top of the post.) It was certainly an unexpected luxury! And sooooo nice to have someone else cook dinner each night (oh and desert!!)
 

 Bushy Park was a really special journey for me. I felt I had skills and knowledge about bird catching to use this time around. It was a really neat realization to come to. It was really neat being able to work with some of the team from Hauturu as well as meet new people.
Bushy Park is a very special place. Only an hour from where I live I know that the kids and I will be regular visitors.

I have posted a few more photos- I will add a caption to each. If you have any questions about the translocation, please ask. I will add another post about the release event when I have gathered a few more photos- I was so caught up in the day that I forgot to take many photos!

Sharon and Annette counting mealworms. The Rotokare mealworms were said to be of a very high quality! YAY for us.

 

 

Team briefing on a VERY COLD winter's morning. Even the locals said it was the coldest morning they could remember!

Not quite meals on wheels but Simon and Tai arriving with lunch was a really welcome sight.

Janine, Rotokare's office extraordinaire

Chris- holding about 5 minutes worth of catch.... 5 birds!

 

Steve getting upclose with a Tieke. I have seen Steve smile lots over the years I have known him,
but the smiles on this occasion surpassed them all.

Morag releasing a tieke we had caught that wasn't needed. It was so comfy in her hands that it didn't fly off straight away!  

Jenny got a fantastic job for the week, being Kevin's assistant.
I was envious of the job- though was pleased I was moving around a lot more than Jenny and Kevin were.

One of the best parts of Jenny's job (as far as I am concerned) was getting to carry each bird to the aviary!

 

The morning of the release started early and was super busy getting things ready. All the boxes needed to be prepared with foliage and food for the journey.

Emily and my kids busy carrying packing blankets to the vehicles in order to try and soundproof them a little for the 90 minute trip North to Rotkare.

laying out the blankets in the car.

The team that was present on Saturday morning.

Emma and Ryan putting mealworms into each box.
 

The team heading into the bush with boxes to package and re-process the birds. 

 

A bit of a blur- Ryan is the black streak in the middle. Sharon carrying a catching net!
(see there was a place for a net on a translocation!)

 

 

 

 

 

Ryan and Emma having a final look at the tieke in a box before they were loaded into the cars.

 

Loading the birds into cars.


And then the journey north began. To their new home.

One ironic thing about the release day was that it took place on the 31st of May.
For the farming community in New Zealand, this is an important day on the calendar.
It's also known as gypsy day.
The day that farms change hands if they have been sold,
the day that farm workers move to new farms for new jobs. 
A day that you will see furniture being moved and stock being walked to new homes.
It's quite ironic that our birds moved to their new home on what is always big day for our community.

Arohanui
Julz  

 

Bushy Park- through the eyes of Emma (4 almost 5)

I was so stoked to be allowed to take my 2 kids to Bushy Park with me at the end of the week.
Ryan and Emma have both taken a keen interest in the work I have been doing at Rotokare and especially the translocation.

I am very lucky that they have been supportive of what I am doing, especially with the amount of time I have spent away from home over the last 5 months.

I have to thanks Kevin and Simon for allowing the kids to come with me. I know at times it meant that I couldn't help out with certain jobs as the kids need watching, but the experience it gave the kids is something that they will never forget.
I have to thank everyone else that was at Bushy Park for letting the kids help with small jobs and answering their questions.

When we finally had a chance to spend some time together over the weekend we talked alot about the translocation, the jobs that the kids got to help with and other things that they had learned while we were away.
Emma really wanted to take some photos to kindergarten to show her teachers. I put the ones with her in them on a USB drive and off she went. I included a little explanation of what each photo was about under the photo but told her teachers that I would be really keen to hear what Emma told them about the pictures.
Thanks to Amanda for writing down what she told you!

Here is what she said-

 

"We washed the bags. We wanted to check that there were no stones in it. (we)Turned them inside out, moved our fingers around and then put them in the bucket to wash"

So what we did was bring the bird bags home one night to wash them, we had to turn them inside out to empty the feathers, stones and poo out before washing them. Emma emptied lots of the bags by herself. She was excited to find feathers in some of them :)

 

"I poked a hole through them (fruit) with a screwdriver- because you poke it on a branch for the saddleback"

 

The kids helped prepare the fruit for the birds on Friday afternoon. Ryan and Emma washed the fruit, I cut the fruit and then Emma poked holes into each piece.

The fruit gets stuck onto branches in the aviary.

 

"It was a long walk to feed the birds, we went in there (pointing to the trees), my bucket got heavy so mum tipped some into my brother's bucket"

 

It took the kids about 15 minutes to walk up to the aviary to feed the birds.

Emma carried her bucket a lot longer than Ryan did!

 

"Sharon is the lady, she feeds the birds"

"The birds are in the aviary, they are there so that they can't fly away, they can still fly around."

 

Sharon was the person who is in charge of feeding the birds. I was lucky enough to work with Sharon on Hauturu. Emma took a real shine to Sharon due to their love of chocolate!

Thanks Sharon for taking the time to spend with my kids. 

 

"We feeded the Robins at Bushy Park, they like mealworms! They ate them up really fast"

 

"They like mealworms. (I am) putting worms in the box so they can have a snack on the way to Rotokare"

 

Sharon asked Emma and Ryan to put a small handfull of mealworms into each of the bird boxes.  Emma took the job very seriously. She liked that the worms tickled her hand.

                                     
                   "There were saddlebacks in the boxes, they don't like noise. That makes them upset"

"The birds are going to live at Rotokare"

 

The birds aren't actually in the boxes! This photo was taken early in the morning before the birds were prepared for the trip. Emma was really excited about being in the 'team' photo.

 

When Emma's teacher asked her what she liked most about the trip she said

"I had fun, I liked staying the night the best." When asked what the worst part was she replied

"I liked it all"

 

 

I am so super proud of both the kids. They really worked like scientists! They asked questions, they shared their ideas, they worked with lots of people, they listened and they observed!

When I told them that they were working like scientists they just smiled and said 'I know'

 

Hope you enjoyed Emma's story. I am hoping to get Ryan to write something on the ipad using a book making app.... when he does it, I will link it on here .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other cool stuff from Hauturu that I just had to share!

The one thing that I was really worried about before I went to Little Barrier was getting off the boat.
You may ask why?

Well there is NO wharf, jetty or means for a graceful descent. I had been told horror stories of swimming ashore and turning back for the mainland if the weather was too rough.

I like to consider myself pretty tough but the thought of jumping off a boat in rough sea and swimming ashore holding my dry bags just created more grey hairs!

Luckily enough we were able to land in calm conditions (which was really surprising considering the rough trip we had endured on the way over)

I think the best way to explain how you get onshore is to do it with photos-

This is the Norma Jean, this is the charter boat we travelled on. Can you see the small platform at the back of the boat? This gets put down flat when the anchor is dropped, we then hop from the big boat onto a smaller boat.

This was another charter boat that came over to the island while we were there. In this picture you can see the small boat just leaving the larger boat.

The small boat lines up with the gangway and heads towards the carridge.

And off you climb at the top.
It was lovely to be waiting at the top of the gangway when Melissa, Jenny, Mike and Murray arrived on the island.

I've talked a lot about the bird's acommadation and food in earlier posts so thought I should show you a few photos of the human's :)

One of the 2 bunkrooms.

The dining room table ... most nights there were at least 16 and one night we had 21!

The back porch area

The kitchen. Was set up with all the basic stuff you could want. Graham (pictured) was always willing to help me out in the kitchen! Especially cooking our daily dose of very freshly caught SNAPPER!!!

Another view of the back porch. It wasn't unusual to have Kereru and Robin hoping about on this grass
and decking while I was there.

An example of dinner.... curries and fresh snapper this particular night.

The bunkhouse from the front lawn.

This photo was taken from exactly the same spot as the last photo but looking out towards the main land.

One of the very special moments on the island for me was the day that the birds were blessed by local iwi, Ngati Manuhiri. Sheree, Rangi and Moihra travelled to the island on Thursday.
It was a lovely experience to have them with us. Nga manu (maori for birds) are Tane's creatures and are hugely significant in Maori culture.
In maori culture each bird has special significane and a role in the world. I have mentioned in an earlier post a little about our two birds.
If you would like to know more Maori stories about the popokatea or tieke click on the links below

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitehead_(bird)
http://www.kcc.org.nz/saddlebacktieke

Having local iwi involved in translocations is vitally important. It shows respect for their tangata whenua status and our understanding of how important maori customs are.
A very special part of this story is how Sheree and Rangi travelled to Taranaki on the Friday and were hosted by Ngati Tupaia (Lake Rotokare's local iwi.) The two iwi both said karakia and joined in with the release of the birds.
This is a very special part of the journey, the handing over of guardianship from one people to another.

Simon taking a few moments to share the significance of what this translocation
 means to the Rotokare Community and the people of Taranaki, in the foreground of the photo are Rangi and Sherree from Ngati Tupaia.

Ngati Tupaia Kaumatua perform a blessing for the birds. This was not only for the birds heading to Rotokare, but also the birds heading to Rotoroa Island. As not all the birds had been caught at this stage, Rangi and Sheree returned to the island a few days later to perform the karakia again.

So that brings my blogs about Hauturu to an end. I know I have said it many times already but I just cannot express how priviledged I feel to have been part of this journey. It really has been a life changing experience. I have grown to love our native birds, I want learn more and help with educating people about them. I want to continue helping at Lake Rotokare to keep the beautiful sanctuary healthy so we can bring more speices back to Taranaki. The people that I was lucky enough to work with were amazing. Their passion for conservation and the birds is infectious. I hope that I can keep in contact with the team in the future so I can continue to learn from them and hopefully get them involved in my teaching so that my students can learn from them as well.
I have said it before and I will say it again- He aha te mea nui? He tangata, he tangata, he tangata (what is the most important thing? it is people, it is people, it is people.

I have found myself gazing into the skies alot over the last few weeks in search of our new Rotokare residents. Yesterday as I was walking to my car I saw a small flock of popokatea flying about down on the grass area in front of the office. I was sooooo incredibly excited to see this. Many other sightings have happened in the last couple of weeks for both species of birds which is awesome.
It tells us that they have settled into their new home.

One of the biggest science skills I have learnt more about through this translocation is about observation. I have learnt to take the time to listen and to look- with my eyes open and my ears switched on. I had never taken the time to notice so many things about the native birds that call Rotokare home.
Since returning to Rotokare I have found myself taking the time to stop and look and listen. I can identify so many different birds now just by their calls and can usually spot the bird as well!!

One thing is for sure, walks around the sanctuary are going to take a whole lot longer in the future!!!


Now the focus turns to next week .... the translocation of 40 tieke from Bushy Park and the big event on Saturday the 31st when the birds are officially welcomed into their new home.

I CAN'T WAIT!!!  

Watch this space!