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Sep 13
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The Great Kererū Count 2021 – The Final Count Down

By Great Kereru Count 2021 3 Comments

The Final Count Down - Great Kererū Count 2021

It’s time for the Great Kererū Count 2021. Whether you are inside your bubble, or just out of it, make sure you count all the Kererū you see between 17 and 26 September.

This is the last year of the Great Kererū Count. After this, there will be eight years of data which will provide a scientifically robust understanding of trends, and on how best to help kererū.

Tony Stoddard of Kererū Discovery, who coordinates the Count, says that community participation over the last seven years has been a privilege to be part of.

Stoddard, who is a passionate advocate for kererū, encourages everyone to take part in the final count down. “Over the last seven years there has been a total of 52,034 observations, and 119,910 kererū counted. For this final count, it’s important that as many people as possible join in. It’s super easy, good for you, and good for kererū.”

Kererū only live in Aotearoa New Zealand, are protected birds, and tāonga to many. Once there were large flocks of kererū, and now they are mostly seen singly or in small numbers perching on trees or overhead wires. Kererū are critical in keeping native forests growing because they are the only way that seeds of large native trees like tawa, taraire, hinau and miro are dispersed.

Dr Stephen Hartley, Director of the Centre for Biodiversity & Restoration Ecology at Victoria University of Wellington, says that last year there was a 50% increase in sightings from 2019.

“Despite this, there is a worrying recent report from the NZ Bird Atlas that numbers may be declining in the South Island. The Great Kererū Count is about New Zealand working together as community scientists to gain a better understanding of kererū so we can help them thrive. Whether you see any kererū or not, sharing observations is helping us get a great picture of where kererū live, their abundance, and most importantly how best to protect them.

From the data we already have, we know that some of the best ways people can help kererū in their community is by planting trees like kowhai which is the most common tree people have seen kererū feeding on.”

Dr Hartley also expects to see the importance of pest control for boosting kererū numbers. Kererū lay a single egg which is very vulnerable to being eaten by rats, possums and stoats.

Although this is the last year of the Great Kererū Count, Kererū Discovery will continue so that people can keep sharing their stories and encounters and continue to build a shared understanding of kererū. Analysis of the eight years of data will be completed by Sam Rammell a post-graduate student at Victoria University of Wellington.

The Great Kererū Count is a collaborative project led by Urban Wildlife Trust & Kererū Discovery together with partners Wellington City Council, Dunedin City Council/City Sanctuary, Nelson City Council and Victoria University of Wellington.

ENDS.

The Great Kererū Count is a collaborative project by:

Sep 01
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Join the Global Bird Rescue citizen science project 2021

By GBR2021 No Comments

Global Bird Rescue 2021

The Global Bird Collision Mapper is an international bird collision database designed to help better understand where and to what degree collisions are occurring.

Your participation in Global Bird Rescue will not only help demonstrate the magnitude of the problem, it will help inspire further development of effective preventative measures and standards designed to protect bird species.

The Global Bird Collision Mapper (GBCM) is just that! a global citizen science project which starts the day after the Great Kererū Count finishes. Global Bird Rescue (GBR) is an annual event hosted by FLAP Canada |>Birdsafe that uses the Global Bird Collision Mapper (GBCM) to document bird-building collisions across the globe.

Each year teams, and individuals take to the streets and to social media to raise awareness about this critical issue. This year you can help save the world’s birds! Join us for Global Bird Rescue from September 27th to October 3rd, 2021, as FLAP Canada, bird conservation groups and members of the public around the world rescue and document birds that have collided with buildings in their community, while working to make the urban environment safer for birds. To learn more, visit Global Bird Rescue. The worldwide project encourages people to search for birds, in the hope to increase the chances of finding live birds sooner, thus increasing their chances for a successful rehabilitation/release.

Using the Global Bird Collision Mapper, participants will be able to report the location, status and species of the birds they recover, including the ability to upload a photo of each bird they report. This citizen science tool will show every collision reported on its interactive GIS map, providing invaluable data for a greater understanding of the bird-building collision issue. Even after the project finishes you can continue to use the Global Bird Collision Mapper for any bird-building collisions you encounter throughout the year.

Make sure you take part in both these important Citizen Science events focused on our feathered friends – Become part of the bigger picture! Without your help, it’s only science. PLEASE join the Global Bird Rescue and give our beautiful birds a voice!

Ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi, engari, he toa takitini

"Success is not the work of one, but the work of many"

Sep 16
Love0

Great Kererū Count 2020 – Press Release

By Great Kereru Count 2020 No Comments

It’s time for the Great Kererū Count 2020

Kererū Discovery is calling for all kiwis to get out and count kererū. Kererū only live in Aotearoa New Zealand. Whether you love their classic white singlets, their whooping wingbeats, or their awesome air shows, kererū are unique to Aotearoa and as kiwi as kiwi.

This year the annual Great Kererū Count 2020 runs from 18-27 September.

Associate Professor Stephen Hartley, Director of the Centre for Biodiversity & Restoration Ecology at Victoria University of Wellington, says that this is the seventh year of this annual community science project.

“The Great Kererū Count is about New Zealand working together as community scientists to gain a better understanding of kererū so we can help them thrive. Whether you see any kererū or not, sharing observations is helping us get a great picture of where kererū live, how many kererū there are or are not, and most importantly how best to protect them.”

As well as being real characters of the bush, kererū are also known as the gardeners of the sky – spreading precious seeds of forest giants such as tawa, miro and hinau. Native forest is important for our health and wellbeing, and for ecosystem services such as clean water, clean air, and healthy soil.

Tony Stoddard of Kererū Discovery, who coordinates the Count, shares some tips for good spots to see kererū; “At this time of the year kererū will be flocking to trees like willow and tree lucerne. These trees are kererū-magnets as the birds come out of their winter-feeding grounds and prepare for the breeding season by feeding on the nitrogen-rich leaves.”

“In urban areas, kōwhai are another important food source for kererū, and you will often see or hear angry tui defending their trees from hungry kererū.”

Rural areas aren’t left out of the count, and according to Stoddard, if you are very lucky and have a keen eye, you could come across flocks as large as 100 in a paddock free ranging on grass and clover.

Last year people in many districts and cities reported that kererū appeared less abundant. “This might be because last year there was an especially high amount of fruit and food for kererū deep within forests, and so people just didn’t see them as much in gardens and around town” says Stoddard.

Some of the questions which may be answered this year are whether or not numbers in urban areas have increased again, whether last year’s plentiful forest food means a corresponding bumper year for breeding, or if predators are preventing the kererū population from booming.

The Great Kererū Count is an opportunity to answer these questions and more, and everyone is encouraged to take part in the count.

The Great Kererū Count is a collaborative project brought to NZ by Kererū Discovery, Urban Wildlife Trust, in partnership with Wellington City Council, Dunedin City Council/City Sanctuary, Nelson City Council and Victoria University of Wellington

—- END

Jun 14
Love0

Project Window Strike

By Window Strike No Comments

Why Project Window Strike?

Through Kererū Discovery we receive many stories about kererū hitting windows, and requests for help when people come across kererū injured from flying into glass. These are incredibly distressing stories for all, and even more so as they are potentially avoidable.

We really want to do something about improving our understanding of window strike, and to help prevent unnecessary harm to our native birds. And so, in 2019 we partnered with Global Bird Rescue.

Global Bird Rescue is an annual event hosted by FLAP Canada (Fatal Light Awareness Program (FLAP) Canada is widely recognised as the pre-eminent authority on the bird-building collision issue). Global Bird Rescue uses the Global Mapper to document bird-building collisions across the globe and is part of the FLAP BirdSafe initiative.

BirdSafe provides detail on how and why to keep birds safe from daytime and night time bird-building collision threats for Canadian homes and workplaces (see https://birdsafe.ca/ for lots of helpful information). 2019 saw the release of the Canadian Standards Association’s Bird-Friendly Building Design standard.

One of the products recommended by Birdsafe are window markers by Feather Friendly® who provide a great solution to prevent birds flying into windows for both commercial and residential buildings. These markers provide a relatively affordable and attractive solution which we believe will suit our situation in New Zealand.

Feather Friendly® window markers

Introducing our new global partners in the fight against window strike.
Feather Friendly® window markers https://www.featherfriendly.com are being proven as effective window strike mitigation overseas, and so we are delighted to bring this innovation to New Zealand to help prevent unnecessary deaths and injuries to our native birds.

Feather Friendly® window markers are the best product we have found to help prevent birds from flying into your windows. You can take action to prevent native birds from dying or being injured from flying into your windows.

To view Feather Friendly® window marker case studies please click here