Rowi Blog: Archive for January, 2010

One rowi pair have been causing us quite a bit of trouble lately!

CN pair, otherwise known as Whetu and Marama, have produced an egg that has kept us returning to their burrow we’ve tried to rescue—first as an egg and then as a chick—five times.

The first attempt was made by Hayley, Mike and Duncan whose radio receiver passed out within metres of the burrow!  How frustrating, they knew they were close but were surround by a hundreds of possible rowi homes.

A few days later, Hayely, Mike and myself had a second go at trying to rescue the egg.  Their home is about a 1 km walk in a reasonably flat (albeit muddy) area just off Mapourika Lake.  When we got to the burrow there was an entire possum skeleton out front. It looked like Whetu and Marama had dealt to this sorry possum and had carefully left its remains as a reminder to any other rodent who should think about trying to take them on—that’s what we like to see! Unfortunately we couldn’t reach the egg on this occasion without disturbing the adult birds, so we decided to leave the egg to hatch.

At the entrance of the kiwi burrow

In this situation we wait until the adult transmitters tell us that the egg has hatched and that the chick is at least four days old before we go to catch it. This involves arriving at dusk and sitting sooooo quietly that you can hear every stick and leaf move at the entrance of the burrow.  Hayley, Mike and Duncan went in on a Sunday night to catch the chick. Armed with catch nets, mosquito nets and insect repellent they waited, until suddenly the chick zoomed out of the burrow without any inhibition so fast that all three rangers missed it!

Lucy with the fashionable mosquito netting head gear

Next Anna and I went in to collect this confident chick—although this time it was not so confident.  We had not long positioned ourselves in front of the burrow entrance listening to the irritating high-pitched hum of the 50 or so mosquitoes, who were hovering off the surface of my face, when we started to hear intermittent morepork calls, then a few scuffles from the burrow, a couple of stomps and squeaks.  An adult carefully moved into the entrance and sniffed the air. It took a couple of steps right and sniffed, then another couple of steps left towards Anna and sniffed around her hands.  This was enough, obviously Anna was too smelly! The adult turned and, baring its fluffy behind, disappeared down the burrow.  We heard a bit of a conversation between the adult and the chick—which I can only imagine went a little bit like, “you’re not going out tonight son, there’s something very stinky out there”—and that was the most kiwi we saw all night. We waited and waited and could hear the adult and chick come to the bottom of the entrance, sniff the air and disappear again, all night they did this and all night we waited. At 4.30 am we retired, chick bucket empty.

Third time lucky, Anna and Ieuan went out on a rainy night and nabbed it. Fantastic!

We were all amazed that a chick that old was still alive and were anxious that any night could be its last. The lucky chick is now at Willowbank Wildlife Reserve for a few weeks to make sure it’s healthy before being transferred to predator-free Motuara Island where it will stay until it’s big enough to return to Okarito to beat up more possums—just like its parents!!

Over the last few days I’ve been training Rein – a very special and enthusiastic new member of the rowi team who is going to prove invaluable in finding rowi without the use of transmitters. Starting young - Rein is only eight weeks old – she will focus on familiarising herself with new people and environments as well as mastering basic obedience training.

Yes that’s right we’re talking about a dog, a Hungarian Vizsla in fact.

Vizslas are actually bred as an all-round hunting dog so are genetically predisposed to hunt for birds. Ironically these animals (as with all dogs) can be both a prolific killer of kiwi and, with the right training and in the correct hands, they can also become very valuable conservation tools.

The path to becoming a detection dog for the Department of Conservation requires considerable training, so I will be kept very busy over the next couple of years. However, with any luck we will be exploring the Okarito Kiwi Zone together and begin species training before the end of the year.

Rein - on her way to becoming an invaluable member of the rowi team

Rowi, along with all other species of kiwi, have a very limited genetic diversity. Because the population of rowi is so small and the monitored breeding population is only half that again, the chicks being protected using BNZ Operation Nest Egg are coming from the same sets of genes, year after year.

A trained kiwi dog will be a huge asset to the team in allowing us to find previously unmonitored kiwi in Okarito. This will assist in increasing the current rowi gene pool and also help us to protect the offspring of new birds using BNZ Operation Nest Egg.

Having spent so much time in kiwi conservation I would still like to urge people to take extreme care with their pets. One uncontrolled dog can destroy whole populations of kiwi in a frighteningly short time-span. See dog and cat owners to find out how you can prevent your pet from killing our icon.

Over the last week, Ieuan, Anna, Mike and I spent three days on Motuara Island performing health checks on this year’s chicks. We were pleased to see that all these chicks are doing well and putting on weight quickly with the smorgasbord of bugs available to them on the island.

Anna holds one of last year's juveniles ready to return to Okarito Kiwi Zone.

While on the island, we also screened the remaining juveniles from last year’s breeding season, for diseases in preparation for their return home to Okarito Kiwi Zone. This involves taking a blood sample and a faecal sample and sending these off to the lab to be analysed. When the results come back we look for any abnormalities that could indicate disease, parasites, or infections. Anything that shows up must be treated before returning to Okarito as it would be devastating to introduce something into the ‘whanau’ population that could threaten the species.

A couple of highlights from the trip:

During the trip we were treated to some beautiful Marlborough weather and our nights were spent sleeping outside under the stars after winding down with some music from Ieuan and his guitar.

After a bit of foraging, Mike provided an entrée of paua, kina and mussels which didn’t last long when put in front of four hungry DOC workers.

Anna and Ieuan carry out disease screening.

Over the Christmas break the rowi team have been on holiday. One could be forgiven for thinking all has been quiet in Okarito Kiwi Zone, however in our absence the birds have been busy creating some work for us on our return.

Early in the new year, Sky Ranger flew over the sanctuary and detected 10 pairs that had recently started incubating new eggs. Just as we were beginning to think that the season was winding down, this came as a nice surprise. The next few days will be spent catching up with these birds and trying to rescue their eggs. With any luck, we will be sending a few over to Christchurch at the end of the week.

We would like to wish everyone a happy new year and hope that this year continues to be a good one for rowi!

Some rowi highlights from 2009:

Hira (meaning 'of importance'), the 100th BNZ Operation Nest Egg rowi chick, is born at Willowbank Wildlife Reserve.

Rowi chicks discovered nesting together on Motuara Island.

Makaawhio kaumatua, Archdeacon Richard Wallace, blessing the chicks on their return to Okarito.

Associate Minister of Conservation, Hon. Kate Wilkinson, helps the team release rowi back into Okarito Kiwi Zone after a bumper breeding season.

Students join the rowi team as part of the Untouched World Programme.