New Zealand Nature Heroes

My latest book New Zealand Nature Heroes is 80 pages of "inspiration and activities for young conservationists". Stories of scientists and volunteers ....

Getting Past the 'ick' Factor: for a Predator Free New Zealand

There's a momentum building across the country, as community after community sets up 'Predator Free' or 'Pest Free' groups. Last November, Predator Free Pukerua Bay kicked off with a well attended meeting in the local hall.  We weren't starting from scratch as in the Pukerua Bay scientific Reserve volunteers were trapping for weasels, stoats, and rats, and around the reserves Greater Wellington Regional Council has bait stations. Also a few locals were already trapping on their sections. But this was just a drop in the ocean compared to what we could do together as a community.

Why we trap - to protect our native wildlife

What Bird is That? identifying native forest birds

Forest Birds ID card from "In the Bush" - now free to download

Interested in New Zealand's native birds and want to be able to identify them? Ten or so years ago I'd be out in the forest not sure what I was hearing or seeing. Here's some of the steps that I took to improving my knowledge of New Zealand birds.

Set yourself a bird-watching challenge: for example, take part in the New Zealand Garden Bird Survey on this week from 24 June to 2 July.  Gardens are a good place to start because often birds are easier to see in a garden and you can learn bird-watching techniques (see tips below) that will help you when you are out in the forest, beach or wetland. The Top 10 birds in gardens in 2016 were:

Counting Birds - New Zealand's 10 most common forest birds

I've been subjected to some friendly teasing from friends and family, who find it amusing that I just spent 2 days on a bird counting course. "How hard can it be?" they laugh, counting off 1 - 2 - 3 on their fingers.

 One tui in a kowhai tree

My Bird Count

warm up
get ready
look out the window
one yellow hammer
in a flock of sparrows too many to count

step out
in the garden
two seagulls high in the sky
shadows of starlings and silver-eyes flying through
two resident blackbirds rustling under trees
one fantail flitting
one chaffinch perching
one tui coughing and chuckling
count me, count me

Be a Citizen Scientist - join the garden bird project

Hooray it's the start of the Garden Bird Survey today. Between now and 6 July, spend an hour in your garden counting birds, you might be surprised by what you see. By doing the survey, I discovered that in the winter grey warblers and fantails visit our garden in winter but not in summer.