Dear All
This week we had a phone call from Barry Lett, a neighbour of Tawharanui Open Sanctuary, that he suspected kaka were nesting on his property. The description given was kaka visiting a slot in a puriri tree.
Wednesday 12 th Ranger Maurice Puckett visited and located 4 x DOC 200 traps and several track tunnels in vicinity. Bary runs Timms traps for possums continuously. The property is within a few hundred meteres of TOS buffer trapping zone.
Yesterday Geneveive Taylor and myself inspected the tree. Two kaka were observed in tree and during course of visit cc calling and displaying was observed. A roped climb was established. Unfortunately Genevieve could not see base of cavity as it is relatively deep and tricky to observe with a small bathroom mirror and torch.
Immediately before tree was climbed one bird exited cavity. immediately after climb one bird entered and was inside for at least 35 minutes before we went for a cup of tea. She (presuambly) was not seen to exit.
Barry had great field observations which indicated that if this is a nest he has observed it right from prospect stage. Genevieve and I believe that the behaviour we observed and Barry's notes indicate this probably is a nest, and is only at laying stage.
We propose to aluminium band the tree. We also intend to climb the tree at about 3 weekly intervals to confirm a nest and guage development.
Can anyone advise me if there have been any confirmed nesting attempts of kaka on the Auckland region mainland in recent history (20+ years)? If so, what was the outcome?
Additionally (without counting chickens) if the nest were succesful I'd like to explore the possibility of colour banding the juveniles as I suspect mainland born juves would have different behavioural patterns than our Hauturu visitors, and therefore potentially more likely to breed on the mainland when their turn comes. Thoughts on this would be welcome so that I can approach the banding office with plenty of time.
Terry, can you tell me the differences in incubation and brooding periodsfor NI birds vs South?
Jonathan, can you fwd this to Andrew McDonald please? I can't access his e-address from your link.
Cheers,
Matt Maitland
Open Sanctuary Coordinator
Auckland Regional Council, Northern Parks
PO Box 332, Orewa
09 426 1200 or 0274 555 445
www.arc.govt.nz www.sossi.org.nz www.tossi.org.nz
