Rare bird set for island
Birdsong in the Bay of Islands is set to increase with the expected return of kakariki after an absence of more than 30 years.
‘‘These beautiful bright green native parakeets were once plentiful but have been pushed to extinction across mainland Northland by rats, stoats, weasels, feral cats and possums by the mid1980s,’’ Project Island Song coordinator Richard Robbins says.
Project Island Song is a partnership between the Guardians of the Bay of Islands, Te Rawhiti hapu (Ngati Kuta and Patukeha) and the Department of Conservation.
Robbins says the translocation of 40 of the red-crowned parakeet from Hauturu (Little Barrier Island) to the pest-free Moturua Island, near Russell, is Project Island Song’s most complex one, since the ecological restoration programme began in 2009.
The first of two releases of the birds is expected to occur between June 11-16. Robbins says the birds’ flying behaviour will be observed on Hauturu, before mist nets will be used to catch the birds. Because it may take several days to catch the required number, some of the birds will be housed in aviaries until they are flown to their new location.
Once common throughout New Zealand the kakariki are now restricted to pest-free islands.
Funding is needed for the project. To donate: givealittle.co.nz/