Rare bittern spotted twice in estuary
Pō rangahau one of ‘healthiest' places for sea birds on East Coast
The rare Australasian bittern has been spotted twice in the Pōrangahau Estuary during pest control rounds by Pōrangahau Catchment Group trapper John McCaslin.
McCaslin has worked as a trapper for 50 years and had an exciting encounter with the bittern, matukuhū repo, twice in his career, with both sightings occurring in October and November.
“The bittern I spotted was in an open paddock, and I only saw it when it flew off. I wasn’t expecting it, but I recognised it right away, they’re large birds, about 70cm in height.”
He took on the role of trapper with the Pōrangahau Catchment Group (PCG) earlier in the year and has since worked once a month to check and set traps.
The Pō rangahau estuary provides a safe home to other birds such as the banded dotterel, the bar-tailed godwit, and the royal spoonbill.
McCaslin said he works to trap all the predators that pose a risk to the birds at the estuary including rats, mice, hedgehogs, stoats, weasels and the “dreaded feral cats”.
“It’s probably one of the healthiest places to see different types of sea birds on the East Coast I would think.”
His work takes him across 1500ha of the estuary from the wreck through the estuary, and down towards the peninsular.
“It’s such a big estuary, and it’s pretty much isolated. There are not a lot of people down the beach with dogs to disturb them.”
McCaslin said special areas that provided habitat were “well worth saving” as he grew up in Auckland and witnessed the disappearance of the Australasian bittern from the area.
New Zealand’s native bittern populations have been greatly impacted by wetland drainage and habitat clearance with the total population across the country numbered at around 1000 birds. The groundnesting birds are particularly vulnerable during the nesting season which is from September until February.
To combat the issue the PCG used funding from the Ministry for the Environment to create a network of 200 traps. “Since September, we’ve caught 142 rats, 114 hedgehogs, 14 weasels, eight feral cats, eight ferrets and one possum at the estuary.”
Ed Mackie, a landowner and PCG committee member, said it’s been great having McCaslin on board.
“It’s not only birds that need protecting down at the estuary; we also have lizards making their home there, and even katipō , New Zealand’s only venomous spider, can be found in the sand dunes.”