Region’s native birds back in force
They might be annoying in the morning but there is a reason the birds outside your window sound a whole lot louder.
Conservation organisations such as Zealandia and the Predator Free Wellington movement have been working for decades to resurrect the region’s birdlife and it seems to have worked.
A 2017 Wildlife Management International survey of bird populations in Wellington city found tu¯ı¯ had increased threefold from 2011 to 2016 while ka¯ka¯ and kereru¯ showed similar improvements.
Zealandia manager of conservation and research Danielle Shanahan said it was an extraordinary rise compared to 30 years ago.
‘‘Anecdotal reports suggest that kereru¯ and tu¯ı¯ species got down to below 10 pairs in the 1980s. Now they are all over the city.’’
The Zealandia project began in 1992 when it would become the world’s first full-fenced ecosanctuary and home to a multitude of native species.
That spawned the Predator Free Wellington movement (PFW), which aimed to have Wellington free of pests in the next 10 years and all New Zealand by 2050. Common pests include rats, mice, stoats, weasels, ferrets and hedgehogs.
Shanahan said Zealandia’s pest-free sanctuary coupled with PFW made sure birds could breed safely.
‘‘Originally there were just 14 ka¯ka¯ put in the sanctuary and the 900th ka¯ka¯ was banded last summer. They’ve spread all over Wellington.’’
Her research showed having a larger presence of nature had physical and mental benefits.
‘‘Spending time in nature and hearing bird songs have been linked to better mental health and wellbeing. It lowers levels of depression and stress but also more physical things like blood pressure.’’
Shanahan said she had never seen anything as ambitious as the PFW movement and thought it would have some intriguing effects on Wellington’s natural ecosystem.
‘‘We’re really interested in translocations that could happen after predators are eradicated.
‘‘Your vegetation will change, your bird ecosystem will change, bird community will change, and your predator community will change inevitably.’’
The conservation community would be able to cope with any unforeseen changes.
‘‘While it is difficult to predict what will happen, what we can do is use our knowledge, use what we do know about New Zealand ecosystems and make some sensible predictions.’’
PFW stakeholder engagement manager Emma Giesen said their success was owed to the number of pest-free groups that had started in different suburbs.
‘‘Twenty-five suburbs now officially have a group set up - by someone locally and voluntarily.’’
Giesen said there were 40 volunteer groups working in public reserves and about 5000 traps in residences across the region.
Wellington City councillor Andy Foster, who has been involved with Zealandia since its inception, said all the hard work had been payed off.
‘‘There’s a lot of satisfaction, you get a quiet smile when a ka¯ka¯ flies overhead and you think, ‘ we’ve done something pretty good here’.’’
In Tawa, a monument was erected in 2000 to glorify the ‘‘rarely-seen’’ kereru¯. Fast forward 18 years and this now wasn’t the case, according to Tawa resident and northern ward councillor Malcolm Sparrow.
‘‘That’s not a description in 2018 we would use because it’s much more commonly seen. The difference in perception is immense.
‘‘We quite often, maybe once or twice a week, see tu¯ı¯ and kereru¯ in our trees outside. Certainly, a whole lot more than we would have seen 15-20 years ago.’’