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Leigh resident Jenny Enderby is encouraging people to make use of their spare time during quarantine by getting involved with some environmental citizen science.
She is organising a kererū count in Leigh and is encouraging other communities to organise their own counts of native wildlife.
Jenny is asking local residents to go outside between 10am and 2pm this Monday, April 27, to look for kererū and record how many they see.
The report should include each bird’s approximate location with street names and numbers, as well as any activities or behaviour they may be engaging in.
“I thought it would be neat for kids and families to go outside and have a walk with a notebook and get involved with nature,” Jenny says.
Residents in Leigh seem to have been blessed with an increased number of kererū in the area in recent weeks.
“A friend in Whangateau told me she had counted 13 kererū sitting on the power lines.
“There’s more in Leigh than I’ve ever seen before. There were four sitting in a single cabbage tree in my garden and I’ve never seen that.”
Jenny says the count is not supposed to be a scientific survey but it could help to determine why there seem to be more birds around.
She doesn’t believe that the drop in human activity from the quarantine has been the reason behind increased numbers, and suggests the birds may have migrated from Hauturu (Little Barrier Island).
“There has also been a lot of pest control among neighbours in Leigh. It could just be that we have more time to notice them.”
There is an annual national kererū count in September but Jenny says the quarantine provides perfect timing for a local count with everyone being at home and going on walks.
She hopes to make the count a regular event and wants to hold it again next year to compare the data.
She says it would be great if other communities such as Warkworth or Matakana concurrently held their own counts to get even more information.
She says she would be happy to receive counts from people in the surrounding areas, but she primarily wants to hear from residents in Leigh.
Jenny wants participants to send their information to enderbys@xtra.co.nz.
See Leigh Kereru Count 2020 at facebook.com/events/217620752867507/
