SOSSI – Returning bird calls

Thanks to everyone who came and helped with this year’s planting out at the Shakespear Open Sanctuary. A large patch of farmland has been fenced off and is now covered with 19,000 native seedlings and over time will join up two existing fingers of bush. Planting has been going on since Shakespear Park was created 40 years ago and back then there were far fewer trees – the Te Haruhi Bay area was bare grass and all those lovely shady pohutukawa near the beach have grown up in that time.

In May we installed sound systems along the eastern cliffs to play seabird calls at night, with the hope of attracting more to nest there. Since then, 30 nesting boxes have been built and buried with access tunnels, as the birds nest in burrows. The seabirds showed an almost immediate interest, with a good range of species landing every night for a look. Seabirds are loyal to their birthplace but, to our surprise, some eggs have already turned up. These are likely to have been laid by inexperienced nesters who don’t generally have a good success rate, but we’re delighted that it all seems to be working as planned.

July saw our first release of trans-located birds, with whiteheads (popokatea) being brought in from Tiritiri Matangi and Tawharanui (HM July 15). Multiple sources are often used as this increases genetic diversity in small populations. They were released at the eastern end of the NZ Defence land but have already been seen in other places, notably near the start of the Waterfall Gully Track, so please look out for them. The birds look a bit like a white sparrow and usually stay in bush areas in noisy flocks, but it is possible that some will fly out of the Sanctuary.They have coloured leg bands so if you see an un-banded ‘white sparrow’ it is not a whitehead (or at least not one of ours). If possible please record the band colours – two on each leg, read from bird’s left top and bottom to right top and bottom – and report to our email address with date and location. The banding will help us follow their distribution and breeding.

With a change in tack, we have also planted some native nettles with the aim of bringing back native butterflies. If you are my age you’ll remember seeing beautiful red admirals when you were younger, but you probably won’t remember when you last saw one. That is because they breed on those nettles and their habitat is disappearing – an all-too-common story. Now we’ll relocate some caterpillars and wait. Next, we plan to try to establish a colony of white-fronted terns and to re-locate North Island robins.

While you can visit the Sanctuary and volunteer, the only way to help bring back these lost birds to the Sanctuary is to join our Society. Relocations are an expensive business completely dependent on fundraising. We have the last generation to thank for those nice pohutukawas, so why not do your bit for the next generation and help to fill the trees with birds.