Welcome to my first attempt at a piece to camera, where I’ll go over why burrow-nesting seabirds are central to the restoration project, while narrowly avoiding falling over on the most benign part of the sooty shearwater colony. Then we’ll take a look at efforts to attract fluttering shearwater and diving petrel, with some bird visits and exciting progress mid-winter, before a hoped-for breeding season.
More here: https://faunarecovery.org.nz/2016/01/12/seabirds/
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Great stuff thanks Barry, The Robin accompanying you was timely. Pity that Weka is still snooping around. I was convinced we got the last one! Really exciting that the fluttering shearwaters are prospecting. And yes, these short videos are really valuable to those of us who are interested in the project. Grant
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Thanks Grant. That video is really rough around the edges and needs a lot of improvement for the next one, but I thought the story itself might be interesting, especially for those who haven’t been there. Got three weka a couple of months ago. I could not find enough bags and had to use a really old one for transfer day. One chewed its way out and ran around the boat, which got me into trouble with the skipper. All released later with no harm done.
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Great to see progress and little birds photo bombing.
I always wonder about smell when trying to attract seabirds. Active colonies must have a very fishy poo smell that helps birds get home. Is there any research on this?
Keep up the good work.
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Thanks Andy. Yeah the robins can be relied on to show up pretty much anywhere now. I completely agree with your idea of adding a smelly attractant also. I can smell a sweetish miasma around occupied burrows distinct from fishy poo and I wonder if that is what attracts them. There’s a few papers analysing preen glands and so on. Usual plethora of compounds identified but I reckon it would be worth a try to grab a mix of C8-C16 aldehydes and alcohols (breakdown of fatty acids) and toss them in a jar with some glycol for a fixative and stick it on site. Why not done already? Laaaaazy!
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Working well.
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Thank you!
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What wonderful work you are doing, so uplifting – thankyou!
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Thanks for taking time to have a look at it!
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Thanks for the update, Barry. Really lovely to see the progress being made.
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Thanks James, appreciated.
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Good work, Barry. Must require an enormous amount of patience though, and ccooping with setbbacks.. Bbut oh thhe rewards too seee hopefully tthhe island restored to seabird haven. Remember I’m alwayys willing to be of further assistance either fromm here orr on the island Best regards Mike
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Thanks Mike- your work on the intertidal zone still to see the light of day on the website. I promise it is on the to-do list.
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I’ve enjoyed reading the majority of your blog so far Barry and am pretty impressed by your conservationist work and the climate change consideration.
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Thanks Ian. If you are the Ian F who climbs trees, respect!
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