Page 4 - Codfish Island News Today

Like most websites we use cookies. If you’re happy with that, just carry on as normal (close this bar) - otherwise click here to find out more. 2 Jun 2021 Latest research: petrels divided, vultures pushed together by climate change Join us for a bite-sized round-up of advances published in our journal Bird Conservation International. This issue covers how to translocate Cook’s Petrel to its former range, how climate change will force vulture species to compete, and how the pub...

Fossil records indicate that in pre-Polynesian times, the kākāpō was New Zealands third most common bird. However, their numbers have declined by 80 per cent in the past 100 years. They are the heaviest parrot species in the world with females weighing around 1.4 kg, and males 2.2 kg. The country’s kākāpō population currently lives on just four predator-free islands – Codfish Island/Whenua Hou, Te Hauturu-o-Toi/Little Barrier Island, Chalky Island/Te Kakahu, and Anchor Island. W...

Whenua Hou diving petrel. Photo: DOC There are just 200 of the birds left at a single breeding colony in the dunes on Whenua Hou, near Rakiura / Stewart Island. The birds - known as kuaka in Ngāi Tahu dialect - were once widely found in coastal dunes across southern New Zealand, but it wasnt until 2018 that it was discovered they were a distinct species of petrel. However, invasive predators destroyed all breeding colonies except one. Although Whenua Hou has been predator-free since 2000, oth...

Critically endangered Whenua Hou diving petrels, or kuaka in Ngāi Tahu dialect, may need greater protection from lights on vessels in seas surrounding...

Chris McKeen/Stuff Margaret Maree, a kākāpō from Codfish Island, has survived her battle with a potentially fatal fungal lung infection (first published in 2020). The need for a new home for New Zealand’s critically endangered kākāpō is growing ever more important as the species nears a near breeding season. Kākāpō currently reside on four predator-free islands – Codfish Island/Whenua Hou, Te Hauturu-o-Toi/Little Barrier Island, Chalky Island/Te Kakahu and Anchor Island. But thei...

With a growing kākāpō population, they did expect to see more deaths. Chances of survival for the large, flightless parrots was much higher than under normal conditions, as they were closely monitored and catered for, but as populations grew, nesting spots and resources were in demand. Matakana was one of the kākāpō affected by aspergillosis, and treated at the Wildlife Hospital in Dunedin, where she became well known for her suspicious glares at the team whenever she was approached. ...

© Mark Carwardine Siroccco trying to mate with Mark Carwardine while filming BBC TV series Last Chance to See with Stephen Fry Sign up for our daily newsletter of the top stories in Courier country Thank you for signing up to The Courier daily newsletter Something went wrong - please try again later. Sign Up Ahead of an RSGS talk, Michael Alexander speaks to zoologist and conservationist Mark Carwardine about the stark threat to global wildlife – and why he hasn’t given up hope. It...

This article was first published in Lonely Planets Natural World, published October 2020. Few places match the natural majesty of New Zealand’s South Island with, from top to bottom, beaches, whales, glaciers and waterfalls. New Zealand’s highest mountains are here: Aoraki/Mt Cook in the middle of the island, Mt Aspiring, and Mitre Peak, the triangular talisman marking the mouth of Milford Sound. Keep going, past the adventure towns of Wānaka and Queenstown and you’ll reach Fiordland...

Zosterops meeki. And it looks like we’ve done so just in time, because two of the species – the Tagula Butcherbird and Tagula White-eye – are Near Threatened. Logging, agricultural expansion and commercial gold prospecting are destroying their rainforest habitats. These vital new discoveries came in large part from research lead by one scientist, William Goulding, whose ambition is to improve knowledge of all the endemic bird species of Tagula and the wider Louisiade Archipelago. His rese...