Kaharoa Kokako Trust Feb Update

posted: Wed, February 21, 2024

We hope you are all rested and recuperated and breathing a sigh of relief that the kids are back at school. We have a very busy year in front of us.

With the hugely successful bait station infill of Aislabie block last year we are rolling this out to do the same to the Onaia West block this year. That is basically happening right now with about half of the area completed. We are also in the midst of pekapeka-tou-roa (long-tail bat) monitoring.

Later in 2024 we have decided to run two pest control operations. We are just at the start of planning an Autumn pulse of Pindone to knock down the ship rats and then a ‘normal’ pulse of toxins to deal to rats and possums in Spring for the start of the kōkako breeding season. Busy, busy, busy.

There are a number of ways of measuring success of our pest control. One is assessing the knock down by standard monitoring (like rat tracking index). Another is the drop off in kills in our traps. But a third is simply observation. Just this week a pair of kōkako were observed with three healthy fledglings. To have this many from one nest is pretty uncommon and we are taking this as a sign of the success of the work we all put in last year with the Pindone and Feratox pest control. Thanks again to all of you who contributed.

Our work morning that we are planning on Saturday 24^th is about monitoring. We need your help to collect rat tracking cards on the monitoring lines and to carry out our summer invertebrate assessments. These are excellent jobs for families. The monitoring lines are reasonably accessible and only 450m long each. You will get full instructions on the day and if you are new to the area will be joined by an experienced campaigner.

If we have a big turnout out we have other work that needs doing. For the do-it-yourselfers, we need a set of shelves erected in our storage container. Also the spring and summer weather has been so good that our access road in Aislabie block needs a severe haircut. But the monitoring is our top priority.

We will meet at the shelter (796 Kapukapu Road) at 9am. The work should only take 2-3 hours and we will give you the normal cuppa tea and biscuit afterwards.

If anyone is super keen and can help put out the monitoring cards on the Friday (23^rd) I am also pretty happy to hear from you.

So I can pre-allocate work, and determine catering requirements, can you please let me know if you intend fronting by replying to this email. If you have a work preference (or even a monitoring line preference) let me also know in the email. First in are most likely to get their request!

I look forward to a deluge of responses.

Enjoy the summer weather.

Graeme Young

0274 527 168

PO Box 190

Rotorua 3040.