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Daisy dies

Southern Bird, 12 (Dec), 3-3

A.B.C. News (2002)

Article Type: Article

Post-moult dispersal of Australasian shoveler (Anas rhynchotis) within New Zealand

Notornis, 49 (4), 219-232

T.A. Caithness; J.W. Cheyne; J.M. Neilson; H. Rook; R.R. Sutton; M. Williams (2002)

Article Type: Paper

Dispersal of adult Australasian shovelers Anas rhynchotis in New Zealand after being banded during their annual moult was determined from the locations at which they were shot by hunters. Birds banded at 2 southern South Island and 2 North Island sites between 1972 and 1986 dispersed the length and breadth of New Zealand. Some shoveler were recovered within 90 days of banding at opposite ends of the country from their banding sites. There was no obvious pattern to the recoveries. Birds were recovered from most of New Zealand’s large lowland and coastal wetlands except from West Coast, South Island. Modal recovery distances for shoveler banded at Lake Whangape, northern North Island, and recovered in their year of banding or in later years were 201-400 km. For shoveler banded in southern South Island, modal recovery distances were 0-100 km in the year-of-banding and 101-200 km in later years. Birds banded while moulting or breeding at or near the southern-most banding site were later recaptured moulting at the northern-most. Shoveler disperse more widely than other New Zealand waterfowl species and can be viewed as comprising a single national population.

Breeding of brown teal (Anas chlorotis) at Okiwi, Great Barrier Island

Notornis, 49 (4), 199-208

D. Barker; M. Williams (2002)

Article Type: Paper

Breeding performance of brown teal (Anas chlorotis) nesting in a pastoral environment at Okiwi, Great Barrier Island, New Zealand was studied during 1997-99. Mean (SD) clutch size in 47 nests was 5.4 (0.9), eggs hatched in 74% of nests (n=50), and 66% of eggs (n=236) hatched. Of 31 females fitted with radio transmitters, the nesting attempt by 7 (23%) was not detected and the remainder fledged a total of 15 young, a mean (+SD) annual productivity of 0.5 (1.3) fledglings female-1. Most broods (72% n=32) became extinct within 10 days of hatching. Limited wetland habitat in the pastoral landscape concentrated nesting and brood rearing. Breeding statistics from this environment may not be representative of the wider population.

Beach patrol records indicate a substantial decline in sooty shearwater (Puffinus griseus) numbers

Notornis, 49 (3), 158-165

R.P. Scofield; D. Christie (2002)

Article Type: Paper

Between 1961 and 1999 the number of adult sooty shearwaters found dead on beaches in northern New Zealand declined by about 64.4% and the number of fledglings by about 77.7%. Only 2 factors that we know about have been acting on the sooty shearwater population during the period studied and could have caused such a dramatic decline; a rise in sea temperature perhaps as a result of movement of the Sub-Antarctic Front and increase in harvest. Two other more recent phenomena, north Pacific fisheries mortality and climatic variation (El Niño Southern Oscillation and Pacific Decadal Oscillation), may be involved, but we cannot find any direct evidence of their impact in our data. The impact of this decline has been recently found on the breeding islands. More study is required to fully understand how weather, patrol frequency, deposition rate, persistence rate, and live bird numbers vary and interact. Deposition and persistence experiments similar to those reported from overseas need to be done in New Zealand.

Predation on house sparrows (Passer domesticus) and hedge sparrows (Prunella modularis) by brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula) in captivity

Notornis, 49 (2), 95-99, 133

B.J. McLeod; E.G. Thompson (2002)

Article Type: Paper

The incidence of predation on house sparrows (Passer domesticus) and hedge sparrows (Prunella modularis) by captive brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula), and the bird tissues consumed following predation, were recorded over 26 weeks in a facility where possums were housed in single sex groups. A total of 44 sparrow carcasses was recovered; on average 1.7 birds were killed per week (range 0-9 sparrows per week) in pens that each housed 8-12 possums. Tissue was eaten from fewer than half (48 %) of the birds killed. There were no significant differences in the incidences with which different tissues (brain, breast, legs, or viscera) were eaten. This study corroborates observations of bird predation by possums in the wild. Importantly, it shows that a high proportion of birds killed by possums are not eaten.
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