It’s Forest & Bird’s annual Bird Of The Year competition again!
Head over to the Bird of the Year website and vote for our special seabird, the endangered Hutton’s shearwater.
Hundreds of rafting Hutton’s shearwaters
September 13, 2013
Welcome Home event – September 2013
September 7, 2013
Welcome Home Hutton’s shearwater/Kaikoura titi!
Our Hutton’s are coming home for the summer (from their over wintering in Australian coastal waters) for their 2013 breeding season.
Help us celebrate their return in true market style – we will be at the very popular ‘School Yard Market.’
Saturday 21 September 2013, 9am – 1pm, Kaikoura Primary School, The Esplanade.
Come and join in the festivities; there will be something for everyone, young and old. We look forward to seeing you there!
Successful Hutton’s Shearwater Chick Translocation
July 10, 2013
During March 2013 the developing colony at the Kaikoura Peninsula/Te Rae o Atiu was given a boost with the addition of a further 103 chicks translocated from the Kowhai River colony. The season’s crop of chicks were in excellent condition, with the birds selected for transfer having exceptional weights. The chicks were transferred from the mountain colony in two batches that were flown by helicopter directly to their new home. Here they were placed in their own artificial burrows and fed by hand with a sardine smoothie daily. The transfer went without a hitch and all 103 chicks fledged successfully. These young birds will in time provide an important boost to the number of breeding birds returning to the colony and will help ensure that the number of breeding birds continues to increase.
The chicks needed carefully daily attention, being weighed, measured and fed to ensure they were developing healthily and were in good body condition. For this we are grateful to the army of volunteers who gave up their time to assist. The chance to take part in this ground-breaking project was well taken up, and was summed up in one volunteer comment: ‘To have such an amazing project on our backdoor is truly an inspiration’.
Education Pack: A seabird at the top of the mountains
July 3, 2013
Download >> A seabird at the top of the mountains – DOC education pack
A Seabird At The Top Of The Mountains is the Department of Conservation education pack for Year 4, 5 and 6.
Goal: To ensure that each of our Kaikoura children are aware of, knowledgeable about and proud of the Hutton’s shearwater; Kaikoura being their last place on earth. That we ensure each student is exposed to a formal learning process in their school curriculum twice during their education, once at Year 6 level and once at Year 9 level.
Radio New Zealand National – Hutton’s Shearwater Translocation
March 20, 2013 Leave a Comment
Audio from Radio New Zealand show Our Changing World with Alison Ballance, Ruth Beran and Veronika Meduna.
The Hutton’s Shearwater Charitable Trust is translocating chicks to establish a new colony on the Kaikoura Peninsula.
Listen to >> recording here (links to Radio National)
Translocation article – Kaikoura Star – March 2013
March 6, 2013 Leave a Comment
Download >> March 2013 Translocation article – Kaikoura Star Part 1
Fewer than half of the expected 100 endangered hutton’s shearwater chicks were plucked from their nests and relocated to the man-made colony on the Kaikoura Peninsula due to the late breeding season.
Download >> March 2013 Translocation article – Kaikoura Star Part 2
‘‘We want them here for a long enough period of time so that we can reprogramme their GPS and make them think that this is home,’’ Mr Bell said.
2013 Translocation – Volunteer Positions Filled
February 21, 2013 Leave a Comment
There is great demand in the Hutton’s shearwater chik feeding volunteer spots, so much so that the roster is now full!
Please check back here or on Facebook for the latest updates.
Translocation article – Kaikoura Star – February 2013
February 20, 2013 Leave a Comment
Download >> Feburary 2013 Translocation article
The annual Hutton’s shearwater translocation project starts next week and the Hutton’s Shearwater Charitable Trust is keen to give the local community plenty of opportunity to come and have a look at the work being done at the peninsula colony.