Researchers and innovators

Tim Exton is a man on a mission. As the Department of Conservation’s (DOC) predator free ranger for eastern Te Waipounamu (South Island), Tim spends his days travelling from town to town, connecting with local staff and community members. Predator free from the inside out Tim Exton is both a predator free guru – giving … Continue reading Attention: predator free ranger on the loose

Games aren’t just entertainment – it turns out the right ones can also teach us about conservation and looking after nature.  Gaming and play specialist Tanya Marriot, a senior lecturer at Massey University, is working on a PhD that addresses how to engage kids in conservation. Through the idea of “wild play”,  she’s looking at … Continue reading Move aside Fortnite: can games teach us to care for native species?

How did an oil painter, bird-lover, and rock drummer come to invent one of the most well-known and widely used humane kill traps in Aotearoa New Zealand? This piece pulls material from an original story based on a 2018 interview with Phil Waddington. It’s a story that goes back a lifetime… Art and conservation are … Continue reading Who invented DOC traps?

Out in the field traversing rugged rocky slopes or in the research lab analysing data, no day is the same for Maggie Nichols, a predator ecologist with a mission to rid Aotearoa of stoats. Hooked from the start Forget Nintendo 64 or rollerblades, Maggie Nichols asked for a camera trap for her tenth birthday. Studying … Continue reading A day in the life of a predator ecologist

The search for native reptiles is a bit like a Hollywood drama. There’s adventure and suspense, elation and heartbreak and sometimes, despite overwhelming odds, the main character gets what they’re after. If anyone knows this, it’s Sam Purdie – even if he can’t find the words to describe it. The herpetologist, wildlife photographer and science … Continue reading The reptile files: your guide to identifying reptiles and amphibians in Aotearoa

We’ve nailed eliminating predators on offshore islands and fenced sanctuaries, but if we’re truly going to “get to zero” we have to crack how to do this everywhere else. With support from Predator Free 2050 Limited, Zero Invasive Predators (ZIP) is inventing and trialling some “pretty cool tools” to eliminate predators on the mainland. On … Continue reading Giving it a crack: ZIP innovates mainland predator control

Aotearoa New Zealand has made huge strides towards the Predator Free 2050 (PF2050) goal, but many believe we need new technologies to get to the finish line. It might sound futuristic, but Artificial Intelligence (AI) is already hard at work in the predator free movement, and there are lots of exciting developments on the horizon. … Continue reading Getting smart: is Artificial Intelligence the key to Predator Free 2050?

On Ohinau Island, the transition from day to night tells the toanui (flesh-footed shearwaters) foraging on the water that it’s time to come home. To Predator Free Apprentice Simon Lamb, the vast number of seabirds swirling together look like a black tornado. Simon’s on the island monitoring the bird’s breeding success.  What’s involved in monitoring … Continue reading Monitoring our flesh-footed shearwaters: an apprentice ecologist’s account

Rearing royalty takes a team at Pukekura/Taiaroa Head. Since the 1930s, the toroa (northern royal albatross) colony on the Otago Peninsula have had human helpers ensuring their survival. So, how has the management of these toroa evolved? We spoke to Sharyn and Jim – who are part of the team intensively managing these special birds. … Continue reading Royal succession: the changing role of human help for the survival of toroa

How do you make ecological expertise available to a wide range of groups, organisations and government entities? By running a world-leading environmental consultancy. This International Women’s Day, we chatted with Biz Bell, who is doing just that with her company Wildlife Management International Ltd (WMIL). And in her work, Biz has managed projects that have … Continue reading IWD2022: enterprising ecology with Biz Bell

To reach an ambitious goal, you’re going to need some ingenious thinking. Aotearoa New Zealand is investing heavily in new tech and tools to reach the Predator Free 2050 target. With International Women’s Day upon us, we chatted with Dr Helen Blackie who is at the helm of several exciting developments happening in this space.  … Continue reading IWD2022: taking tech new places with Dr Helen Blackie

Aotearoa New Zealand might be known as a ‘land of birds’ but we’ve teamed up with local illustrator Erin Forsyth to highlight native lizards in a beautiful new poster He mokomoko nō Aotearoa. Predator Free NZ Trust and Erin aim to raise awareness of Aotearoa’s lizard species, from the little-known Sinbad skink to the raukawa … Continue reading Native lizard poster captures illustrators heart

Much of the early conservation work, and gains, have been in Fiordland’s Tamatea Dusky Sound, in the vast archipelago stretching from Dusky, up Acheron Passage to Breaksea Sound, a stunningly beautiful wilderness of inland waterways, over 700 islands and towering mainland peninsulas. It was only ten years ago that the late Sir Paul Callaghan gave … Continue reading Tamatea Dusky Sound – predator free or predator controlled?

Colin Miskelly is hoping to solve a mystery one day – to find where grey-backed storm petrels breed. They’re one of the smallest seabirds in the New Zealand region and there’s a very good chance they have a colony somewhere in the lower South Island. According to Birds New Zealand, there is a long history … Continue reading Colin Miskelly investigates seabird mysteries

What don’t we know? What challenges need further investigation? In January of this year, Predator Free 2050 Ltd announced two funding initiatives – one for doctorate and post-doctorate research at tertiary and research institutions and the other for ‘Products to Projects’, where the aim is to ‘help fast track the design, research and development, testing, … Continue reading Burning questions, conservation conundrums – kiwi researchers share insights on key research challenges

When the Resolution Island Stoat Eradication Programme began in Dusky Sound, Fiordland in 2008 no-one said it would be easy and, 12 years later there are still stoats on Resolution. But Department of Conservation biodiversity ranger, Peter McMurtrie, won’t be giving up any time soon. “There are two issues, Pete explains. “Firstly, there are some … Continue reading No easy answers, but eradication efforts ongoing for Resolution Island

Have you got a resident fantail that hangs out in your garden? Are you sure there’s just the one? When Auckland University’s Dr James Russell banded the birds in his home garden he was amazed to find his ‘resident pīwakawaka’ was actually 36 different fantails all visiting his garden at different times. It all began … Continue reading Lockdown project reveals abundance of backyard birds

April is ‘Takahē Awareness Month’ and really it seems like the big blue/green bird could do with some extra publicity. A check of the ‘Bird of the Year’ winners for the 14 years since it was established in 2005 reveals that the takahē has never once made the top slot. Even its common cousin the … Continue reading Overlooked takahē – April is your month

Breaksea Island is a 170 hectare, steep, windswept rugged lump of rock located about 2km off the coast of southwest Fiordland and in 1988 it was the scene of a significant step forward in the techniques of island predator eradications. We now almost take island predator eradications for granted. Back in the 70s, however, getting … Continue reading Rat eradication breakthrough — Breaksea Island 1988

Hester is a senior molecular technician at Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research, specialising in Ecological Genetics with a focus on Wildlife Forensics. When she’s feeling whimsical, she likes to describe her work as ‘CSI: Wildlife’. If, for example, protected species are being killed and the predator responsible needs to be identified, then Hester can help. … Continue reading EcoGene® team share wildlife forensic expertise

Don Merton (1939-2011) was a passionate pioneer in the conservation of endangered birds. His work was recognised world-wide and for 30 years he worked with the kakapo recovery programme. But there was another, even rarer bird that he and his team brought back from the very brink of extinction – the Chatham Island black robin. … Continue reading Remembering Don Merton and a bird called ‘Old Blue’

Dr Carolyn King has spent a lifetime studying New Zealand’s introduced mammalian predators and is recognised as an international expert on mustelids. Meticulous historical and scientific research, along with a lifetime of practical field experience come together in her latest book, Invasive Predators in New Zealand: Disaster on Four Small Paws, just published and available … Continue reading New book tells story of ‘Disaster on Four Small Paws’

As 2019 ends, so does the feasibility stage of the Maukahuka Pest Free Auckland Island project. This ambitious project proposes to eradicate pigs, mice and cats from Auckland Island (46,000 ha), the largest island in New Zealand’s World Heritage listed Subantarctic region. This is a significant project for Predator Free 2050 and success would complete … Continue reading Hot News from the Cold South: An update on Maukahuka Pest Free Auckland Island

The world’s only mainland breeding colony of Northern Royal Albatross – at Taiaroa Head on the Otago Peninsula – might not exist at all if it weren’t for one man. His name was Lance Richdale. From 1928-1959 Lance Richdale was an agriculture/nature study instructor with the Otago Education Board, visiting schools across Otago to inspire … Continue reading Lance Richdale – first protector of albatross at Taiaroa Head

Four months on from the first boat leaving for Auckland Island, all the field teams are home safely for the winter. A whirlwind summer has seen great gains in knowledge about the island and has given valuable insights into how the ambitious plan to remove pigs, cats and mice might work. Field trials to inform … Continue reading The results are in: Where to next for Pest Free Auckland Island?

Trials are in full swing down in the Southern Ocean exploring whether it’s possible to rid Auckland Island of its three remaining introduced predators – pigs, cats and mice. Following the successful eradication of mice from Antipodes Island, the Department of Conservation has turned its attention to the last island within the New Zealand Subantarctic … Continue reading Trials test feasibility of removing pigs, cats and mice from Auckland Island

University student Hayden P. is a Lego enthusiast with a passion for New Zealand birds. If his latest Lego design – a kākāpō – reaches 10,000 supporters on the Lego Ideas website then the design will be considered for commercial release as an official Lego product to be sold worldwide. Come on New Zealand, let’s get … Continue reading Lego kākāpō design needs 10,000 supporters

When the Waitaki hydro system was developed, 7,400 ha of open braided river habitat and 3,900 ha of swamplands were lost in order to ‘bring power to the people’. As well as increased electricity generation, we gained 22,250 ha of lakes and 290 ha of lake shoreline, but at a cost. It is the iconic … Continue reading ‘Rivers Rare’ tells success story of Waitaki braided river conservation

Community conservation is in trouble and without clear objectives and support structures the risk of volunteers losing interest is high, according to a new report commissioned by Predator Free New Zealand Trust. The report by leading researcher Dr Marie Brown from The Catalyst Group, highlights the need for adequate support structures for community conservation; a … Continue reading Saving community conservation

Not long ago, a door-knocking volunteer from a community trapping group offered to lend Phill Waddington a DOC 200 trap to put in his back yard. What the volunteer didn’t realise – and probably most New Zealanders don’t know – is that Phill Waddington, Hutt Valley wildlife artist, actually invented the DOC Series of humane … Continue reading Phill Waddington – Wildlife artist and DOC Series trap inventor

Monitoring cryptic animals is one of the big challenges of becoming predator free, according to Auckland-based Landcare Research scientist, Dr Al Glen. “Predators are cryptic,” he says, “and when they’re in low abundance, it’s very hard to detect the last few. Better monitoring is a priority.” Al’s recent research has involved both motion-triggered camera traps … Continue reading Al Glen captures predator portraits on camera

WARNING: [stomach] contents may disturb sensitive readers. When Jamie McAulay opens his mail in the morning he often finds “a lovely, delightful, maggoty mess!” Jamie is a Masters student in the University of Otago’s Zoology Department and lately conservation volunteers and professional trappers from Nelson to Fiordland have been posting him their dead stoats. ‘How … Continue reading Stoat research is not for the squeamish

New Zealand is the albatross capital of the world, with more than a dozen varieties. So where do they all live and why are so many of them classed as vulnerable? It can be difficult to imagine how big an albatross is until you’re standing next to one. The Southern Royal albatrosses were nesting when … Continue reading Wind beneath their wings

When Craig Gillies from DOC’s Hamilton office first started studying feral cats at the University of Auckland, he visited Department of Conservation ‘old hand’ Dick Veitch – since retired – who gave him a piece of advice that has stuck with him throughout his conservation career: “It’s not the ones you catch that matter,” said Dick, … Continue reading Mentor’s advice still relevant for Craig Gillies

Professor Carolyn (Kim) King has spent a lifetime studying New Zealand’s introduced mammalian predators and is recognised as an international expert on mustelids. She’s worked closely with weasels in England, and stoats, ferrets, and rats in New Zealand, since starting as a grad student at Oxford in 1967. In that time she’s got to know … Continue reading Prof Carolyn King is enthusiastic supporter of community efforts

A week or two ago, Alexandra-based Landcare Research scientist Grant Norbury found himself alone in the middle of the remote Mackenzie country, syringe in hand, squirting Vaseline onto rocks. He had to laugh. “It’s such a weird way to protect dotterels,” he says. Yes it is. But weirdness aside, the science behind his latest ‘chemical … Continue reading Grant Norbury – testing potential predator control techniques

by Robyn Janes. It is the smell that often lets them know they have a body to deal with. Or the incessant buzzing of the wasps as they fly in and out of the wooden trap box. “If it’s a real whiffy one you know it when you’re a couple of metres from the trap … Continue reading Rangers clock up km walking Project Janszoon trap lines

It’s not easy counting weta on a steep mountainside in the middle of the night. One of Colin O’Donnell’s main research interests is alpine fauna – rock wrens, weta, other alpine invertebrates and hardy, rock-basking lizards who manage to survive above the bushline. Weta are nocturnal, so after a day in the mountains collecting data … Continue reading Weta, wrens and other rare beasties

Professor Phil Seddon is Director of Otago University’s Postgraduate Wildlife Management Programme and has been involved in species restoration programmes around the world. He currently acts as an advisor on projects as diverse as saving critically endangered Bali starlings in Indonesia (the wild population dropped to a low of 15 in 1990), wild camels in … Continue reading Phil Seddon – profiling predators in revealing detail

Warren Agnew can tell a lot from an inky footprint. A stoat track is easy to recognise because of the hairiness of the feet. But did you know that a female stoat’s hind foot is 50% wider than her front foot? With male stoats however, the footprints are all the same size. So if you … Continue reading Kiwi inventor shares ways to read predator footprints

Imagine being able to check the status of every trap in your trapping network on your cellphone over a morning coffee or on your laptop as you sit down to a hearty breakfast of bacon and eggs. It has to be better than traipsing out to check every individual trap, over rugged terrain, in the … Continue reading High tech, easy-to-use trap monitoring system saves money and time