Colin Miskelly investigates seabird mysteries
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…
Bringing poo to an island near you…
Even ocean-going birds need to come ashore to breed and when they do, they bring a gift from the oceans with them – nutrient-rich guano…
Longterm banded dotterel study shows predator control benefits
Annual bird counts show that banded dotterels have been declining on our braided rivers for many years. But there’s good news amongst the bad. A…
Our wētāpunga is a world record holder
Its name is Wētāpunga – named for the God of Ugly Things. But beauty is in the eye of the beholder and some would say…
Banding aims to uncover turnstone migration mystery
It’s a bit like putting a message in a bottle – banding migratory birds and seeing where else in the world those specific bands are…
A salute to our conservation heroines
Conservation heroines – they’re all around us… everyday people like your neighbour, your Mum, your friend, or that clever inventor who lives at the end…
Monitoring shows ungulates increasing on public conservation land
Not all introduced mammals are predators. Apart from omnivorous pigs, the 14 types of ungulate (hooved) mammals introduced here over the years are all plant-grazers…
Appreciating what lies beyond the forest’s edge: Interview with Illustrator, Melissa Boardman
Melissa Boardman is an illustrator passionate about native birds, conservation and the environment. She frequently visits predator free sanctuaries across Aotearoa where she spends her…
New home for barking geckos in successful penned release
Small, slow-moving in cold weather and with limited defenses other than camouflage and hiding, our skinks and geckos are vulnerable to predators – but efforts…
Burning questions, conservation conundrums – kiwi researchers share insights on key research challenges
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…
Multiple methods demonstrate wetland restoration benefits
Once we called them swamps and thought of these places – if we thought of them at all – as potential farmland and subdivisions, muddy,…
What’s outside the fence matters too
Fenced sanctuaries don’t come cheap – but they do offer a way to create areas of rich, predator free habitat for vulnerable species. But what…
New book invites children to be ‘nature heroes’ too
New Zealand Nature Heroes by Gillian Candler (Published by Potton and Burton) is a book I would have loved to have received as a child.…
Goat Island rat abundance measured in multiple ways
Markus Gronwald and James Russell from the University of Auckland recently measured rat relative abundance on Goat Island, 70km north of Auckland. Both camera traps…
Volunteers monitor kiwi dispersal for 8 years
Between 2010 and 2016, the community group Friends of Flora Inc., in partnership with the Department of Conservation, translocated 44 roroa (great spotted kiwi, Apteryx…
