The Annual Northland Kiwi Call Count Survey is underway!
Up and down the Kiwi Coast, keen-eared listeners are sitting out on cold dark hillsides, recording kiwi calls as a way of monitoring their kiwi populations. The fine autumn weather over the weekend allowed many listeners to get started, with Puketotara Landcare near Kerikeri recording 39 calls in 2 hours!
The monitoring method involves recording all kiwi calls heard over a 2 hour period on 4 nights. Special dates are chosen each year by the national Kiwi Recovery Group, to coincide with the darker phases of the moon, as kiwi are thought to call less during a full moon. This year the official listening dates are May 7 – 26th. In case of bad weather, there is also a ‘back-up listening window’ of from 6 June – 24 June.
Recording kiwi calls at the same site, year after year, slowly builds up a picture of how the local kiwi population is faring. It is heartening for many groups and projects along the Kiwi Coast to see their hard work trapping pests and taking good care of their dogs reflected in increasing kiwi calls.
The Kiwi Coast has worked with the Department of Conservation in Whangarei this year to provide Kiwi Listening Training. Twenty brave trainees travelled out to one of the Whangarei Kiwi Sanctuary Reserves near Purua in April to learn how to confidently recognise kiwi calls and fill in the official survey sheets. A number of keen South Kerikeri Inlet Landcare Group members are also working with the Bay of Islands DOC staff to undertake their first Kiwi Call Count Survey this year.
Good luck to all listeners! Keep safe, keep warm and remember to send in your data to Rolf Fuchs at the Department of Conservation or your local Kiwi Listening Coordinator!
Further information about kiwi listening can be found on the Kiwis for kiwi website http://www.kiwisforkiwi.org/resources/call-count-monitoring/.
