Helping+the+Kokako

**Onehunga Primary Supporting Efforts to Save the Kokako Bird**

 * OPS is raising funds and awareness to help the volunteers at Rangitoto station. Read more about Rangitoto Station here: [|Rangitoto Station]**

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 * Read about the Kokako here:**
 * [|bKiwi Conservation Club - Kokako]**
 * [|Te Ara Encyclopedia - Kokako]**
 * [|Department of Conservation - Kokako]**

Hear the sound of the kokako here: media type="file" key="kokako-song.mp3" width="240" height="20"

OPS families Help Play a Part.....Click below to watch photos from the Edmunds family from OPS who went to Rangitoto Station in Otorohonga to help out in retrieving rat baits.

 * //Highlights of the slide show://**
 * Blue mushrooms found in the habitat of the Kokako, did you know that these and the Kokako can be seen on New Zealand's ten dollar note?
 * The New Zealand orchid flower which flowers in August.
 * The North Island Robin [|N.I Robin info]and the Vegetable caterpillar [|Vegetable Caterpillar info]that also share their habitat with the Kokako.
 * The station is surrounded by native trees, ferns and bushes. Volunteers occasionally stay in the old wool shed.
 * Red tags show markers in the bush to follow to avoid getting lost.
 * Footprint tracking in a tunnel with carbon paper and ink shows and keeps track of what, when and where predators are present in the area.

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 * KEEP SCROLLING DOWN TO SEE ALL THE LATEST UPDATES FROM THE RECOVERY TEAM!**
 * Onehunga Primary school was learning about the concept of sustainability. The middle school students from rooms 10-13 were learning in the concept of birds. For this we had a special guest speaker Noel Carey who works to help an endangered bird of New Zealand called the Kokako. We learnt lots about the efforts of his group who are largely unfunded in the work that they do sustaining the habitat of the Kokako. The enviro reps decided that this would be an excellent way to make our enviro journey, understanding and learning reach beyond our school and local community. Stay tuned into this page to watch as we continue supporting those who support the birds..........Also scroll down to see updates, information and photos from the Recovery Team.**
 * Our first donation to help those who are helping the Kokako. **

= Updates from the Kokako Recovery Team =

Over 6 days, 21 volunteers removed bait from most of the Mangatutu and upper Tunawaea. Pukekohe and Auckland Tramping Clubs will return in March for their final visit of the season.
 * February 2014**

Again, possums have eaten much of the bait in the upper Tunawaea with many of the Mangatutu bait stations still left with bait. Fine, if sometimes windy, weather made for very pleasant walking conditions and we were accompanied by a symphony of cicadas, serenaded by bird song with sightings of kokako, kaka and riflemen. Although, for those camping out and early risers, the dawn chorus was surprisingly subdued.

Onehunga Primary School is kept informed on our project by Noel Carey and an OPS family joined us for the weekend to help on the tracks and enjoy the bush.

Thanks to DoC, reconstruction of the culvert has begun which will ensure ongoing vehicle access down Rimu Road and the Trust are also using the roading team to upgrade the Rangitoto Station road to the locked gate to maintain the alternate vehicle access. Extra storage at the house for bait and gear is also being investigated. The wider support for our project is invaluable and very much appreciated.

Thanks to all our volunteers for another successful season especially to Claire who as well as being chief cook, helped tally volunteer numbers and co-ordinate transport this season. Ian and June were also able to join us and they were delighted to be back.

And for next season?

With 1080 planned no ground-based predator control will be required but we will be back to tidy up our tracks, do some work for the Trust and take the opportunity to explore the wider environs.


 * Another update from this month's baiting. (November 2013)**

I headed down to the Rangitoto Station Reserve early Friday morning, 1st November and arrived at the base at 1pm. By 1.40pm I had eaten my lunch and packed my pack with 29 baits to take into the bush for an afternoon of baiting some extra tracks. I finished the work and returned to our base by 10 past 6pm, a little later than normal but with plenty of light still available. It was with pleasant surprise than I found only half of the bait stations needed filling as the rat numbers have dropped considerably in the last month. The following day, Saturday, other volunteers had joined me and we all headed in different directions for a full day's baiting in fine weather. With 46 bags of bait in my pack I headed to my usual tracks and again found that less than half of the bait had been eaten, so I brought 27 bags of unused bait! During my baiting round I was lucky to hear a number of kokako calling in three different areas of the bush. The kokako are very territorial so these would have been different pairs. I also heard a number of kaka squawking and calling as they flew overhead. I did disturb a kaka which startled me as it flew from a low branch of a nearby tree! I also saw many tui, keruru (wood pigeon), robins and some bellbirds, fantails and whiteheads.

The weekend was excellent for our volunteers, some of whom saw kokako in the middle of the day. This is most unusual as they are normally quiet during the heat of the day but are often seen and heard at dawn and sometimes at dusk. Their calls are much more frequent just as the sun starts rising. The Dawn Chorus at Rangitoto Station is very spectacular. One of our volunteers camped in their vehicle overnight in the bush and woke to a wonderful sound of our kokako and many other native birds as the birds woke to a new day. I did hear a bird call I have not heard before and am not sure what it was. Other volunteers heard and saw riflemen, NZ's smallest native bird as well as a kakariki.

Next month I will take time to clear some trees which have fallen across some of the main baiting lines after high winds durimg October. We will also undertake a rat tracking index (a count to see the numbers of rats in the bush). Last year in December our numbers dropped to a 2% count - that means only 2 of 100 rat tunnels had footprints. December is our final working weekend until we return to the bush in February to retrieve any uneaten bait. We do this as the unused bait goes mouldy if left out in the bait stations for long periods. By February too, the young kokako chicks are old enough to fend for themselves from predators.

November Update
We went down to the forest again in early November and I am very pleased to report that we did a rat tracking count and across 100 rat tunnels, only 8% had footprints of rats. This is the lowest number of rats in the bush for many years. We continued to put bait into bait stations as we cannot allow the rat numbers to increase, otherwise they will attack the kokako chicks and other native birds in the forest. Our final visit to the forest for the season is this coming weekend (30th November - 2nd December) and we will again be putting more bait into the bait stations and checking rat tunnels for footprints. We hope the numbers of positive rat tunnels stays at 8% or lower. Our next work takes place in early February when all uneaten bait is removed from the bait stations.

A TV crew is scheduled to meet with us this coming weekend to film some of our work for a documentary to be shown on Prime TV. We are pleased our work will be getting more publicity as we are always looking for more volunteers and support.

Update from our October baiting in the bush for Kokako Recovery Programme.....
====All of the bait stations in the Mangatutu Reserve that were baited in September were revisited and 300g of bait added if required. The bait take for those lines that were recorded is approximately 50% which indicates that the rats are finding and taking the bait. A rat tracking index is proposed for next month and will tell us if we have been making a dent in their numbers. A crew numbering 33 for the Saturday worked in windy and occasionally rainy conditions to get the work done.==== ====I took another one of my Rotary Club of Onehunga One Tree Hill members with us for an experience in the bush. We did not hear any Kokako this month but twice heard the call of a kaka very close by. We also saw a number of keruru, tuis, fantails and robins. A number of trees have fallen over our tracks and next month I will cut new tracks around the obstacles.====

This last weekend a large group of 44 volunteers went down to the Rangitoto station to carry bait into the bait stations for the first baiting round of the
====season. We have set up over 1,500 bait stations in two areas including the area. I bait and another area called the Tunawaea. Each bait station had 500 grams of bait placed inside. I baited 40 bait stations with help from another volunteer. The weather was very kind to us with blue skies and no rain. The full moon was stunning as we drove into the bush on the Friday night.====

====We heard some Kokako early on Saturday morning when we started out into the bush at 7.45am. My colleague was volunteering for the first time and he heard Kokako calls for the first time in the wild. We also heard and saw many other native birds including tuis, bellbirds, whiteheads, fantails, robins, kakariki,==== ====keruru (native wood pigeons). We all had a very successful weekend and some members even planted trees on the summit of Mt Ranginui - it is nearly 1,000m high! Saturday evening saw all the volunteers join together for a delicious dinner served by other volunteers.====

=Final Progress Report=

Here is our final report for the season - a trip to the bush this weekend past. Ian Smith is one of our volunteers who often compiles a report, his latest one is in the separate email below.

"**A small group of volunteers (a lot of the usual helpers were away in the South Island on club tramps) managed to remove all of the bait from the Mangatutu and the top tracks of the Tunawaea with the exception of the Coles Tracks (John Davis will clear those at a later time) and the tracks past the Goathunter's Hut (Pukekohe TC are away on their summer SI trip). There was a lot of bait brought back with only a few of the periphal tracks showing any signs of bait consumption. Those who camped out overnight around Rimu Road were rewarded by seeing and hearing Kokako. Plenty of other bird species were seen and heard in the forest. The weather was warm and dry the whole weekend which made for hot work particularly as one's pack got heavier as the day progressed instead of the other way round.** **The film crew apparently took some superb clips of Kokako on Rangi and Papa and do not require to return. Filming for the series wraps up at the end of April and the programmes (on environmental issues / biodiversity) should be shown on Prime sometime later in the year. Colleen should be informed when it is to be screened and plans to give everyone a heads up to look out for it.****"**

====My wife and I were two of a number who camped out in the bush on Saturday night (we were in a tent) to hear the night birds (Morepork, long-tailed cuckoo to name just two of many) and by 5.30am as the light in the sky brightened just a little, we were surrounded by bellbirds, tui and eventually our beloved kokako - a real Dawn Chorus. A number of us marked out a viewing area and we saw a number of kokako flying a circuit and running through the trees above our heads. With perfect weather the kokako really did perform for us. Many other species were seen and heard throughout the Saturday - kaka, kereru,====

Many thanks for your and the school's support over the past year