| |  |  | This newsletter has a very special guest of honour: tākoketai/black petrels are our newest known taonga species! There is so much happening at OME headquarters and we are loving all the action. If you haven’t yet, please check out our new webpage. There is a good bit of info on it and we intend to update it regularly with events and other interesting tidbits.
Tākoketai
We are all still buzzing from the discovery of 11 active tākoketai burrows at the top of the Oruawharo basin on the DOC blocks by Needle Rock and Mount St Paul. This discovery was made at the end of January 2023 and would not have been possible without the help of two incredible canines, trained to sniff out seabirds. Jo Sim of DabChickNZ has trained Rua and Miro, as well as her now retired homebody Maddy, to help find anything from kororā/little blue penguins to oī/grey faced petrels and of course tākoketai. The ‘needle in a haystack’ approach of just showing up on a block of land, hoping to find a petrel nest is every bit as difficult as it sounds, were it not for the amazing olfactory system of canines. We humans are a bit hopeless in comparison and could quite easily stand on top of a burrow without realising it. These dogs can smell the seabird burrows from quite a distance, and both their’s and Jo’s gentle approach is incredible to witness. Despite the dismal conditions on slippery slopes they managed to find 11 active burrows. Some with chicks, some with chicks and adults, but all with fresh scent for the dogs to find. There is good reason to believe there will be more petrels nesting between the two searched areas, but only so much ground could be covered in unchartered territory (no tracks) in such wet conditions. Jo had a special reminder of just how bad the weather was, when she was here, returning home with mouldy boots and ute. We have it on good authority that both have dried out by now. We look forward to learning more about these very special birds who currently only nest on Aotea and Hauturu-o-toi (Little Barrier). Tākoketai report. |  | Summer events
OME hosted two wetland themed events over the summer months. The first one was the Wetland Wander, which was very well attended. It was a beautiful still and sunny afternoon, not something we have taken for granted this year. A gentle stroll along the newly formed path through a beautiful piece of coastal forest to the north of the DOC wetland, showcasing some of the work the hard working OME volunteers have been up to over the past year. We finished up at the OME chairperson’s place, overlooking the wetland, for afternoon tea and a wee chat, to explain in more detail all the work we have already done and what we have in store for the future.
We were also visited by the Local Board, on an island wide tour of all the projects they have supported in the last year. OME has been very fortunate to be supported for a few different things from the Local Board this year, and we loved having a more casual catch-up with the whole team, getting to know each other better.
|  | The OME Eco-pod
If you have spotted the little structure going up near the community gardens and wondered what it is for, here is you answer: It is the OME eco-pod of course! The Local Board has funded a small shed-type building that will be used for many different things. It is going to be a place we can store some of our tools, and we will have a display area, highlighting whatever is going on in the area, with anything from working bees to nesting birds, weed amnesties and any other useful information with a conservation theme. We hope to be working in with the community gardens too, so we can all benefit from each other’s knowledge, and share both the space and the opportunities that come with it. The eco-pod can be used to host outdoor events too, and will be manned by the OME team on a regular basis. Watch this space for progress.
| Questionnaires
The OME team has been going door to door to try to catch as many people as possible with a questionnaire, asking property owners in the area their opinion on a pest control extension. We are proposing to cover a very large area, from the DOC blocks at the very top of the bay, all the way to the coast. The idea behind this, and crucially the timing, is to prepare the ground for Tū Mai Taonga when they eventually filter down island, in an effort to move towards a predator free Aotea - sooner rather than later. If you have not been contacted by any of us yet, and would like to fill in the very short questionnaire, click here for the link. We would love to hear from you!
If you would like to know more about OME Phase Two, here is a link to an article from Raoul Stuart (OME chair) published in the latest Aotea Great Barrier Environmental News p.22 or contact us medlandsecovision@gmail.com. | Weekend working bees
There has been some interest in joining our volunteer efforts, but not everyone has the luxury of being able to attend on a casual Wednesday morning, so we are planning some weekend efforts, starting with Saturday the 8th of April at 2pm. We will meet at the northern end of Sandhills Road for some planting, finishing off with a well earned sausage sizzle back at the eco-pod, when a bit of sweat and elbow grease has been spent. We usually only stay a couple of hours, so the more people show up on the day the faster we can get to the sausages. Please let us know if you intend to pop along, so we can make sure we have enough grub.
Phillipp from the Aotea Community Native Plant Nursery on Garden Road very kindly donated a tray full of healthy looking karo, to plant on this inaugural weekend working bee, for which we are very grateful. Finding money for plants is proving tricky this year. | DOC annual pāteke counts
OME took part in the annual pāteke count organised by DOC. This year there was a very positive final total count from across the island’s usual flock count spots. DOC will put together a proper report to showcase their findings, but the final count stood at 652 pāteke! That is almost 200 more birds than the highest count last year. DOC have a theory about it being due to the wet season we have had, where food is likely more abundant.
|  | Dotterel count
Felicitas Weisbach, the Ecology Vision facilitator, organised this year’s dotterel count, which was held on March 24th. Members of OME helped out on several beaches across the island. The Aotea dotterels have had a bad end to the summer, contracting a paralysing bug. Some of the birds that were observed with this issue were passed on to Karen Walker, the bird rescue lady on the island, and subsequently sent to Auckland Zoo for further examination. It is not yet known what caused this paralysis, but avian botulism is one option. https://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/environment/looking-after-aucklands-water/stormwater/docsother/avian-botulism-brochure.pdf Despite this, 8 NZ dotterels were counted on Kaitoke beach, 1 in Medlands and 42 NZ dotterels as well as 41 banded dotterel on the Okiwi spit. Okupu, Awana and Tryphena had none. The NZ dotterel are a protected, vulnerable, endemic bird, and are currently estimated to have a total population of approximately 2400 birds, which is less than some species of kiwi! | Get in touch with us for more information about working bees, birds and anything else Email: medlandsecovision@gmail.com Facebook: Oruawharo Medlands Ecovision Phone: 029 770 5111 Webpage: omeaotea.co.nz | | | |
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