A night in the bush- kiwi calling

Last night I had the opportunity to go 'kiwi calling.' Another name for this is a kiwi survey.
Quite simply we were listening for any kiwi calls.

I spent a bit of time earlier this week listening to the 2 very different calls that kiwi make depending on their sex. Below are two links so you can hear the difference between them. (Thanks to DOC)

http://www.doc.govt.nz/Documents/conservation/native-animals/birds/kiwi-cd/male-ni-brown-kiwi.mp3

http://www.doc.govt.nz/Documents/conservation/native-animals/birds/kiwi-cd/female-ni-brown-kiwi.mp3


There were 9 of us that went last night, all volunteers that are involved with the kiwi work that is being done at Rotokare and surrounding area.
I was teamed up with kiwi guru Jenny. (You may have read about Jenny in my earlier post about my amazing kiwi experience.) 
The team met at the Eltham library and discussed our plan of attack for the night. We would be travelling not to Rotokare this time, but a piece of bush adjoining the reserve called the Totara Block.
This is an area of bush that is on private properties but is looked after by the local Forest and Bird Society. (I have put a link below so you can read more about what they are doing.)

http://www.forestandbird.org.nz/branches/south-Taranaki

Travelling into our spot was quite an adventure! A 30 minute drive mostly on gravel road. Then into a grunty 4 wheel drive up into the bush (glad I had my seat belt on and it was a pretty hardcore track. Then, when the track got too small for the 4WD we then hopped onto the back of a quad bike for another 10 or so minutes into our final spot.

Kiwi calling is typically carried out over a 2 hour period within the first 4 hours of the sun
going down. This is when kiwi are most vocal. A kiwi call can be heard over quite a large distance (up to a couple of kms in perfect conditions)
Jenny and I arrived at our spot about 7:45. We heard a lot of morepork in the next half hour. Darkness came about 8 (a little earlier than normal.)
Then we waited....
                          ...... and waited .......
                                                 ...................and waited......

Sadly for Jenny and I we heard no kiwi!  2 of the team did hear some though.
One was in the direction of Lake Rotokare and one was further south-east of where we were. The team were quite spread out around the edges of the Totara Block. As the night crept upon us it was neat to see the headlamps of our team around the ridges.

How the survey works is that a team of people are surrounding an area. If a kiwi call is heard, everyone documents the time, takes a compass bearing to where they heard the call and writes what type of call was heard. Then after the night finishes, all the compass points are triangulated on a map of the area. If everyone is correct with their bearings, a location can be determined.
The next step (if a kiwi needs to be captured for further monitoring) a kiwi catcher goes into the area and searches it for the burrow.

This is looking northwest from our spot. The bush on the ridge in the back is the edge of Lake Rotokare.

 

This is looking south west from our spot.
 

  

looking north from our spot. This country is rough!

Our spot for the night. After going prepared to sit on the ground for a few hours, we were pleasantly surprised to find a picnic table :)

The purpose of the night was really just data gathering. To see what was there or wasn't there. Hearing nothing does not mean that the kiwi are not there, just means we need to go back more and listen again. Kiwi calls have been heard in the area in the past. The Totara block is an area that kiwi may be released into in the future.  The forest and bird team are doing a fabulous job monitoring and trapping and doing their utmost to restore this piece of land to its original state.
This is another example of volunteers driving a project because of passion for the cause.

I really enjoyed spending the night in silence, sitting in the dark just listening. It certainly doesn't sounds like exciting entertainment on a Friday night but I can't wait for next time!

Country girl in the city - a week in Dunedin

Having never been to Dunedin before the idea of going down for a week long course was quite exciting.
Then I heard it was going to be a 'leadership' course, I thought that sounded cool! Leadership courses I have been on in the past have included abseiling, rock climbing, kayaking, team building etc.... then we get told that NO, it wouldn't be that sort of course- 5 days in the classroom and homework each night!!!

 I wasn't too sure of what to expect from the course. I understood from the surveys we had to complete before we went that we would undergo a character assassination during the course! However I am very pleased to report that after the assassination on Tuesday we spent the rest of the week rebuilding and learning how to harness the leader within.
The course is part of a MBA, so quite high levelled thinking was going to be required!

We were accommodated in the Otago University Executive Residence which is very close to the university. It was a wonderful place to stay, the staff were friendly and welcoming and nothing was too much trouble. The food was plentiful (and drinks were very reasonably priced )

Otago University Executive Residence

 

Having such a lovely place to stay really made staying away from the kids a little bit easier. I took my tablet for a walk around the hotel one night when I was skyping the kids and they were thrilled to meet a few of my colleagues and getting to see where I was staying. One night Ryan got to watch a helicopter land on the helipad of the hospital which you could see from my room. (Both kids thought it was pretty cool that mum had her own toilet and shower in her room)

Otago University Clock tower

 

Topics on the course ranged from leadership types, leadership vs. management, visions, creativity, barriers to change, personality traits, resilience, planning, values, creativity and much much more.

 

The course was centred around the book called "The leadership Challenge" by Kouzes and Posner. They describe leaders as having 5 dimensions to be able to do what they do.

During the course we thoroughly looked into each of the dimensions (Modelling the way, inspiring a shared vision, challenging the process, enabling others to act and encouraging the heart). 

Having read the book before going on the course, I had my head around the dimensions before I went but found that through delving deeply into them over the period of the week I really began to understand what a great book this is. Their catch phrase is "how to make extraordinary things happen in organisations." Watch out Rawhitiroa, I have a new mission!!!!   

 

The thing I enjoyed most about the course content was getting time to delve deeply into my personal values and working out how they fit with colleagues, my school and my community. Having unearthed those values, I am moving into the future really confident about making

decisions and knowing that my decisions are based on my deeply engrained values and beliefs.

While the days were long and tiresome, we did manage to get out and about on Wednesday night. We were taken for a tour of the city in a fleet of classic jaguar cars. We got to see many of Dunedin's famous landmarks, our driver Jeff was a very knowledgeable gentleman who always had a story or two to share about the places we went . Sadly no time to visit cadburys or speights factories though!



Our cars in front of the Otago Railway station.

from the back of the Daimler- 5 in the back and 1 in the front

 

I got to travel in the 1971 Daimler (picture on the right in the top picture). A car with a very colourful history. It used to be the mayor of Auckland's official car but the Queen and Nelson Mandela have also travelled in it. It was rather strange having people standing on the side of the road taking photos of us driving past!

 

Baldwin Street was lots of fun. For those of you that don't know it is the world's steepest street. Over 161 metres it climbs 47.22 metres in height! The steepest section of the street has the gradient of 1 in 2.86. I certainly knew I was alive when I got to the top! I was blown away when I found out (after I walked up it) that the world record for a climb and descent is just under 13 seconds.... yip madness! This record has been in place since 1994.

 

Doesn't look too bad aye.... in a photo, I stood at the bottom in awe of the site in front of me

I did it, I did it!!

 

Dinner out that night was lovely. Our lecturers and course organisers joined us for the evening. We were treated to an Italian experience- Etrusco. I challenged myself to try everything on offer... even artichoke! I was pleasantly surprised at how nice it was.

I was certainly glad that I wasn't wearing restricting clothing!!! (am very glad that a few of us walked back to the hotel afterwards, I don't think I would have been able to sleep on such a full tummy :)  

 

 

 

Not straight to sleep though- back to our rooms to do homework....

(see kids- even the teachers have to do it!)

 

The rest of the week went relatively quickly. Making a plan for leading within our schools was the big focus for Friday. Presenting it to our peers and then developing it further was a challenge but certainly rewarding.  I am really looking forward to being able to bring about some amazing science learning in my school when I finish my time at Lake Rotokare.

 

 

Being presented with my certificate of completion



When I reflect back on the week, I can't help but feel extremely proud of myself. When I was initially thinking of applying for a fellowship I almost didn't go through with it as the fact  I was going to have to spend a week away from my children was almost too daunting to think about.

The longest I have been away from them in 7 years is 3 nights! (Obviously I did it though or I wouldn't be writing this)

 On Tuesday night I was ready to come home.  2 long days, heavy workload, loads of theory and too much food (ok so that was my fault lol.)  What was a teacher from a little country school that just liked to teach science doing on this course with all these amazing people??? It took me another day to realise that I too am a pretty amazing person and I belonged there with them.

Being surrounded by such an amazing group of people was what held me together and kept me going.

 

Big thanks to all the group "Bs" for helping me through the course, big thanks to the staff and lecturers at the Otago Buisness School and last but not least, a big thanks to my amazing support team in Hawera!

                           He aha te mea nui?                      He tangata, he tangata, he tangata!

What is the most important thing?        It is people, it is people, it is people.

Group 'B' (stands for brilliant) on top of Signal hill. Check out Anna's hair (3rd from the right at the back) shows how strong the wind was blowing.

Now back to the Lake!!! Can't wait.
 

 

 

 

All for a good cause- taking action!

One of the big things that I am trying to do with my 'science' is getting people (in particular my students) involved with REAL science projects.
I want them to see how doing small things can lead to big things and that by doing 'something' it can make a difference.

In a few months time the Rotokare Trust are planning on re-introducing a population of Tieke (Saddleback) and Popokatea (whitehead.) This is a mammoth undertaking logistically, financially and emotionally.
The saddleback has been absent from the skys of Taranaki for over 150 years. They were almost extinct altogether as recently as 1964 where they only existed on one island (Hen Island in the Hen and Chicken Islands.)
Since then the birds have been carefully looked after and slowly being translocated back into more areas in NZ.
The birds that will be calling Rotokare home are coming mainly from Little Barrier Island and a few from Bushy Park (a fenced sanctuary near Wanganui.)

One of the logistical issues we face moving these birds from such a distance is food. We may need to feed them for between 7-12 days depending on weather.

So what do these birds like to eat you ask?

 

these wee creatures- meal worms. For the translocation we will need about 40,000 of them!! Most of that amount will be purchased from a supplier, but we are aiming to breed as many as we can. The worms will also be used for feeding lizards and when we are monitoring our North Island Robin (I will write a blog about this adventure next month)

 

So, back to the meal worms.

Melissa had started a breeding programme at the lake before I started, and one of the jobs I have taken on is to feed them and sort them. One thing about meal worms is that they grow quite fast, meaning that I started to see numbers multiplying soon after I started.

We have our worms set up in a set up in a set of plastic drawers (with vents on the side)

  

 

 

 

There is no way that we will be able to produce the amount of meal worms we need on our own! So, we have enlisted the help of our community. The Rotokare Community is full of people happy to help out in any way needed, so there were plenty of willing hands when we put out the request to help with the meal worms.

Melissa and I gathered the equipment we needed and started creating 'home kits' we also spent part of one sunday at the lake with the volunteers that were working that day to help them create their own.

 

 

 

Ryan (my son) creating one of his boxes

2 sets of boxes ready to come home with us.

 

Worms added and fed for a week.

 

When we bought our first lot of worms home they were approximately 10mm long, 2 weeks later they have tripled in size! They live in our hot water cupboard (which must be the perfect temperature)

Another couple of weeks and they should be starting to move into the next phase of their lives- pupa.

 

If anyone reading this post would like to join the crusade to feed our birds, please let me know! We can supply everything you need :)

Ryan's class are going to help us out and look after a set of worms for us and my school are soon to start as well! While we aren't able to promise any reward for being part of this breeding programme, we hope that in the future we can pay our helpers back by inviting them out to the lake to see the birds, help with Robin monitoring or feeding the lizards.

 

Engaging our children with science is one of big pushes in science education, I think the meal worm breeding is such a good opportunity to show how important science is, how much fun it can be and how small actions can have big impacts.

 

 

With the onset of cooler weather, Melissa and I decided that our worms may be getting colder, on Friday afternoon I decided to insulate our drawers ... it won't be winning any design awards but hopefully it will keep the worms a tad warmer so they keep breeding.