Crofton Downs from Gareth Morgan on Vimeo. The pest-free “halo” around the Zealandia sanctuary is being extended to Crofton Downs, thanks to a $5000 gift from the Morgan Foundation. The Enhancing the Halo project focuses mainly on Zealandia, but also has the long-term goal of making Wellington the first predator-free capital in the world. A competition run by Gareth and … Read More
Auckland Area Cat Camera Survey
The Morgan Foundation cat camera study has been an amazing project for the last 6 months. We have been placing cameras in back yards all over the suburbs of Wellington to record what wanders past them. Here are the results http://halo.org.nz/cat-control/ We have been concentrating firstly on Wellington and now want to place some cameras around properties in the Auckland … Read More
July 2014 Update Bells’ Track
Tena koutou katoa The planting for this year is just about complete with some 500 plants having been put in.. This is a record amount so a very big thanks to all who helped in one way and another. The bulk of the plants came from the City Council together with a good number from Nick and Jase and … Read More
Get Predator Free with Goodnature
Predator control is a big part of protecting our natural environment. It’s also something we can all play a part in bringing the birdsong back. In some sweet-as results for our under pressure birdlife, our Wellington-developed Goodnature automatic rat traps have totally eliminated the predator rat populations at large-scale Department of Conservation (DOC) trials in Northern Te Urewera and the Boundary Stream Mainland Island. … Read More
Vote for Your Predator-Free Community
Which predator-free community do you want to win $5,000? We have 4 communities (videos below) that are competing to become New Zealand’s first predator-free community! The winning community will receive money to put towards traps or bait stations in their area. Watch the videos and start voting here
Bells’ Track – June 2014 Update
Tena koutou katoa Sunday June 15th turned out to be a good day for planting and we now have over 100 plants in the ground for this year. There were about a dozen of us including our younger helpers Ruby ,Luca, Adam and Noah. It’s good that younger people are showing an interest in nature. With Luca Ruby and Adam … Read More
Garden Bird Survey
The garden bird survey is a citizen science project established to monitor the population trends of common garden birds in New Zealand. It attempts to answer the question, “Are garden bird populations increasing, decreasing, or remaining stable?” New Zealand has a number of rare native bird species that are declining in number, but we do not know the population trends … Read More
Invasion of the Kakas
Bill Hester from Trelissick Park Group sent this video in and wrote: “See our deck a couple of weeks ago in the following short video, this wouldn’t have been possible even a few years ago … all aided by reduction of predators in the region”. A Walk in Trelissick Park
Hunting birds without guns: A visit to Otamatuna
Wandering through much of Aotearoa’s remnant bush in 2014 can be a lonely experience. One has more chance of seeing a hobbit than a kaka or kokako, and the experience is a long way from Joseph Banks’ much repeated description of the the dawn chorus in Queen Charlotte Sound in 1770: “I was awakened by the singing of the birds … Read More
Northland Cub Scouts
Nick went to visit the Northland Cub Scouts and asked them what their favourite birds were. He left feeling impressed by their knowledge and passion for birds. Northland Cubs Halo vID from Gareth Morgan on Vimeo.