Black Robin Release, Puketi, Sunday June 14

You may have this message already from other sources but if not, this is a special event in Puketi Forest's history to which all are welcome. In case weather affects the plans you should contact Ian Wilson on 09 401 9056

Far North RR Puketi Forest Trust - Oho Mai Puketi

Return of Toutouwai (North Island Robins) to Puketi.

 At last we have final approval for the transfer of robins from Mangatutu to Puketi. The transfer and release have been set down for Sunday the 14th of June. Kingsley Thompson of Heliops will fly them directly by helicopter. The scheduled arrival at Puketi is 11:00 am.

A team of eight volunteers has been organised to travel to Mangatutu to catch the birds during the preceding three days. More of us will be required to meet the birds and carry them from the helicopter into the forest for release. There will be up to 30 birds in individual boxes to be carried. If you can help to do this, it will be greatly appreciated. In any case, everyone who is interested is most welcome to come and see the birds released. The robins will be released near the centre of the Puketi Forest Trust’s core pest control area, off the Waihoanga Gorge Kauri Walk, which is accessed via the signposted walkway across farmland from Puketi Road.

 Park on the roadside and follow the signposts. The helicopter will land in the paddock near the bridge at the start of the bush track. The welcoming party will gather before the last stile in the adjacent paddock until the pilot gives the all clear. There will be a brief welcoming ceremony, after which the birds will be carried half an hour walk into the bush and released. Dress for the weather and be prepared for some mud on the track. It would be wise to bring a drink and a snack.

 Mangatutu is southeast of Otorohanga in the South Waikato, on the north side of Pureora State Forest. After several years of pest control the local robin population there is thriving. Our aim is to capture 15 male and 15 female birds. Our team will be assisted by volunteers from the Ark in the Park project in the Waitakere Ranges west of Auckland, who are also catching robins for release in their area.

The robins will be attracted with meal worms and caught in clap traps, then weighed, measured, banded and held for the journey in individual pet boxes with supplies of food and water. Robins are fiercely territorial and fight if confined together. A clap trap is a light frame covered with mist netting, which is released pneumatically to fall when a bird ventures under it. Meal worms are a species of beetle larvae raised in flour – a delicacy for insectivorous birds.

The release site is on a low ridge between two densely forested stream valleys. These small moist valleys are expected to provide ideal habitat for the robins to disperse into. Once established, the robins should begin nesting early in the coming spring and should be seen by visitors on the Waihoanga Gorge Kauri Walk.

After release, we will need volunteers to help with regular monitoring of the robins. If you are interested in doing this, please get in touch. We will also be keen to receive any reports of robins sighted by people walking in the forest. It will help if you look up robins in advance and learn to distinguish them from the numerous resident tomtits, which are related. Of course, any small bird in that area with bands on its leg is likely to be one of the introduced robins. If the weather during the days prior to Sunday 14th is not suitable for catching the robins, the release will be postponed to Sunday the 20th of June. If this happens, you will be advised by email, a notice in the Bay Chronicle and on the trust’s website www.puketi.org.nz.

 Best regards, John Dawn