FOREST AND BIRD – CENTRAL AUCKLAND ISSUE NUMBER 94 – OCTOBER 2009

MEETINGS –SPRING 2009 – AUTUMN 2010 In This Issue

Chair’s Report p. 2
Meetings are held in the Parnell Community Centre, 545 Parnell
Road, (Jubilee Building) on Sunday afternoons in the Hobson 2010 Calendars p. 2
Room at 2.30 pm. Plenty of parking is behind the Centre. A Bird Poll p. 3
donation of a gold coin to help defray hall costs would be No. Island Gathering p. 3
appreciated KCC Programme p. 4
THE NEW K.C.C. WEBSITE – Mandy Herrick Activities Programme p. 5
Sunday, 15 November, 2009 Kokako to Ark in Park p. 5
As communications Officer/Website for Forest & Bird, Mandy F&B’s New Logo p. 6
Herrick is now based at the Auckland office. The Central th
20 Anniversary of
Auckland branch helped fund the new KCC website, and Mandy
will bring us up to date with this exciting new site for KCC children Field Trips p. 6
and their families. This meeting should be of special interest to KCC to ‘Bird Lady’ p. 6, 7
our KCC families. Pollen Island p.7

MOTUTAPU AND RANGITOTO ISLANDS – Nanda McLaren, Motutapu Restoration Trust

Sunday, 21 March 2010
This year a pest control project has started for Motutapu and Rangitoto Islands through the
Motutapu Restoration Trust. As a volunteer with the Trust, Nanda is very involved with work on
Motutapu Island. Come to hear what these volunteers are doing with Department of
Conservation to restore Motutapu’s native life.
HOW TO CATCH A RIFLEMAN – Simon Fordham; our Annual General Meeting
Sunday, 16 May 2010
Simon has been very involved with the translocation of 31 Riflemen, New Zealand’s smallest
bird, to Tiritiri Matangi Island. He is a brilliant wildlife photographer and this is definitely a talk
not to be missed.

Please change to an electronic Te Karere! Emailing Te Kerere saves on costs and decreases
bad environmental effects from printing, saves paper and waste, and reduces our carbon footprint during
the newsletter’s hand-delivery. Thank you to the many of you who now receive Te Karere by email!!
We would like to keep increasing this as much as possible, so please update your email details at
http://www.forestandbird.org.nz/support/membership/changedetails.asp or email us with “Email address”
in the subject line at [email protected]. This includes both Forest & Bird and KCC members.

ORGANISER FOR HAND DELIVERIES NEEDED. We have the volunteers who do the hand
deliveries and the system for parcelling out the bundles, but we don’t have anyone to organise the
bundles and their delivery to the coordinators and deliverers. Hand delivering the hard copies of Te
Karere annually saves us hundreds of dollars in postage. If you’re interested in helping Forest & Bird
this way, please contact Barbara Thomborson on 585-1370 or email at [email protected] .

page 1 www.forestandbird.org.nz/centralauckland
Chair’s Report with and helping the local branches to do work
of significance to achieving our Society’s goals.
People have asked me what’s the difference
between the local branch and the Forest and Bird Communications with members made by the
Auckland office. The branch has only volunteer office staff is directed to many and often all the
members who live locally, in our case Auckland members in the country or region. The branch
City. The branch addresses local conservation communicates mainly with members living
issues. The Central Auckland Committee within that branch only. Increasingly
communicates with our branch’s members only, communications are becoming website and email
primarily through this branch newsletter. based, although the glossy coloured national
Newsletters vary markedly between the branches Forest & Bird magazine will remain as hard
throughout the country because of things like the copy; the majority of your membership fee funds
availability of volunteers and money to cover the this award-winning publication.
costs of producing them and sending them out.
We produce three newsletters a year. If we As a closing comment; the newly-revamped
posted them all and didn’t email some, the cost KCC website, funded mainly by our branch,
would be approximately $5-6,000 yearly. The should be launched next month. The staff
branch is essentially responsible for covering the member responsible for getting this job done,
costs of the newsletter. The more members who Mandy Herrick, is giving a talk about it at our
receive the newsletter by email, obviously the next meeting on Sunday, 15th November. We
less this cost will be and also the less work for would like to see a good turnout of members and
volunteers to fold them and stick stamps on KCC members to this meeting, so come and find
them. Newsletter costs are not covered by out about what the new website offers and how
membership fees. Your membership fees go to get the most out of it.
directly to our national body.
Anne
In contrast to the local volunteers, the office in
Auckland currently has three paid staff. They
are Mark Bellingham, North Island Conservation Conservation Calendar 2010
Manager; Nick Beveridge, Auckland Field
Officer; and Mandy Herrick, Communications
Assistant. Their work is set by the national
Society’s conservation priorities. Their manager
is the society’s General Manager, Mike Britton,
based in the Wellington office. The Auckland
office staff is accountable through him to the
executive which is elected to represent the
Society members. Membership fees, bequests
and commercial sources from the central body
pay staff salaries.

In a nutshell this describes the main differences

between the local office and the branch.
Basically, we are all volunteers and look at
issues occurring locally; we run local trips,
meetings, projects, and displays. The office Forest & Bird calendars ($13) and diaries ($22)
staff, salaried through the Society, focuses are out. If you want any, contact Isabel on 528
mainly on national issues or on local issues 3986. They’re also available on the monthly bus
related to national Forest & Bird priorities. So trips and Committee meetings.
saying, the employed staff includes local and
regional field offices, whose jobs include liaising

page 2 www.forestandbird.org.nz
 look and then quickly disappear again.
Maori knew the fernbird as "the wise bird"
because of its ability to warn them about
impending troubles or foretell good fortune
depending on how its cry changed
(nzbirds.com).
We owe the fernbird a huge debt of
gratitude because when government land
was being transferred to the then new
Department of Conservation, fernbird
BIRD OF THE YEAR POLL presence was often the one criterion that
allowed wetlands to be conserved. Nearly
Help raise the profile of your favourite native
90% of New Zealand’s wetland area has
bird by voting in the Bird of the Year poll.
been lost since the early 1800s, and many
Forest & Bird’s poll runs from Sept. 14 –
remaining lakes and wetlands are degraded
Oct. 14. Vote at www.forestandbird.org.nz .
from the effects of farming: burning, wetland
Waitakere Forest & Bird members Kent Xie drainage, chemical spraying, and fertiliser
and Michael Coote are keen to see the runoff from surrounding farmland.
fernbird do well in the voting. Here’s their
From Kaitaia to Stewart Island, every Forest
submission:
& Bird branch surely has threatened
We strongly advocate for the Fernbird wetlands or low scrublands in its area,
(Bowdleria punctata to science, Kotata or meaning every branch likely has fernbirds
Matata to Maori, and swamp sparrow to dwelling on its patch. Vote the fernbird for
early European settlers) to be elected Forest "Bird of the Year" so we can honour this
& Bird’s Bird of the Year. Voting for the distinctive endemic species, attract more
fernbird is about raising public awareness of attention to wetland restoration, and save
the unique conservation values of the fragile the threatened fernbird’s habitat before it’s
wetland environments the fernbird lives in. too late! [See Pollen Island, pg. 7]
Putting the spotlight on the fernbird could
attract much needed attention to wetland
protection and restoration. So let the
fernbird have a go at becoming Bird of the
Year and the mascot for wetland
conservation.
Fernbirds live in pairs and from their dense
scrub habitat typically call out to each other
in a duet, making a high-pitched, metallic "u-
u-u tic, tic" sound. “It’s one of the most The fernbird, about 18 cm in length
beautiful bird calls I can ever imagine,”
recalled Matuku Reserve’s Ranger John
Staniland (also chairman of F&B Waitakere) 20-22 NOVEMBER: NORTH ISLAND
of his experience from the Bethells Swamp GATHERING, BLOCKHOUSE BAY
boardwalk. “I stood right … between a pair The Waitakere branch is hosting the annual
of fernbirds calling out to each other,” he North Island gathering where the society's
said. “It was such a sensational conservation priorities will be considered. It will
synchronised duet!” be at Motu Moana Scout Club, 90 Connaught
St., Blockhouse Bay on 20-22 November.
Although given to hiding, fernbirds are
Daytime registration is $70, including food for
naturally curious and when you click small
both days. To register, contact Nick Beveridge,
stones together or mimic their high pitched
Northland/Auckland Field Officer, on (09) 302
calling sound in their habitat, they will often
3901 or at [email protected] .
poke their heads out of the scrub to have a

page 3 www.forestandbird.org.nz/centralauckland
 KCC NEWSLETTER DECEMBER 2009 TO MARCH 2010
YOUR VOLUNTEER COORDINATORS ARE SIOBHAN, MARIANNE AND MARGUERITE
Access our website on www.kcc.org.nz/aboutkcc.asp.
To join our email tree to receive up to the minute news on conservation topics, please email Siobhan
with “KCC email tree” in the subject line.
PROGRAMME
SUNDAY 11 OCTOBER 2009 WATERCARE WALKWAY, Mangere Bridge Shorebirds
We will walk along the shoreline at Ambury Park and see shorebirds, both local and some who have
migrated from Siberia and China. We will finish with a picnic at Ambury Park.
Please wear walking shoes and suitable clothing. Bring sunscreen, hats, a coat, drinks, snacks, and
food for a picnic afterwards. If you have binoculars, bring these, too.
Meet at 11 a.m. at the Coronation Drive entrance to Ambury Park.
Book with Siobhan by email: [email protected]

SUNDAY 15 NOVEMBER 2009 NEW KCC WEBSITE LAUNCH

Join our parent branch of Forest & Bird in being amongst the first to see the new KCC website. KCC
members are warmly invited to attend.
Meet at 2:30 p.m.in the Hobson Room (upstairs front meeting room), the Parnell Community Centre.

SUNDAY, 06 DECEMBER 2009 CHRISTMAS PENGUIN PARTY

Come to our Penguin Party. to learn about the different kinds of penguins in New Zealand , their habits
and habitats Please dress in black and white as much as possible. Bring your togs and a towel,
sunscreen, a sunhat, and warm clothes.
Please also bring one wrapped present per child for our Santa sack and a contribution towards the BBQ
meal. Bread, sauce, and a sausage will be provided.
Venue is Tai Haururu, the Waitakere Forest & Bird House – 92 Garden Rd., Piha, from 2 p.m. to 4:30.
Book with Siobhan by email: [email protected]

SUNDAY, 14 MARCH 2010 EXPLORE THE UNDERWATER WORLD

We will explore the rocky shore on foot and with masks and snorkel (for confident swimmers). You will
need warm clothes, sturdy shoes, flippers and/or sand shoes, togs, towel, mask and snorkel and/or
swimming goggles, a hat, and sunscreen. And a picnic, drinks, and snacks. There will be a small
charge per person for snorkel hire and guiding.
Meet at the Leigh Marine Reserve, under the big pohutukawa tree to the left of the staircase down to
the beach, at 11 a.m. Book with Siobhan by email: [email protected].

Any problems? Any questions? Please phone Marguerite on 376 1149.

 PROGRAMME OF ACTIVITIES: SATURDAY 20 MARCH 2010
SEPTEMBER 2009 – APRIL 2010 ARK IN THE PARK
Here’s your chance to visit this wonderful piece
of Waitakere bush where native robins, kokako,
BUS TRIPS AND VISITS and stitchbirds have been released in recent
FIELD TRIPS BY BUS: Unless otherwise stated,
years. We hope to have a talk from one of the
the bus will leave from the lower Albert Street
volunteers and enjoy a relaxed day walking
bus stop at 9am. All trips pick up at the
some of the tracks.
Takapuna Rose Gardens. Trips heading south
Cost: $20.00
also pick up at Harp of Erin, whilst those
Bookings: Lou Kokich on 376 4072
heading north also pick up at Point Chevalier.
Please advise where you will board the bus
when booking your trip. You should be suitably SATURDAY 17 APRIL 2010
clad and shod for the area and conditions AYRLIES IN THE AUTUMN
expected. We return to this amazing Whitford garden - see
BOOKINGS: please forward a cheque payable it in its Autumn regalia.
to FOREST & BIRD SOCIETY to the booking Cost: $33.00 (includes garden entry fee)
officer immediately after booking. Refunds will Bookings: Isabel Still on 528 3986
not be given (except for sudden illness or urgent PROPOSED EASTER TRIP 2010
reasons, at the discretion of the committee) Unfortunately we have not received enough
unless cancellation is notified by the Wednesday definite responses to justify running a Paihia trip
prior to the trip. in 2010. Many thanks to all who responded.

SATURDAY 17 OCTOBER 2009

GARDENS GALORE
Visit three gardens in the South Auckland area -
Atarangi, Amesbury Park and Quarter Acre
Paradise (Dale Harvey’s Mangere East.garden).
Cost: $37 (includes 3 entry fees, morning tea)
Bookings: Sally Hally on 528 7506

SATURDAY 21 NOVEMBER 2009

WAIHEKE ISLAND KOKAKO FOR ARK IN THE PARK
Travel on your Gold Card to Waiheke Island Up to 30 kokako will be released into the
then board a special bus for a tour of the island. Waitakere ranges over the next month. Once
found throughout much of New Zealand, this
Meet at the Assembly Point at Fullers Pier 2 at
wattlebird is now restricted to a few forested
9.40 am to catch the 10.00 am ferry. Purchase
your boat ticket using your Gold Card. Bring a patches in the northern part of the North Island.
picnic lunch or buy on the island. Tea and The only bird known to pair with a male partner,
coffee available for purchase on the ferry. the kokako once had researchers stumped
Return to Auckland on the 3.00pm ferry (journey when several hundred pair bonds failed to
produce chicks. Naturally civil unions weren’t
takes 35 minutes)
Cost: $12.50 - for bus tour on the island going to produce offspring. Since then, control of
Bookings: John Hally on 528 7506 introduced pests has led to a good recovery of
the female population, with a numbers sitting
around 1700 birds. As well as being part of the
SATURDAY 05 DECEMBER 2009 kokako recovery programme, Forest & Bird has
XMAS RAVE re-introduced these songbirds into the pest-free
Join us for a special Christmas morning tea and sanctuary Ark in the Park in the northern
buffet lunch. An opportunity to catch up with all Waitakere Ranges. You can hear their call and
your Forest and Bird friends. Walking optional! that of five other native birds by accessing
Cost: $25.00 Forest & Bird’s Restore the Dawn Chorus
Bookings: Isabel Still on 528 3986 website.
page 5 www.forestandbird.org.nz/centralauckland
 FOREST & BIRD’S NEW LOGO exploration of some wild and wonderful
place in our beautiful country. We have
learnt so much about the New Zealand flora
and fauna from each other and especially
from Nancy Payne who ran the trips for
most of the twenty years.
The opportunity to show our appreciation for
Nancy, Christine and Steve's contribution to
Forest and Bird was welcomed by all who
attended the luncheon. It was wonderful to
see several members who, although now
unable to join in our monthly trips, were
happy to be able to reminisce with their long
Forest & Bird is heading into the next decade time friends.
with a renewed mission to promote the
organization and attract more members to the
conservation movement. We are highlighting our
role as the only independent organisation in
New Zealand that gives nature a voice, and we
have a contemporary, new logo that makes this
clear.
The logo features a “tree” with a range of
animals and plants for which Forest & Bird
speaks. Speech marks above the tree reinforce
the idea. They are meant to be bird song, and Nancy, Steve, and Christine
when the logo is shown in animated detail, the
logo 'explodes out' to individual components – Thank you, Christine, Steve and Nancy for
clicking on these commas sets off bird song. your expertise, your knowledge and your
Staff will be presenting the logo and branding at friendship - so gladly shared. Thanks, too, to
the North Island meeting at Blockhouse Bay in Jazz at Franatalia Restaurant in Panmure
November and will answer any questions that who provided a great venue for our reunion.
members might have about it then.
Please contact Communications Manager Helen KCC EVENT OF 13 SEPTEMBER
Bain if you have questions about the new logo: BIRD RESCUE CENTRE
04 801 2763 or [email protected] .
A September visit to the Rothesay Bay Bird
20th YEAR FIELDTRIP REUNION Rescue Centre on Auckland’s North Shore
enabled KCC members to learn about the
On a beautiful sunny Sunday at the rehabilitation of injured and orphaned birds.
beginning of September a group of Forest
and Birders from several Auckland
Branches met together to celebrate a twenty
year association with Bayes Coach Lines
and more particularly with Christine and
Steve Paxton - our intrepid drivers. From
1989 to 2008 they have driven us over
87,124 kilometers of roads, tracks and hair
raising routes - 213 trips in all. Long
weekends, Christmas holidays and every
third Saturday have seen a sadly ever
decreasing number of Forest and Birders
climb aboard a Bayes coach, for an

page 6 www.forestandbird.org.nz
KCC to Rothesay Bay Bird Rescue (cont.)
Sylvia Durrant, also known as ‘The Bird Lady’,
welcomed the members to the centre. For the
past 20 years she has dedicated herself to
caring for needy wild, garden and pet birds. The
centre provides birds with a haven for regaining
good health before being released back into
their natural environments. Sylvia presented the
KCC members with 23 orphaned ducklings, a
gannet injured by fishing lines and hooks, a little
blue penguin with a deep cut to its neck, a
kingfisher that had flown into a window,
orphaned blackbird fledglings, and a Barbary
dove with open wounds. Are Michael and Kent just cleaning up the island,
only to have more motorway on it? [See pg. 3.]
Sylvia believes good food, warmth, linen-based
enclosures, and aloe vera gel for open wounds We hope that by raising the public profile of
are the remedies for most of the injured or this entire area, we might influence
orphaned birds. To keep up with the demands decisions about road-widening, planned for
at the centre, volunteer involvement is next year, which would likely adversely
important. People aged 12 and over help Sylvia affect the marine reserve. We’d also to see
prepare bird food and clean enclosures daily. Traherne Island protected in perpetuity like
Donations are always needed to help fund the
Pollen Island is now. With this end in mind,
expenses in voluntary bird rescue. Weekly food
bills are high, as Sylvia provides green peas, cat we have recently supported a letter sent to
biscuits, jelly meat, mince, chicken mash, egg the Minister of Conservation asking for
yolk, fruit, bread and calcium and vitamins for public signage about the marine reserve;
her birds. Weekly, Sylvia spends between $300 both Kate Wilkinson MP and Auckland DoC
and $500! With expenses aside, Sylvia enjoys have agreed to do the public signage.
her job and encourages those who are
As another step in this strategy, we have
interested in bird rescue to sign up for voluntary
work at their local rescue centre. nominated the fernbird for Forest and Bird’s
Bird of the Year competition [see pg. 3]
POLLEN ISLAND HOTS UP because fernbird live on Pollen Island and
can be considered an iconic bird symbol-
Pollen Island is located within the Central izing the need to further protect this wetland
Auckland branch area and is one of the only area. We ask that members seriously
remaining bits of undisturbed marine consider going to www.forestandbird.org.nz
estuarine areas left in central Auckland. It is and voting for fernbird to show their support
some years since Forest and Bird was for this local branch campaign.
active here; however, time has come for us
to be so again.
Pollen Island became a scientific reserve
surrounded by the Pollen Island/Motu
Manawa marine reserve following extensive
lobbying by Forest and Bird over several
decades. Forest & Bird leased the island
from Ports of Auckland until June 2005
when title was then transferred to DoC and it
was gazetted as a scientific reserve. Its
immediate neighbour, Traherne Island, is
not protected and has a serious problem
with weeds. Pollen Island: perfect fernbird habitat [See pg. 3.]

page 7 www.forestandbird.org.nz/centralauckland
Members of your committee Useful Auckland City contacts
Anne Fenn - Chair, [email protected] 1. Public Transport Information (for bus, train, ferry and
Isabel Still - Secretary, 528-3986 carpooling), phone Maxx on 366-6400 or view their
John Hally - Treasurer, 528-7506 website at www.maxx.co.nz.
Marguerite Pearson - KCC, 376-1149 2. Pollution Hotline 24-hour, in Auckland area: 377-3107.
Barbara Thomborson - newsletter editor, 3. Information & Services - Auckland Regional Council,
[email protected]; 585-1370 view www.arc.govt.nz; ph. Enviroline on 0800 80 60
Peter Riddick - Conservation, 524-2229 40. The site has plant & animal pest fact sheets.
Mark Winter [email protected]
4. North Shore Bird Rescue Centre; contact Sylvia
Our Email: [email protected] Durrant on 478 8819.
Auckland Regional Office: 302 0203; 302 3901

Contact any of us if you want to contribute to what Forest & Bird does in the Central Auckland Branch.

Our website: www.forestandbird.org.nz, refer "What's On in Your Area" and then "Events"

TE KARERE is your newsletter - if you have any comments on its presentation or the type
of information included, please let us know. It is also a way your committee keeps you
informed about the local events and meetings and the local and regional issues with
which your committee is involved. Any feedback you have is welcome and may be
directed to the postal address on this page, attention Anne Fenn, or by email to the Editor
at [email protected].

Any opinions expressed in feature or guest articles contributed to Te Karere

are those of the contributing authors, societies or other organizations and are
not the opinions or policies of Forest & Bird, nor are they necessarily endorsed
by Forest & Bird.

Royal Forest & Bird Protection Society of New Zealand (Inc)

Central Auckland Branch
P.O.Box 1118, Shortland Street
Auckland 1140

KCC Newsletter
Enclosed