Club & Site Digest (Working progress)

Christmas Social Get-together 2013

On December 11th the Dunedin Bird Club held its annual christmas social get-together, a chance for the club members to spend some time together and enjoy some light hearted entertainment and quizzes. Turn out was good, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves with lots of smiles and laughter.

This year has three activities. The first was a quiz involving a collection of photos and a map with locations marked out on it. The task was to name the birds and match them to the location that they can be found in the wild in.

The second activity was a creativity challenge - The teams were given a collection of craft materials and tasked with building a nest from them. The results were quite varied, but all good in their own ways and certainly show cased the diversity of the attending members. Well done to all :)

Below you can see some images of the final results as well as the materials kit.

The selection of materials made available to each team. Not quite what a bird would have in the wild or even be given to use, but they make nice crating materials :)

This letterbox style nest box even came with a hand crafted bird complete with worm in the mouth and underfoot for it's hatchlings.	Canary nest on a poll, complete with yellow egg, and a canary cut out from the photo sheet of the previous quiz.

This nest came complete with hut to shelter it from the weather and even a letterbox so they could find their way back to it :)	This cliff nest was designed for a special species of bird. Comes complete with cliff section.

The final activity was a 'Who Am I' quiz. A table of 33 birds that all could be found in NZ were given to all the teams, and then they were presented with 26 Who Am I questions, of which all of the answers were in the table. Of course 7 of the birds in the list were red-herrings, just to add a little bit of a challenge. Results were good overall with one team getting all 26 correct! Well Done. Below is the table of birds, followed by the questions and finally the answers.

1. My name means a nation, and my symbol can be found on all sorts of things.
2. I foster my young to the care of another, and it is highly doubtful that I could even build a nest of my own.
3. I share my nest with others, and I cannot be found in the wild.
4. They call me the bushmans friend, and my Maori name is Piwakawaka.
5. We mate for life, and the sound we make is a cross between a duck and a goose.
6. I have a wingspan of over 3 meters, and don't start breeding till I'm at least 6 years old.
7. I make my nest out of balls of mud, and I eat insects on the wing.
8. We can be found in the town with the steampunk HQ, and it is under the cover of darkness that we leave and return to home.
9. We are often seen drying our spread out wings, and the Gardens staff aren't so happy with us as we destroy tress as a consequence of our breeding.
10. We nest in large colonies, are opportunistic scavengers, and are protected.
11. I'm a colourful native of Australia, and Dunedin is one of two locations that you can find me in NZ.
12. I am often mistaken for another bird with whom I share part of my name, and we have been the target of a banding program in Dunedin.
13. I'm named for the shape of my bill, and I wade through shallow water for my food.
14. 'm the brand name of at least two NZ companies, one of which is iconic.
15. I migrate here from Alaska, often in a non-stop flight and I'm a costal & estuary bird.
16. I'm the bird on the $100 bill.
17. My bill was designed for my eating habits, and consequently I can wreck havoc on human vehicles.
18. I like shiny things, and will protect my territory even against humans.
19. I have a large bill, am often found perching on wire or posts near water and have royalty in my name.
20. I am the largest of my species in NZ, and can get drunk on berries.
21. We can be found in most cities, can be bred for racing, and like to breed on cliff faces and buildings.
22. I have a make of ford named after me, and am a bird of prey.
23. I am named after an infantry unit, and I'm almost entirely lacking a tail.
24. I'm named after a unit of currency, and sometimes migrate to NZ from Australia.
25. I'm nocturnal, and my call sounds like my name.
26. There is a gift shop in McAndrew Bay named after me, and I am a wading bird.

1 - Q; 2 - J; 3 - AC; 4 - L; 5 - Z; 6 - U; 7 - B; 8 - P; 9 - H; 10 - K; 11 - T; 12 - AB; 13 - C; 14 - W; 15 - G; 16 - AE; 17 - AF; 18 - R; 19 - E; 20 - D; 21 - I; 22 - AA; 23 - M; 24 - V; 25 - O; 26 - X

Previosuly...

Presented here is a collection of photos from presentations at previous club meetings during 2013. Click on the photo for a higher resolution version.

Dunedin Bird Show May 2013:

The Budgie stands in the process of being benched.	Foreign Birds section of the show stands.

The full show report can be found here.

Young Bird Show April 2013:

The Budgie section of the show stand	The New Colour Canary section of the stand

The full show report can be found here.

April 2013:

A selection of zebra finches provided by Simon and talked about by Shane.	A selection of Glosters provided and talked about by Monty.

March 2013:

A selection of budgies provided by Mike.	One of Richards Grass parakeets - a Splendid.

Bird Watch

Otago Museum Trpoical Rainforest [02/05/14]

The Otago Museum in Dunedin is home to a fairly unique attraction, the Butterfly enclosure, where visitors can walk around in a three level rainforest filled with a variety of imported butterflies. Even on a cold autumn day like today where the predicted high sits at just 14 degrees C, the butterflies and visitors can enjoy a humid 27C. The enclosure is also home to a variety of birds, including quail, zebra finches, java sparrows and parrotfinches, who display some tolerance of people which is good for getting some nice photos :)

Zebra finch (above) and juvenile Java Sparrow (below) enjoying the offered seed.	zebra finch sitting below the hand rails.
Parrot finchs foraging on the lower level	Java Sparrow standing proud.

Breeding Success from a ground nest [28/01/14]

It has been an interesting breeding season thus far, with some breeders having lots of success, while others have had little at all. The weather certainly hasn't been in our favour with a cold, wet and highly variable January that has left us wondering where summer has gone, but even through it new life has been brough into the world ^^.

The below images are an example of the results from some colony breeding where the birds were put into a flight together and left to their own devices. One pairing (as chosen by the birds themselves) has been very successful, with two healthy chicks now flying around the aviary with the assortment of birds, and two other hatchlings looking set to fair just as well. There was a slight hiccup in the middle with a nest near the upper part of the aviary, but she has gone back to her nest in the bottom corner of the aviary for this next attempt (which was the nesting material supply container; canaries usually like nests up high, but this one has worked well fo her in this case). Both mother and father have been really good parents.

The two older chicks	The two young hatchlings in the nesting material pottle in the bottom corner of the aviary. It worked the first time, so why not again, even if it isn't high up :) The benefit of aviaries is the lack of predators.

Forever Keen [25/10/13]

Even though they are not being used for breeding this year, this pair of canary hens are still dead set on raising a family, even to the point of sitting on the nest together. There are two eggs under them (infertile though), and they are terrible nest builders (the nest pan they are in has a liner and that is all).

We do hope that breeding season is off to a good start for everyone :)

Spring is in the air [07/10/13]

That time of the year is here again, and the ducks that were off to a quick start are now proudly parading around their ducklings. Cute as always, but they don't all survive. We're pretty sure that the pictured mother duck started off with at least 10 ducklings a week or more ago, but their number has been slowly decreasing. When we saw her brood today she had 5, all happily exploring around the pond, but when we left she had only four, one unfortunate duckling having become a tasty snack for the frequently visiting Black-back Gull. That is a part of the cycle of nature. Even so, poor duckling :'(

Mother duck and her brood of ducklings	The guilty gull.

[UPDATE 13/10/13] - It's good to see the native Paradise Ducks breeding as well. This shot was taken at the botanic gardens looking down the Leith; the pair has nine healthy and inquisitive chicks :)

[UPDATE 17/12/13] - And here are the above paradise ducklings all grown up. They've taken up residence at the botanic gardens, and are still all a close knit family. Paradise Ducks are model parents!

Kereru a plenty [26/08/13]

This shot is of a couple of wood pigeons perching in a tree right beside the duck pond. There seems to be quite a few around this year, which is a good thing, and it is always nice to be able to get up close to them. There were three in the tree when this shot was taken, the third was further over.

Shags at the Gardens [24/08/13]

The shags have returned to the Dunedin Botanic Gardens again this year, after having nested there last year for the first time. It started off with just one nest but eventually grew to five by the end of the season. The tree in which they nested has since been cut down, as well as some trimming of branches where there was some perching, but that hasn't deterred them. They have found a new tree suitable to their tastes, and as of last week (~23rd august) there were a stunning six initial nests (and a count of 16+ shags). Looks like they are here to stay, if they can have their way about it. The ground below their nests will be white in no time, and smelling of fish, which is probably of some concern to the grounds-keepers, so it will be interesting to see what the gardens staff decide to do about them. If they let them stay, it will be interesting to see how they develop and fare this year, as it is nice to be able to observe their behaviour up close. However I suspect that there will be some action on the part of the gardens staff. As to what however, only they know at this stage.

One of the adult Little Shags from last year on the edge of the pond.	The chosen tree for this year. Some of the nests 'under construction' can be seen if you look closely.

[UPDATE - 06/09/13] - Looks like the section of the tree where they have been building their nests has been cut off. Still a few shags in the tree though, and some others around. Appears to have been done in the last few days.

[UPDATE - 7/10/13] - Quite a few shags at the gardens today, including a whole bunch in the nesting tree as well as some nests. Over the last month the numbers have been fluctuatig quite a bit with there being many days where no shags have been spotted at all, so it would seem that the Gardens staff have been somewhat successful in keeping them away, but there are some stubborn ones who just want to stay.

The chosen tree with the stubborn shags who just want to stay	An example of the damage caused by the shags - this rea is below the nesting tree, and show the plants and ground covered in their white droppings, which also has a fishy smell.

[UPDATE 01/12/13] - The staff at the Gardens have finally found a way to deter the shags from nesting in their trees. No Shags at all in the trees today, instead replaced by large orange 'scarecrow' balloons with owl faces painted on them floating up the three trees where the shags nested or perched around the edge of the pond, as well as accompanying High Frequency transmitters. It's a non-lethal method which is good, and the frequency of the transmitters is above most peoples hearing which means no disruption to most visitors. Hopefully the shags will do well where ever they have relocated to.

Looking up at the Owl scarecrow balloon from below, under what was the main nesting tree.	The Owl balloon looking out from one of the trees. The transmitters are nestled beside the balloons.

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