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Bulletin 100ISSN 1171-8595February 2015

Painting the Island red

Lighthouse turns 150

100th Dawn Chorus

30 years of tieke

Tuatara 10 years on

Dawn Chorus

www.tiritirimatangi.org.nz 32 Dawn Chorus 100 February 2015

Tiritiri snippets

Commemorating 150 years of lighting up the Hauraki Gulf

A RARE SIGHT: The four lighthouse keepers who came to celebrate the Tiritiri Matangi light's 150th birthday are (from left) Kevin Wilson, Peter Taylor, Trevor Scott and Ray Walter. Photo / Jim Eagles

The Tiritiri Matangi lighthouse has seen many amazing sights during the years it has presided over the Hauraki Gulf, but the party SoTM arranged for its 150th birthday on 1 January must be among the most spectacular.

The Island was buzzing with excited peo-ple who had come to join the fun. At 2.30pm, when the folk leaving on the normal boat met those arriving on the special late boat, there must have been close to 500 crowded into the wharf area. Ranger Dave Jenkins commented, ‘I reckon this is the biggest crowd I’ve seen here, certainly the biggest I’ve ever had to give the talk to.’

Luckily it was a beautiful day and there was certainly plenty for the visitors to do. The guides worked double shifts to ensure that visitors off both boats were able to enjoy the usual guided walk. Up at the lighthouse com-pound the Island’s proud maritime history

was on display.The highlight, in the Visitor Centre, was

the Fresnel lens, originally from Cuvier Island lighthouse, which had been put back together for the occasion (a photo essay on this amaz-ing achievement is on pages 6-7). Standing around 3m tall in the middle of the display area, it looked magnificent. Unfortunately it will have to be dismantled to make room for the resumption of school visits but, hopeful-ly, before too long the lens will take pride of place in the planned lighthouse museum.

Lighthouse museumThe museum is rapidly taking shape and, for the birthday, the items on display included the gleaming green and bronze control mech-anism for the Fresnel lens and four genera-tions of lighthouse lamps from the 1860s to the present day.

From the editor

A historythat isworthcelebratingWelcome to the special 100th issue of Dawn Chorus. It's always a notable achieve-ment to reach 100, whether by a person, an organisation, a school or a magazine, and well worth celebrating.

In this case there are really two stories to be told. First there is the spectacular evolution of the magazine from the photo-copied two pages of the initial newsletter to the full colour Dawn Chorus we enjoy today. Then there is the matching story, told through the pages of the magazine, of the equally remarkable development of the Supporters of Tiritiri Matangi and the marvellous people who made it happen.

To mark the 100th issue the SoTM committee has kindly agreed to expand Dawn Chorus from the usual 16 pages to 24, providing room for lots of extra stories, and making it too thick to fold, which is why your copy has arrived flat.

It's just as well we did have those extra pages because, besides marking the 100th issue, there are several other exciting anni-versaries that need to be recalled.

The birthday party held to mark 150 years since the turning on of the Tiritiri light, was a wonderful occasion and, among other things, saw another big step forward in the effort to establish a lighthouse museum on the Island.

Then there was the return to Tiritiri of Graham Ussher to find out how the tuatara are doing 10 years after they were introduced. Answer: very well considering how slowly they reproduce.

Finally, tieke (saddlebacks) have been on the Island since the start of the project 30 years ago, so it’s appropriate that the long-running nest box scheme is starting to reveal more about these flamboyant but mysterious birds.

And, of course, there are also all our regular features to fit in: the Flora and Fau-na Notes, the Big Picture – this time from the Far North – and John Stewart's report From the Chair on the new Conservation Management Strategy for Tiritiri.

The result, I think, is an appropriately special issue of our lively centenarian. I hope you enjoy it.

Jim Eagles


Cover: Former keeper Kevin Wilson plays the bagpipes at the lighthouse celebrations.

Photo / Jim Eagles

Tiritiri snippets

Commemorating 150 years of lighting up the Hauraki Gulf

LIVING HISTORY (clockwise from top left): Ray Walter with a modern LED lighthouse lamp loaned by Maritime NZ; Trevor Wilson tells a yarn while the other keepers look on; Ray shows Brian Chandler a Doty oil-powered light dating from the 1860s; Anne Rimmer in the watchtower. Photos / Martin Sanders, Geoff Beals, Jim Eagles

The watchtower, with its own collection of signalling and weather equipment, was in full swing, with an added touch of glamour provided by island historian Anne Rimmer who turned up in period costume.

The lighthouse was open to the public and, as well as Maritime NZ lighthouse engi-neer Jim Foye, who has to bring the key, there were four former lighthouse keepers on hand to show eager visitors around and chat about what life was like in the good old days before automation.

And down the slope Colin Johnstone and his team from the Toi Toi Trekkers Tramping Club had the only working diaphonic fog-horn in the land merrily blasting away.

Lighthouse keepers' reunionAs evening approached the lighthouse keep-ers – Peter Taylor, Trevor Scott, Kevin Wilson

and Ray Walter – were the stars at a session in the Visitor Centre as they exchanged tall tales but true about life as a lighthouse keeper.

Ray opened proceedings by explaining how unique it was to have four lighthouse keepers in the same room. ‘There were 43 lighthouse keepers in New Zealand but they were scattered around the different lighthous-es and, as there were never more than three keepers at a lighthouse, to get four of them in the same place is pretty special. We didn’t all meet up but we did communicate by radio, so we may not have known each other to look at but we did know each other's voices.’

Kevin sparked off a string of reminiscenc-es about how tough life was for the lighthouse women with his story of his wife returning from hospital with a newborn baby. ‘When she came back on the Belfast the weather was too rough for us to get her into the crane bas-

ket we used to lift things ashore. So in the end I had to stand on the rocks with a keeper hold-ing my pants and the third keeper holding his pants. My wife passed the baby over in a car-rycot and then said, “Well, I’ll have to come now,” so she jumped. And after that she had a 600ft climb up the cliff to reach the house.’

Trevor joined in by describing how his heavily pregnant wife ‘had to row out in our dinghy in her oilskins, with the swells going up and down 4-5ft, then climb up the rope ladder down the side of the old Hauraki while it was swinging about and with the waves breaking over her.’

Ray chimed in with the tale of how he


Photo: Ian Southey

first came to hold his daughter Linda. ‘She’s a Puysegur Point baby. When she arrived it was too rough for the boat to land, so we took our dinghy out and they actually threw her from the boat to me and the other keeper sitting in our dinghy. So she arrived by air actually.'

Peter talked about the difficulty of living somewhere where supplies had to be ordered in bulk and well in advance. ‘Once when we were on the Mokohinaus we ordered a carton of matches. We wanted an ordinary carton that would see us a month or so. We got one this big,’ he said, his arms spread wide. ‘It had 1,200,000 matches. We finally got rid of the last ones in Wellington 14 years later.’

Peter also told of the mysterious 'trace of rain’ that used to be found in his rain gauge which greatly puzzled the Meteorological Service because no one else was reporting rain. ‘A little while later we found that our youngest would sneak out in the morning and

do a tiny little piddle in the gauge.’Trevor’s favourite tale involved the keeper

who returned to his bedroom after a bath on a steaming hot night to find his wife lying ‘stark-ers on top of the bed clothes. So he did a great big Tarzan leap on to the bed, along the way got his toes tangled in the string of the light switch toggle hanging down from the ceiling, and pulled the whole lot off, ending up with a hot bulb on his bare butt. The next morning he asked me, “What are you like as an electri-cian” . . . and his wife told me the story.’

All the keepers agreed that Tiritiri was the softest lighthouse berth in the country. Peter called it ‘absolute luxury.’ And Ray said Tiriti-ri ‘was always known to me as the lighthouse on the end of Queen’s Wharf. I finally got it after 30 years in the lighthouse service . . . and then they went and automated it.’

When the stories finally stopped, the Fresnel lens was turned on and everyone pre-

pared to go outside to sing 'Happy birthday'.But first there were a couple more yarns.

Ray noted that Kevin was to lead the parade with his bagpipes, but recalled that this hob-by had not always made him popular. ‘Once when we lived on Centre Island Kevin got up to do the early weather forecast and he woke us at 5am playing the bagpipes outside our bedroom window.’

Kevin retaliated by saying, ‘I know some-one who is frightened of the dark. One night on Centre Island Ray came running in be-cause it was dark outside. So the next night it was moonlit and I got a sheet and went "Woohoohoohoo".'

Birthday cakeAll birthdays need a cake, of course, and for the lighthouse’s birthday it was appropriately special. On offer was not just one cake but seven, each made by a different guide, and all joined together under a carpet of icing done by Trish Wells.

Among the ornaments on the cake was a pair of sturdy legs which everyone assumed to be Ray’s. But 90-year-old Diana Dombroski knew better. ‘Those aren’t Ray’s,’ she laughed. ‘They aren’t good enough. Ray’s got the best legs on the Island.'

Painting the Island redWhen darkness fell Trevor pumped up his bagpipes and, by the light of torches and glowsticks, he and the other keepers led a pa-rade to the lighthouse.

The foghorn gave a massive blast, col-oured lights were used to turn the 150-year-old tower red, the colour it was painted when it was first lit back in 1865, and everyone sang 'Happy birthday.’

After that it was time to wander down

TALL TALES (from left): Peter Taylor draws a laugh from his fellow keepers; the Island pohutukawa add their own red tribute to the day. Photos / Martin Sanders, Geoff Beals

ICING ON THE CAKE (at left): Trish Wells with the lighthouse birthday cake; (at right) could those be Ray's legs? Photos / Jim Eagles


the road by moonlight to catch the special 10.30pm ferry back to Auckland. As the Tiri Cat steamed away from the Island the light-house shone red behind and, ahead in the city, the Sky Tower could be seen also glowing red as a tribute to Tiritiri.

Unseen in the darkness, the Island’s po-hutukawa trees were paying their own trib-ute, their blossom seeming even thicker and more brilliantly crimson than usual. It gave a whole new meaning to the old expression for a riotious celebration, 'Painting the town red.'

Penguin BoxesA cautious investigation has concluded that there is no scientific reason for the penguin boxes to be closed when the penguins are on eggs or there are chicks.

Graham Jones, who did his Master’s thesis on Tiritiri’s penguins, and in the process han-dled them a lot, says that they are ‘robust little animals’ and he doesn’t think people looking through the inspection ‘skylight’ will cause significant disturbance. So we can feel free to take a respectful peek at the penguins when they are in the boxes. As Mary-Ann Rowland says, ‘It is a great opportunity to teach chil-dren about the preciousness of our wildlife and to show them how to look quietly and carefully at something so special.’

Citizen ScienceA new kind of Citizen Science research proj-ect, aimed at studying seasonal differences in the distribution of fantails on the Island, got under way last year using about 20 volunteers .

It has been inspired by the fact that previ-ous surveys and anecdotal evidence point to fantails being more conspicuous on the Island in winter than in summer and to dramatic fluctuations in numbers.

SEEING RED (from left): Piper Kevin Wilson leads the parade to the lighthouse; the lighthouse and the surrounding landscape glow red in celebration. Photos / Geoff Beals

FOND FAREWELL: When Liz Maire (at left) decided to resign from DOC after 10 years – much of it involving links with Tiritiri – she thought an appropriate way to mark the occasion would be to bring colleagues Sue Cameron, Michelle Jenkinson and Jenny Heath to the Island to do volunteer work under the direction of a delighted ranger Dave Jenkins. Beforehand Mary-Ann Rowland 'wrote a lovely poem about us rivalling the gorgeousness of the birds (feathered variety),' Liz explained, 'so we decided to live up to our reputation with some bling. It sort of worked!' Photo / Roger Bray

In order to get a clearer picture of fantail distribution on the Island, two-year surveys will be carried out on Tiritiri and at Shake-spear Regional Park and the Mataia Restora-tion Project on the Kaipara.

Scientist Mel Galbraith, who designed the project, said it would involve the pilot use of ArcGIS software. This is a technique in which the Island is divided into 200 hexagonal sam-pling units with suitable access.

Volunteers will be asked to adopt a num-ber of units and to take counts (primarily of fantails, but also of other bird species if they wish) at a set point in each hexagon in win-ter 2014, summer 2014-15, winter 2015 and

summer 2015-16. The counting method will involve two five-minute counts each day re-peated over three days. Count data will be analysed using ArcGIS software and maps produced to illustrate seasonal distribution.

Mel said this method was ideal for the Citizen Science approach to research. ‘Citi-zen Science enlists the public (in this case SoTM volunteers) to gather scientific infor-mation in collaboration with scientists.

‘This approach for research activities fits superbly well with the vision for the restora-tion of Tiritiri Matangi, and with the aims of SoTM. From the start of its restoration, Tiritiri has always been a “people's island”.’


1. Cuvier Island lighthouse, where the Fresnel lens was used from 1889 until 1982. Photo / Maritime NZ

2. The shed in Pureora Forest where the lens was stored for 20 years until it was rescued by a team from SoTM.

Photo / Carl Hayson

3. The rescue team (from left) of Carl Hayson, Brian Chandler, DOC archaeologist Neville Ritchie, who told SoTM about the lens, Ian Higgins and Ray Walter, with their 8 tonnes of parts. Photo / Carl Hayson

4. Each piece of the lens is cleaned and restored.

6. The control mechanism for the light is carried by forklift from the container into temporary storage on the Island.

5. A barge brings a container of glass and steel parts, plus five truckloads of metal, to the Island. Photo / Ian Higgins

The story, in pictures, of how the 126-year-old Fresnel lens from Cuvier Island lighthouse got to Tiritiri Matangi where it will eventually become a star attraction in the lighthouse museum. The

A tale to brighten up any visit to Tiritiri


9. The glass components of the light are re-assembled inside the Visitor Centre. Photo / Alison Bray

7. Pallets containing the components of the lens are transported to the Visitor Centre. Photo / Alison Bray

8. The heavy pieces of glass are carried into the Visitor Centre. Photo / Alison Bray

plan is for the full lens, 6.4m high when it stands on the control mechanism, to be installed in an extension to the old workshop building where the museum is already taking shape.

A tale to brighten up any visit to Tiritiri

12. The lens control mechanism is already in the museum.

10. The Fresnel lens in all its glory. Photo / Geoff Beals

11. Switched on for the 150th birthday. Photo / Geoff Beals


Tuatara thrive in their Tiritiri homeGraham Ussher returns to the Island after a long absence, to check how the tuatara he helped release 10 years before are doing and finds they're flourishing, with the 60 released probably having grown to 80, a good result from such a notoriously slow-reproducing species.

In October 2003 the Supporters released 60 tuatara onto Tiritiri to re-establish a popula-tion long exterminated by forest clearance, pests and farming.

Those of us involved with the release fully expected that these mini-dinosaurs would vanish into Tiritiri's forests and scrublands, only to be seen accidentally by a roving re-searcher or a keen-eyed visitor at night on the roads and tracks. How wrong we were!

The tuatara decided to head for places where they are regularly seen by visitors by day and by night. Their liking of tracks, roads and open areas meant that the five-year post-release survey of the tuatara population in 2008 recaptured a fair portion of founding adults and some Island-born young. That sur-vey showed that things were well on track for tuatara becoming well established.

Fast-forward to 2014. The 10-year post-release survey was planned for the end of

this year. How many tuatara were there now? Where had they moved? And more to the point, what was the best (legal) stimulant to keep us awake for the long nights of work needed to run around the Island after them?

So, the scene was set. The Supporter’s Bio-diversity Sub-committee canvassed regulars to the Island to map recent sightings of tuata-ra, and assembled an A-grade survey team to do the work. For two weeks over November teams of four or five scoured parts of Tiritiri.

It is fair to say that it wasn’t all hard work. Between working all night and getting clawed by angry tuatara, we had great fun crawling through scrub, falling into creeks and stum-bling over kiwi in the most inaccessible parts of the Island you can imagine (as well as some quite easy walking on tracks and boardwalks). The dedicated bunch of volunteers soon clicked into tuatara hunting mode whereby every poo on the track could be a tuatara poo,

every crevice could be a potential burrow and every rustle late at night could be a tuatara slinking off into the darkness beyond the light of our headlamps.

Altogether, we spent several hundred per-son hours grid-searching parts of the Island and visiting (and re-visiting) likely hot-spots. Overall we caught 31 tuatara, of which eight were born on the Island since 2003. Of the 23 founding tuatara caught, all except one were in excellent body condition, with most putting on loads of weight since they were last seen. The Island-born young were caught mostly around Hobbs Beach, showing that the beach and Kawerau Track area is still the breeding centre for tuatara on the Island.

As is always the case with these surveys, lots of tuatara gave us the slip, despite our best efforts and innovative schemes. And we know of a lot more animals out there that either we couldn’t catch during the limited period of this survey or which had recently moved on from last known locations.

Isn’t 31 tuatara, and especially eight young, a low number? Well, not really. Tua-tara are notoriously slow breeders. Of the 40 adult females released on Tiritiri in 2003, all were of breeding age, but we have no idea how many stayed in touch with the boys and suc-cessfully bred.

Tuatara live a long time (up to 100 years is the current thinking), but female tuatara breed only once every three or four years and survival rates of eggs can be very low. This means that tuatara numbers don’t leap away like birds. They take a more leisurely time to substantially increase in numbers . . . decades is our guess.

Tiritiri Matangi 2015 Photographic Competition

We're now looking for entries for our photographic competition (and photos for our 2016 Calendar).

We have five categories: •Fauna •Flora•Landscape/Seascape•People on Tiritiri•Under 16-years-old

All photos must have been taken on Tiritiri and must be available to be used for promotion of the Island. You can enter four photographs in each category, Please email to [email protected] before April 30.

Ph

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/ Sim

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Finding eight Island-born young, which were of different ages and mostly in one loca-tion, means that there is a core of males and females in contact as a group and they are starting to produce a long-term breeding core in one part of Tiritiri.

The answers to the big questions arising from the survey are:1. How many of the other founder tuatara are still alive? We think most are alive and well.2. Are the adults scattered or clustered? We think some are scattered but most are clus-tered and therefore in the same place for breeding.3. How many tuatara are on Tiritiri now? We think there may be around 80, assuming most founders released in 2003 are still alive, with 25 or so Island-born young out there as well.4. Do we need to bring more tuatara to Tiriti-ri to speed things along? This is one of the questions that we will answer as we crunch the numbers and assess the survey findings.

So where to from here? A formal report is being written up on the survey results. A key discussion point will be whether the known locations of adult tuatara provide the best chance of tuatara establishing in the long term on Tiritiri . . . and what might be done to help this happen if help is needed.

And if you see a grumpy tuatara when you’re out walking, we’re probably to blame. Being handled, weighed, measured, poked and prodded is enough to put anyone in a bad mood, and tuatara have long, long memories.•A great big thanks to SoTM and the fan-tastic Tuatara Team which made this survey happen: Hester Cooper, Alison Bray, Roger Bray, Margie Luby, Rachel Goddard, Gerry Brackenbury, Morag Fordham Christine Friis, Mikey Watson, Jennifer Teo, Aaron de Raat. Their dedication and enthusiasm made this survey a delight, and for me personally it was a wonderful return to Tiritiri after several years of absence.

HUNTING TUATARA (clockwise from far left): Checking out a burrow; Graham Ussher examines a healthy adult; Roger Bray and new friend; the team at work; Mikey Watson admires a plump adult; Graham finds a youngster born on the Island; a demonstration of why tuatara can be hard to find; evidence of what tuatara eat; prime tuatara poo.

Photos / Graham Ussher, Alison Bray, Hester Cooper


Learning more about our tiekeTieke have been part of the Tiritiri experience since the conservation project began but much about them remains a mystery. Kay Milton reports on nine years of a nest box study which aims to increase our knowledge of these highly visible birds.

Even before they leave the ferry, visitors to Tiritiri are often treated to the strident chat-ter of a tieke (saddleback) from the hillside above the wharf. The sight and sound of tieke is a defining feature of a good day on the Is-land, but their lives are in many ways a mys-tery to us. One way we can learn more about how tieke live on Tiritiri is through their use of nest boxes. This article summarises some of the things we’ve learned, using data from the past nine years.

Tieke have been on Tiritiri for over 30 years, since the very beginning of the plant-ing programme. The landscape that greeted the 24 arrivals from Cuvier Island in February 1984 was mostly bare of trees, with a few rem-nant pockets of forest in the gullies and down the coastal slopes. As the planted bush ma-tured, so the tieke population expanded from that original 24 to several hundred, possibly 1000. Tieke can live up to 20 years or more, so some of our birds have seen their habitat change markedly during their lives.

The lack of mature bush in the 1980s meant there were few sites where tieke could nest or roost, so boxes were provided for both purposes. The number and use of available natural sites has increased, but the nest box scheme has continued because it provides in-teresting information. Throughout the breed-ing season, from September to March, a team of trained volunteers carefully checks each nest box every one-two weeks and records its contents.

From the data collected we have discov-ered, for instance, that some birds start to build nests but do not complete them, or com-plete them but do not use them, and that eggs are sometimes laid but not incubated. These discoveries raise a lot of questions which we hope to address through further research.

Nest boxes are particularly useful for monitoring the success rates of nesting at-tempts. We hope eventually to be able to compare success rates in boxes with those in natural nests, but for the moment the infor-mation gathered from boxes is interesting in itself. As the table shows, there were many cases from 2005 to 2010 when the outcome of nesting attempts was unknown, but knowl-edge has improved as monitoring has become more regular. Only between 50% and 60% of nesting attempts result in at least one chick fledging and the majority of failures occur at the egg stage (78 to 88%).

The fraction of eggs laid that eventually hatch has varied from a low of 26% in 2008-

09 to a high of 58% in 2010-11. If we count only those eggs whose outcome is known, the average hatching success since 2005 is 51%. We do not know whether failure is caused by infertility or by some other factor such as chilling of eggs or parental abandonment. If it is due to infertility, this could be a result of inbreeding, due to the small number of founders.

Once an egg hatches, the chances of a chick surviving to fledge are high. The average survival rate from 2010-11 onwards is 82%. In 2013-14 a remarkable 45 chicks fledged from 48 that hatched. Failure at chick stage has a number of potential causes including preda-tion (eg by ruru/morepork), starvation (due to low food supply, or injury or death of a parent), mite infestation, disease and extreme adverse weather. However, it seems that once their chicks hatch, most parents can feed and care for them sufficiently well that they fledge.

Once they leave the nest, life is tough for

BUILDING KNOWLEDGE:Outcomes of nesting attempts in nest boxes in the past nine seasons:FE = Eggs failed to hatch.FP = One or more eggs hatched but chicks did not fledge.YF = At least one chick fledged from the nest.OU = outcome unknown.

Season Total no. of boxes

No. of attempts

FE FP YF OU

2005-06 351 70 26 3 23 182006-07 365 73 20 1 17 352007-08 365 59 21 1 20 172008-09 240 53 25 0 10 182009-10 206 54 21 2 20 112010-11 209 61 21 6 34 02011-12 176 41 15 4 19 32012-13 153 36 16 2 18 02013-14 161 42 15 2 25 0

young tieke. Their lack of experience makes them particularly vulnerable to predation by ruru and, with so many tieke on the Island, it can be difficult for young birds to find food once they leave their parents’ care, especially in dry years when invertebrate numbers are low. If they make it through their first winter, they then face the challenge of finding a terri-tory and a partner on our crowded island.

There is still a great deal to learn about tieke on Tiritiri, and research currently under way or planned for the future will help us to address the many questions that keep arising as we learn more. During the past two seasons, tieke in selected areas have been colour-band-ed; if you see one of these birds and manage to record the band combination, please let us know ([email protected]). Mean-while, if you would like to read more about the nest box scheme, a more detailed report on the past nine years is available through the tieke page on our website.

WHERE'S TEA: A newly-fledged juvenile waits to be fed. Photo / Geoff Beals


The evolution of

Dawn ChorusThis is the 100th issue of the magazine published for the Supporters of Tiritiri Matangi. Launched in February 1989, it was initially known as the Bulletin (a name still recalled in the magazine's masthead), and now as Dawn Chorus. Over the years it has evolved from a simple two-page duplicated newsletter to the sophisticated, full colour, 16-page (and, for this special issue, 24-page) magazine that members receive today. The first editor, Barbara Battersby, is no longer with us but her husband Jim Battersby, SoTM's first chairman, has written an account of those early days.

Our first newsletter (at right) was very modest compared with the up-market one of recent years. It was just called a Bulletin. It was typed on a double-sided A4 sheet.

My Barbie (at left) was elected as editor at our first committee meeting. As chairman I wrote most of it, giving mostly news from the committee. Barbie got some news from Barbara Walter.

The second Bulletin changed to a two-column layout on an A4 page. From the third Bulletin this was made to fold into a four-page booklet.

Bulletin 1 (shown at right) was dated February 1989, Bulletin 2 was July 1989, Bulletin 3 was November 1989 and Bul-letin 4 was April 1990.

When the script was ready for each issue, I rang Neil Davies who lived near us and also taught at Glenfield College where our secretary Mel Galbraith taught. Neil was our courier (Mercury, I called him). He came and took the script to Mel who, at the Col-lege, printed out the Bulletin on a duplicator as well as printing the address labels (I found these labels on a long roll at some place in Campbells Bay).

Then Neil returned the printed Bulletins and labels to us, Barbie and I folded and addressed them, and I posted them.

There were 55 newsletters for our first issue, increasing gradually over the three years Barbie was editor.

At first a stamp was put on each newsletter, but later we used the Post Office arrangement for an authority by which we paid in bulk.

The newsletter continued to develop. From Bulletin 5 our new logo, designed by Geoff Arnold, headed the first page, and in this and subsequent newsletters, diagrams, etc, were published.

The layout in Bulletins 3-8 used a small type, but Bulletin 9, De-cember 1991, reverted to a portrait A4 sheet with clearer type.

A step forward was made when Graham Jones became our second editor and the format became a folded A3 sheet, all four pages filled with news and photos. Zane Burdett became out third editor and the Bulletin continued to grow, expanding into eight pages in December 1994. Peter Lee became editor in December 1996.

Subsequently the name changed to The Newsletter and later Dawn Chorus and under succeeding editors it has grown and developed, becoming one of the special features of the Supporters, and worthy to find its way to many parts of the world.


Newspapers used to be described as ‘the first rough draft of history’ and there's no doubt that in the first 100 issues of Dawn Chorus are to be found the people, the dreams, the projects and the sheer hard work which go to make up the history of the amazing conserva-tion organisation which is SoTM.

Reading through the pages of the back copies (many of which are on our website) provides a fascinating insight into how SoTM and the Island grew in tandem to become the marvellous assets they are today.

The magazine started just three months after SoTM was founded. The inaugural meet-ing was in October 1988 and the first issue ap-peared in February 1989.

In the intervening 26 years it has had 11 editors, though one, Simon Fordham, has done the job twice, making him by far the longest serving.

The founding editor, Barbara Battersby, served from 1989 to 1991, during which time the Bulletin, as it was known, evolved from a simple duplicated newsletter to more of a mag-

azine with (as you can see from issue 8, above) a masthead incorporating the logo which still appears on the magazine today, and articles il-lustrated by drawings.

Its pages recorded the rapid development of the new organisation from the 20 founding members who signed up at the inaugural meet-ing, to 55 when the first issue of the magazine was published and 175 by the fourth issue in April 1990.

It also describes the exciting progress made on the conservation front, including the release of whiteheads and brown teal, and the widely publicised arrival of the first takahe, Stormy and Mr Blue (also in issue 8).

In 1992 Graham Jones (at left) took over from Barbara and con-tinued its development with the introduction of photographs and a more sophisticated layout.

There was, he recalls, never any shortage of items to fill the four pages. ‘It was a time when

the boardwalk was being constructed, planting was still in progress, rat eradication was being planned and the first takahe translocations were taking place.

‘Ray Walter and I flew to Blenheim at short notice to pick up an incubator contain-ing a single developing takahe egg which had become available from the Maud Island pop-ulation. The precious cargo was transferred to helicopter at Ardmore and the egg later hatched [by Mr Blue and Stormy] to become the first takahe to be born in this part of the world in centuries [it was named Matangi].

‘It was a time, too, when the project’s fame was spreading internationally and Prince Phil-ip visited as patron of the WWF.

‘There was a great deal more to report to our ever-growing membership than a single-paged broadsheet could possibly convey. There was also a growing demand for back-ground information about the biology and history of the Island and we started including these backgrounder articles, often submitted in handwritten form.

The remarkable story of our magazineTo mark the 100th issue of Dawn Chorus, Jim Eagles delves into the back copies and chats with some of the previous editors to track the evolution of both the magazine and the organisation it serves.


‘It’s hard to imagine now that in the early 90s most of us were just getting used to com-puters. Our typing skills were appalling and our expertise with word processing somewhat minimal. A major innovation at the time was the ability to scan in photographs and format the text around them. Imagine that!

'When I handed over the editorship to Zane Burdett I thought we had a pretty sophisticated-looking multi-page (well, four-page) publication. A far cry from the sophis-ticated glossy that now rivals many a commer-cial magazine.’

Zane Burdett, who was editor 1993-1996, continued that development, making greater use of photos, expanding from four to eight pages and starting the tradition of running col-umns on Fauna Notes and Flora Notes which are still a feature of the magazine.

There were more exciting developments to report, including the arrival of the first five pairs of little spotted kiwi (see issue 14, on pre-vious page), and the first release of hihi on the Island, the extermination of kiore and the first plans for a Visitor Centre.

Peter Lee, who edited the Bulletin from 1996 to 1999, was responsible for the first use of colour: a four-page spread on ‘The Life and Times of Mr Blue’ (in issue 28) to mark the death of a takahe who was one of the Island's

great characters.Unfortunately col-

our was too expensive in those days for it to be-come a regular feature but Peter (at left) was able to give the maga-

zine’s cover a bit more punch by introducing a brown masthead (see issue 30, above) and in the very same edition also reported the arrival of the first kokako.

Other big news in his time included the construction of the present wharf and the wharf toilets, the on-going struggle for a Visi-tor Centre, the 10th anniversary dinner with guest speaker David Bellamy and the award to SoTM of the Loder Cup, the most distin-guished award in New Zealand conservation, for its ‘outstanding’ work in developing the Is-land as an open sanctuary and for ‘providing a model of what could be achieved in conserva-tion when the community was involved.’

The editor from 1999 to 2000, Sarah Lowe, introduced a new more airy design and gave a pointer to the future by expanding the usual eight pages to 12 for a couple of issues.

She was succeeded for 'perhaps only a couple of issues’ by Philip Smith who, 14 years on, can’t ‘particularly remember consciously trying to alter the format or direction of it.’

However, one significant development that did occur during his editorship was the suggestion that perhaps the Bulletin would benefit from a more distinctive name.

Philip asked readers for their thoughts, of-fering the incentive that the best would receive a prize of a stained glass bird, and the sugges-tions poured in. These included ‘Birdsong’, ‘Island Wind’, ‘Tiri Tittle Tattle’, ‘Twitterings’ and, from one fertile mind, ‘Takahe Drop-pings’. The winner, suggested by Anne Rimmer and Anne Lindburg, was Dawn Chorus, which SoTM has trademarked, more to protect the organisation’s ongoing right to use the name than to stop others from using it.

The new name first appeared (in issue 44,) under the editorship of Simon Fordham (at left), when he began his first stint in the job which ran from 2001 to 2004.

At the time he took over, Simon recalls, the process of getting the magazine ready for print was a complex and time-consuming one. ‘In 2001, the 12 pages were laid out using Microsoft Word, with gaps for pictures. Colour photos were hand-delivered to a lithographer who would produce black and white versions suitable for printing.

1

DAWN CHORUS ♪♫

Bulletin 50 Winter 2002

ISSN 1171 – 8595

www.tiritirimatangi.org.nz

This newsletter has been Kindly sponsored by 3M

New Zealand

Special Bumper

50th Edition

Little Spotted Kiwi Census

A Species Doing Really Well!!!

Story by Wendy Hare

This year a team of able kiwi sniffers Olly (By Golly), Oscar and Fern, supported by DOC handlers Hugh Robertson, Rogan Colbourne, Natasha Coad and 3 volunteers arrived on July 7th for a 5 day expedition. Despite windy & sometimes wet weather, listening surveys were carried out over the whole island. Then teams set out to catch birds by attracting them to taped kiwi calls. Birds caught had transmitters put on to assist with identifying territories and also to find them by day and possibly catch their mate too. A total of 14 birds were caught this time, of

which 3 were from the original release, 3 were island bred and caught in 1997 and 8 were new (unbanded, island bred). One male weighed in at 1540g and a female at 2040g, both the heaviest Little Spotted Kiwis, for their sex, ever recorded! The estimated population for this survey is 50 plus birds!

Yeah! GO TIRI!

Official Results—Page 4 Detailed Story—Page 14

In 1993 16 Little Spotted Kiwis were released onto the island. Two of these birds are known to have died fairly soon after release. A subsequent survey in 1997 resulted in an estimated population of 20 - 25 kiwi. During that expedition 11 birds were caught, 7 from the original release and 4 island-bred birds.

In This Issue

Bring Back the Bats Page 4

Pier Pressure

Page 5

History of the Bulle�n Page 6

Fernbird Update

Page 9

Skinks Page 10

Sweet Success

Page 11

Right on Track Page 12

Brown Teal Update

Le�ers to the Editor Page 15


‘Once collected, these were placed onto a printout of the pages of text. These were hand-delivered to the printer who produced the final magazine on a high-quality photocopier.’

Simon changed the production software to Microsoft Publisher, which made life much easier. ‘This meant that we could avoid the three trips into the city by providing a single disk to the printer.’

More importantly, from the perspective of readers, Simon was also able to take the magazine to full colour (from issue 50, on previous page). This, he says, was made possible by technological advances, which meant ‘the cost of colour printing had reduced to around the same price as black and white.’

The advent of colour made photos even more important, and at the same time the annual Tiritiri Photographic Competition was launched to further encourage members to use their cameras, leading to the marvellous array of photos available to the editor today.

As well as making technological changes Simon also covered many important advances including the arrival of fernbirds and North Island tomtits (the 11th species to be introduced), the induction of Jim and Barbara Battersby as SoTM’s first life members (see issue 53, above), the introduction of tuatara, the construction of the shelter at the wharf, the restoration of the diaphonic foghorn building

and the creation of the wetland at Northeast Bay.

After Simon came Sharon Alderson (at left), these days working for DOC, but then

employed by the MAF Quarantine Service which, she says, ‘unsur-prisingly meant I did tend to focus on raising biosecurity awareness in several issues!’

As a result, during her time from 2004 to 2005, the magazine exhorted its readers, ‘With your help we can keep Tiri free of ro-dents and minimise the weeds, pests and pos-sible disease-carrying material introduced un-intentionally by visitors.

‘Articles about weeds, Argentine ants and rodent tracking tunnels supported this ap-proach,' Sharon recalls, 'and a lot of people were very interested to discover that, as well as detecting rodent invaders, tracking tunnels can also indicate previously unsuspected gecko populations.’

As well as reporting on the consequent discovery of the common gecko on the Island, Sharon also reported the tragic death of the much-loved Daphne, the paradise duck who was laid to rest beside Mr Blue, and the sign-ing of the first Memorandum of Understand-ing with the Department of Conservation.

Suzi Phillips (at left) edited the maga-zine from 2005 to 2006 and she recalls that, 'The highlight of edit-ing Dawn Chorus was always the wonderful

people associated with Tiri and the excuse to spend even more time on the Island.'

Suzi's time as editor from the end of 2005, coincided with some historic changes on Tir-itiri Matangi. 'My first magazine (issue 63, above) celebrated the opening of the new Visi-tor Centre in November 2005, followed by the February 2006 edition marking one of the best flowering seasons on the Island, as the plant-ings matured.

'The issue of May 2006 announced the im-minent retirement of Barbara and Ray Walter as caretakers with an iconic cover of them fare-welling a ferry full of happy explorers, as they had done so many times. My final issue covered Ray and Barbara's farewell dinner and the Stel-la Frances Award for Conservation Excellence.'

Simon Fordham, who by this time had been elected to chair SoTM, used his From the Chair column to describe the departure of Ray and Barbara as ‘the most significant change since the inception of the project’. In this changing of the guard on the Island, Ian Price and Jennifer Haslam were appointed as

1

DAWN CHORUS ♪♫

Bulletin 53 Autumn 2003

ISSN 1171 – 8595

www.tiritirimatangi.org.nz

In This Issue

Weed Report Page 5

Building Update

Page 9

New Signage Page 11

Research Framework

Page 11

Close Encounters

Page 5

Your

As a successful organization matures, there increasingly arises the opportunity to confer honour on certain members who have contributed beyond the call of duty and assisted in the flourishing of that organization. In many organizations, granting an honorary membership to such individuals or groups is standard practice. Therefore last year the Supporters passed a resolution to amend the constitution to allow this additional membership category.

Jim & Barbara Battersby Inaugural Life Members

At the 2003 AGM, a member of the society was granted the inaugural life membership and this was to our founding chairperson, Jim Battersby and his late wife, Barbara. The members present unanimously accepted this and Jim gave an acceptance speech to thank everyone for the award.

Jim is a long time minister of the Church

(having just celebrated his 50th

anniversary of ordination this year) but knew little about conservation when he and Barbara were invited by a friend to the island in 1988 to undertake a planting trip.

….. continued on page 5


rangers and Megan Wilson as shop manager. Suzi was also the first to include the de-

lightful Tiri Kids pages, which previously were a disposable insert, as part of the magazine.

Paul Colgrave, who was editor from 2006 to 2009, was a professional publisher and, to give the magazine more impact, he stunned some of his readers by (from issue 68, above) introducing a full-page colour photo on the cover, as well as making much more dramatic use of photos and colour on the inside pages.

It may seem strange today, when those changes are well-established, but this was not altogether well received by his readers. ‘It al-ways amused me,’ Paul recalls, ‘that one of the complaints was “How outrageous that you’re wasting the Supporters’ money on full colour newsletters.”

‘They then threatened to cancel their sub-scription (not sure if they ever did). The truth was, the magazine was always in full colour throughout, it’s just that it wasn’t used to its full potential.’

In any event, thanks to his contacts in the industry, Paul changed printers to Spectrum Print of Christchurch, who still print it today, ‘and we saved over $1000 each year in print costs. . . In retrospect, I guess, we could have done more to inform our supporters.’

Paul also changed the layout programme to what is still the industry standard, InDesign,

and the number of pages increased to 16, cre-ating the basic format used today.

The issues of Dawn Chorus he produced reported significant events such as the release of Duvaucel’s geckos and shore skinks, bring-ing the known number of reptiles on the Island to six, the arrival of the rifleman and the ap-pointment of Mary-Ann Rowland as guiding and shop manager.

When Simon Fordham returned as editor in 2009 he enthusiastically adopted the chang-es introduced by Paul which, he says, had taken the magazine to ‘a new level of presentation’. Better still, thanks to the technological advances, 'there were no more trips to the printers, as the final document was simply uploaded to the printer’s website’.

Simon continued to make his mark on the magazine in other ways, covering important developments like the arrival of wetapunga, the start of the Pohutukawa Project, the launch of the Tiritiri Matangi Calendar and a special issue marking the death of Tiritiri Matangi's other great takahe character, Greg (issue 91, above).

In addition, he launched a new feature, The Big Picture, bringing to members of SoTM the stories of other marvellous conservation projects around the country, many of them in-spired by Tiritiri.

In 2013 Simon handed the magazine's

reins to Jim Eagles (at left), who had just re-tired after 50 years in journalism, and was al-ready editing the journal of the Pukorokoro Mi-randa Naturalists’ Trust

at the other end of the Hauraki Gulf.‘I’d been reading Dawn Chorus for years,

though I didn't have the time to really get in-volved with SoTM until I retired, so I already knew it was a fine publication,' Jim says. 'I par-ticularly remember the glorious photos and the delightful Fauna Notes by Morag Fordham which really brought the birds to life (especial-ly “the lighthouse gang”).

‘What I’ve tried to do as editor is retain its special qualities while applying some of the ideas that I’ve picked up during my time in newspapers: keeping the layout simple and easy to follow, including lots of news about what’s happening for those who don’t get to visit very often, and providing background ar-ticles on significant developments.

'I hope the members like their quarterly Dawn Chorus, because I certainly enjoy pro-ducing it. It's a great joy to be able to write sto-ries that are almost uniformly positive, to work with people who are contributing selflessly to a wonderful cause and to have regular excuses to visit this special Island.'

Dawn ChorusBulletin 68

ISSN 1171-8595 February 2007

Happy Feet. Blue Penguin Update Page 4 US Government Visits Page 6 Solar Panels Page 6 The People behind Tiri Page 7

Two New Lizards for Tiri Page 8 Which Skink is That? Page 10 SoTM Committee Nominations Page 11

DC_Feb'07_A.indd 1 2/4/07 10:58:38 PM


Over the past two years I have commented regularly on our inter-actions with the Department of Conservation regarding the new Conservation Management Strategy (CMS) for the Auckland re-gion. The CMS has now been published in its final form. This is an important document as it sets out the Department’s objectives for the next ten years. Although the listed policies are not mandatory, where disagreements arise, the contents of the CMS will be a strong influence on Departmental decisions.

Tiritiri Matangi Island is recognised by the Department as an ‘icon destination’ and is classified as a Scientific Reserve. It has ‘open access’ and so may be visited by the public at any time. The Island is, of course, pest free and requires constant and on-going biosecurity measures to prevent incursions from plant and animal pests.

Tiritiri Matangi is listed as an ‘Actively conserved historic place on public conservation land’, specifically for its archaeological land-scape related to Maori settlement and for the lighthouse complex. You will be aware of our project to restore the lighthouse precinct and we hope to benefit from the enthusiastic support of the Depart-ment for our plans.

The Island is part of the on-going Treaty of Waitangi Settlement process. The CMS notes that DOC anticipates greater participation from iwi, including shared management of culturally important sites. Tiritiri is an important site for many iwi, and we can expect to see increasing involvement from them. It is too early to say what form this might take, but it would be wonderful to have the Island’s rich cultural history presented and interpreted for our visitors.

DOC wishes to see more people participating in recreational use of its reserves and the CMS states that ‘... places will be managed to ensure that visitors have a high-quality experience that supports the growth of international and domestic tourism in Auckland and New Zealand generally.’ Tiritiri is listed as one of four such places.

We welcome visitors to the Island, not only for their financial contributions, but also because some of ‘them’ will become some of 'us’, joining the Supporters and volunteering as guides, wildlife managers and even chairpersons! As a small Island, we need to be careful about overcrowding in the peak summer period, but more winter visitors would be most welcome.

When the draft CMS was published for consultation it con-tained a number of specific policies for the Island, including the introduction of a seven-days-a-week ferry service, a scheduled he-licopter service and an increase in overnight visitor numbers from 20 to 50. We made strenuous objections to these proposals and the first two have been dropped from the final version of the document. We remain of the opinion that allowing 50 overnight visitors risks excessive disturbance to nocturnal wildlife.

The CMS is a substantial document and lists objectives and pol-icies for a wide range of sites in the Auckland region. In these days of budget cuts it seems unlikely that DOC could undertake all the work listed and that is recognised by their determination to support the efforts of community groups and to enlist the financial support of commercial organisations. I can only foresee an ever-increasing need for financial and volunteer input from the Supporters to en-sure a successful future for Tiritiri Matangi. There remains much to be done and I encourage all our Supporters to keep up their good work. John Stewart

From the chair

DOC revises its strategyfor Tiritiri

SAFE AT LAST (above): A juvenile kiwi gets a check-up; (below) an adult kiwi feeds in the safety of the area protected by the Whakaangi Trust.


Kiwi may be under threat in the wild but in the Far North brown kiwi are flourishing under the protection of a predator control programme run by a team of professional trappers employed by the Whakaangi Landcare Trust and funded by donations and grants.

The area under the Trust's control at the moment is over 1,346ha of thick bush which contains a very high concentration of kiwi and is in fact the home of the northernmost brown kiwi population.

Situated on the Hihi Peninsula, bounded by Berghan Point, Hihi Subdivision and Taemaro Bay, this area of thick bush has the advantage of being sealable at one end, where the bush meets the farm land, and it is here that a concentrated bait station line has been established to prevent re-invasions of predators. The other boundaries are protected by the sea.

The project originated 14 years ago when a group of around 20 landowners formed the Whakaangi Landcare Group and pooled their funds to tackle the huge possum, stoat, pig, rat and feral cat problem that existed on their properties.

Eventually this group managed to obtain outside funding and become a legal entity. The Trust was formed three years later and now has eight trustees, four operational officers, two contract trappers and is controlled by a well-respected professional advisor, a national expert on kiwi.

Under the Trust the pest-control operation has been re-organised, with rigid seasonal programmes put in place, and this new approach has paid rapid dividends. Within 18 months an estimated 10,000 possums were removed, most pigs within the area were destroyed and the stoat and rat population was reduced significantly.

Three years later, the situation was even better, with most predators removed or under control, giving the kiwi juveniles a brighter future to look forward to.

But it is not just kiwi that have benefitted. Other bird species have flourished and the flora, from burly pohutukawa to small native plants, has recovered in spectacular fashion and growth rates are now impressive.

The area now has the highest concentration of kiwi to land area in New Zealand and Whakaangi hopes to expand its operations and eventually to repopulate other areas in the north.

The Trust is now involving volunteers from its local community and also operates an advocacy programme visiting schools and community groups in the Far North area. The longterm aim is to educate younger generations so they can become involved in the project and allow the Trust's efforts to continue into the future.

The Trust is now also looking at getting involved with eco-tourism as a way of both generating income and getting its message across to a wider audience.

Overall, the Whakaangi Landcare Trust has a bright and exciting future. It has demonstrated that a group of concerned private landowners can get together, become organized, seek and receive the best professional help available, convince through their enthusiasm various funding sources to provide financial backing, and then run an extremely high standard project to help reverse the decline of kiwi in New Zealand in their local area. It's an example that should inspire other areas of the country to do the same.

You can find out more about the Whakaangi Landcare Trust at www.whakaangi.co.nz or email Colin Salt at [email protected]

The Big Picture

The northernmost home of the brown kiwiThe brown kiwi continues to have a home in the Far North, on the Hihi Peninsula, thanks to 14 years of work by landowners, volunteers and a team of expert trappers, writes Colin Salt.

HOME SWEET HOME: A brown kiwi secure in its burrow at Whakaangi. Photos / Whakaangi Landcare Trust

FILM STAR: The paparazzi gather as a kiwi is released by DOC ranger Pete Graham.

EDUCATION: The Trust's head trapper, Terry Higginson, gives a trapping demonstration during a school visit.


The breeding season is almost over, and it’s been an unusual one for at least four of our bird species – hihi, kokako, bellbird and saddleback – all of which started about a month later than last year. It’s been a busy season of reptile monitoring, plus our first ever translocation of reptiles off the Island.

TakaheIt’s another one-chick season for our takahe, Te Mingi and Cheesecake being our only successful breeders.

We had high hopes when our two young males, Turutu and Ranfurly, paired up with our two most experienced females, Mahuika and Edge respectively, but all the eggs turned out to be infertile. It often takes new pairs some time to get going, so maybe next season.

Meanwhile, Te Mingi, Cheesecake, their chick and elder son Pukekohe are seen

frequently around the Visitor Centre and lighthouse area. Anatori and Nohoa are on their own and seen from time to time, Nohoa around the centre of the Island and Anatori near the bunkhouse.

KokakoIt seems the success of last season will not be repeated this year. Most pairs started nesting late, and at least four nests so far have been predated, presumably by harriers. By the beginning of February, just three chicks had fledged, one of whom seems to have since disappeared, and three had died before fledging, having failed to develop. Perhaps the dry conditions made it difficult for parents to find protein for their nestlings. Happily, three chicks banded on 30 January were all healthy and developing well.

Of the seven young females from 2013-

14, three have already paired up with slightly older males, and one of these, Mere, nested but failed to produce chicks (as young birds often do). She is following a family tradition; her sisters Rehu, Terewai and Rangikata all nested unsuccessfully in their first season, and her other sister, Lucky, is one of our most enthusiastic and productive breeders.

HihiThe hihi breeding season will most likely produce the lowest number of new fledglings for over a decade. Fewer females bred than in recent years, and these were less productive than normal. Nevertheless, new fledglings from all across the Island are out and about and should become increasingly visible over the next few months.

Many adults can now be seen wearing their brand-new PIT-tag-embedded leg bands. These will allow them to be wirelessly recorded and identified by special readers which can be, for example, mounted on feeding stations and provide full and accurate survey data.

PhD student Victoria Franks arrived in January and will be using this wonderful new technology to provide greater insight into hihi social behaviour. In particular, she says, 'I am interested in investigating the relationships that juveniles form when in groups during their first stages of independent life, and how these affect the way they learn new survival behaviours. PIT tag readings at feeders will allow me to do this on a scale that would not be possible by observation alone.

'Ultimately, I hope that this will add another piece to the puzzle when assessing the best ways to promote hihi survival. It’s also going to be a really interesting project and I can’t wait to get started!'

Victoria notes that the tags could also potentially be used to exclude non-band-wearing bellbirds, 'who currently dominate hihi and consume a substantial amount of sugar water' from hihi feeders.

Donal Smith, who has done an excellent job as hihi researcher for the past two seasons, as well as charming visitors to the bunkhouse with his Irish blarney, left in early February though he may be back next season. The equally delightful Rachel Shepherd, who assisted him this season, was due to head back to England at the end of March.

SaddlebackThe birds in the study areas have been leading us round in circles as we follow them

Fauna Notes

Unusual breeding season almost overA late start to the breeding season for several bird species, and predation of a number of kokako nests, have made this a rather different season from the previous one.

NEWLY FLEDGED:

Phantom and Te Hari's chick

Sapphire enjoys a

first taste of independence.

Sadly, this fledgling

has since disappeared.

Photo / Geoff Beals


BUSY SEASON (clockwise, from top left): A PIT tag is fitted on to a hihi chick; hihi researcher Donal Smith looks on as Rachel Shepherd measures a chick; saddleback chicks in a nest box; a moko skink is caught in a trap as part of the project to transfer skinks from Tiritiri to Rotoroa Island. Photos / Jim Eagles, John Stewart, Roger Bray

trying to find their nests, and we’ve had to conclude that, like kokako and hihi, many of them started late, some not until well into December.

Breeding has also been slow to get under way in the nest boxes, with just 25 chicks banded in boxes by the end of January (last year’s equivalent figure was 38).

It is tempting to speculate about the reasons. The females need to get themselves

in good condition in preparation for nesting, and perhaps some important components of their diet have been in short supply this year.

RiflemanThe sixth breeding season is now complete and at least 26 pairs have been identified (compared with 21 last year). Many of those bred, both in boxes and in natural locations. One adventurous pair successfully fledged chicks from a nest in a hihi box and another in a saddleback box. Juveniles are now dispersing and have recently been seen in both Wattle and Little Wattle Valleys.

BellbirdThe breeding season got off to a slow start for the bellbirds. The storms in December took a particular toll with some of their nests be-ing blown out of the trees. As a result, many pairs had a hectic start to the New Year as they made a late dash to get a chance at fledging chicks.

ReptilesReptiles received a lot of attention during the spring and summer. A survey of tuatara took place in November and provided an opportu-nity for several volunteers to be involved. The survey went well and results are summarised in a separate article (see pages 8-9).

Manu Barry and her team of volunteers surveyed the Duvaucel’s geckos in November. Twenty-eight were caught, all in superb body condition. Most were at the 2006 release site but geckos were captured at or near all three of the 2013 release sites.

Shore skinks were surveyed in January for the first time in two years. Seven skinks were

caught, two of which were gravid. This is few-er than we’d hoped for; 11 had been caught in 2013 and nine on the previous two occasions.

The habitat was slightly different this year. In previous years some skinks have been found under patches of seaweed on the beach, but there was less seaweed this year, which might explain why more were found in the grassy areas. Perhaps the severe winter storms with easterly winds have taken their toll on our shore skinks and their habitat.

January also saw the first ever transloca-tion of reptiles off the Island. Fifty-nine moko skinks were caught by a team from Auckland Zoo, with contributions from our shore skink survey team, and have been released on Ro-toroa Island as part of its restoration pro-gramme.Compiled by Kay Milton; information supplied by Morag Fordham, Victoria Franks, Simon Fordham, Roger Bray, Alison Bray, Donal Smith, Michelle Roper and Manu Barry


Flora Notes

Our friendly forest giant with the prickly leaves, useful bark and sweet, juicy fruit

Warren Brewer reports on one of New Zealand's largest and most useful trees, the mighty totara, good examples of which can be found on Tiritiri Matangi . . . though they still have some growing to do.

Totara (Podocarpus totara) occurs throughout New Zealand, extending as far south as Stew-art Island. It is one of the giants of lowland forests, growing up to 30m tall with trunks 3m in diameter.

On Tiritiri Matangi we have some mature trees, the largest example being about 10m tall with a basal diameter of 80cm. It is associated with another tree of around 30cm diameter and several saplings 4-6m tall. These trees are in the Bush 1 forest adjacent to the aptly named Totara Track. A few saplings and many seedlings occur in other forested areas.

Totara is classified as a conifer (meaning cone-bearing). It is dioecious, with male and female cones on separate trees. Male pollen cones (1-2cm long) appear in spring either sin-gly or in clusters and pollen is released as the cones ripen in late spring.

The seed cones in female trees occur singly on a leafless stalk. As a seed matures this basal green stalk swells to form a pale red fleshy re-ceptacle. This makes a reward for visiting birds as they also swallow the attached seed along with the juicy receptacle. Maori also gathered this succulent fruit.

Totara leaves are narrow and pointed, mak-ing them prickly to touch. The name totara is said to mean ‘prickly’.

Totara bark is very distinctive, being thick, furrowed and stringy. It can be separated in narrow strips which could be woven into food baskets. It was also used as thatching for dwell-ings and for making fire.

Maori valued the timber in totara trees as it has an attractive reddish-brown straight grain, splits readily and, once dry, its heartwood is very stable. The timber is easily worked, dura-ble and lasts indefinitely in above-ground use. It is also long lasting in saltwater.

Maori used it to build the outer defences and inner dwellings of pa sites and with green-stone and obsidian adzes they shaped ocean-going canoes from whole trunks. European settlers used totara timber for post and batten fencing, house piles, telegraph poles, sleepers, marine piles, shingles, sashes and doors.

The genus Podocarpus has about 82 species of trees and shrubs which are spread through-

A NOBLE TREE: Elegant

saplings in Bush 1 (above);

typical stringy bark on a

mature totara also in Bush 1

(right).Photos /

Warren Brewer


out the tropics and sub-tropics and further south into temperate regions. New Zealand has four endemic species, one of which, snow totara (Podocarpus nivalis), is a prostrate alpine shrub. Podocarpus means foot fruit, referring to the fleshy receptacle supporting the seed. Nivalis means growing at altitude.

The Maori name totara is derived from a Proto Oceanic word for spines and many Central Eastern Polynesian languages use it

as a name for a porcupine fish (which is called koputotara by Maori). All New Zealand plants bearing the name totara have narrow pointed leaves resembling the exterior of a porcupine fish. In New Zealand totara refers to a magnif-icent forest tree with prickly leaves. Patotara is the name of a prickly-leaved prostrate shrub (Leucopogon fraseri).

Metaphorically, totara is also used to refer to a noble or highly esteemed person.

SUCCULENT (above): Prickly totara leaves flank a cluster of ripening male cones; (below) a female bright yellow cone is almost ripe enough to eat.

Photos / Warren Brewer

Graham Turbott, a key figure in our under-standing of New Zealand’s native species, who played an important role in the Tiritiri Matan-gi project, died just before Christmas aged 100.

Graham was probably best known for his association with the Auckland Museum, where he worked for 35 years, 15 of them as director, until his retirement in 1979. He was the last surviving foundation member of the OSNZ, was its president 1949-52 and became a fellow of the society in 1997.

Over the years he was author or co-author of several important books on New Zealand birds, including New Zealand Birdlife (1947) and the Collins Guide to the Birds of New Zea-land (1981)

He was awarded the QSO in 1977 and is also commemorated in the names of several insect species he was involved in identifying (eg Dicyrtomina turbotti) and in Lake Turbott on Adams Island, the largest of the Auckland Islands.

Graham was an early supporter of plans to re-afforest Tiritiri, took part in the initial discussions, assisted greatly in gaining official support and in 1983 chaired the special sub-committee of the Hauraki Gulf Maritime Park Board set up to manage the Island.

In his foreword to Anne Rimmer’s Tiritiri Matangi: a model of conservation, he observed, ‘The Tiri phenomenon has greatly helped the New Zealand conservation movement. . . So much has the success of the scheme caught the public imagination that Tiri has become a symbol, throughout New Zealand, of hope for all attempting to preserve or restore our ever-dwindling remnants of native habitat.’

MR MUSEUM: Graham Turbott

Obituary

A friend to Tiritiri and to all NZ's native birds


Hi guys, How great is it to see Tiri getting bigger and bigger on the horizon every time you visit! Show the little penguin the way through the waves and make sure she makes it safely to the island. Have fun, Jo

Hand this to your kids – or pass it on to someone else’s kids – to enjoy a range of activities about

Tiritiri Matangi Island


Day trips: 360 Discovery runs a return ferry service every Wednesday through Sunday from Downtown Auckland and the Gulf Harbour Marina. Bookings are essential. Phone 0800 360 347 or visit www.360discovery.co.nz. Call 09 916 2241 after 7am on the day to confirm the vessel is running.

School and tertiary institution visits: The Tiritiri education programme covers from level 1 (5-year-olds), to level 13 (17-18-year-olds), to tertiary students. The focus in the primary and secondary areas is on delivering the required Nature of Science and Living World objectives from the NZ Science Curriculum. At the senior biology level there are a number of NCEA Achievement Standards where support material and presentations are available. For senior students the Sustainability (EFS) Achievement Standards are now available on the NZQA website. There is huge potential here in that these standards relate directly to Tiritiri, are cross-curricular and may be used in various subject areas: science, economics, tourism, geography, religious education, marketing, health and physical education. The Island also provides a superb environment for creative writing and art

Supporters of Tiritiri MatangiDawn Chorus is the quarterly newsletter of the Supporters of Tiritiri Matangi (SoTM). We are a volunteer incorporated society working closely with the Department of Conservation to make the most of the wonderful conservation restoration project that is Tiritiri Matangi. Every year volunteers put thousands of hours into the project and raise funds through membership, guiding and our Island-based gift shop.For further information see www.tiritirimatangi.org.nzor contact P O Box 90-814 Victoria St West, Auckland

SoTM CommitteeChairperson: John [email protected] 428 4541Secretary: Georgina [email protected]: Kevin VaughanCommittee: Roger Bray, Helen Bucksey, Brian Chandler, Hester Cooper, Simon Fordham, Carl Hayson, Peter Lee, Ray Walter, Linda Worth

Guiding and shop manager: Mary-Ann [email protected] 476 0010

Membership: Annette and Malcolm de [email protected] 817 9964

Educator: Barbara [email protected]

Fundraiser: Vincent [email protected]

Dawn Chorus editor: Jim [email protected] 445 2444

Island rangers: Dave Jenkins and Jason [email protected] 476 0920

workshops. For tertiary students there is an opportunity to learn about the tools of conservation and to familiarise themselves with population genetics. Groups wishing to visit Tiritiri Matangi should go to www.tiritirimatangi.org.nz/schoolvisits.htm or contact [email protected]. Bookings are essential.

Overnight visits: Camping is not permitted but there is limited bunkhouse accommodation. Bookings are essential. For information on booking overnight visits, go to: www.doc.govt.nz/tiritiribunkhouse. Bookings can also be made by phoning the Department of Conservation's Warkworth Area Office on 09 425 7812, though an additional booking fee will apply.

Supporters' discount: Volunteers who are undertaking official SoTM work can obtain accommodation free but this must be booked through the Guiding and Shop Manager at [email protected] or 09 476 0010. SoTM members visiting privately can get a discounted rate by booking through DOC's Warkworth Area Office 09 425 7812.

Coming Events 7 March

Something To Sing About: The Tiritiri Matangi Concert. There will be two ferries that day and to come to the concert you must book the

1pm ferry from Downtown Auckland, going via Gulf Harbour at 1.45pm; departing Tiritiri at 8pm. The cost is the ferry fare plus $25 to be paid

at the time of booking with 360 Discovery.

15 MarchTiritiri Historic Open Day with the lighthouse open and the foghorn

blasting. Book your ferry with 360 Discovery. Bookings for lighthouse tours will be taken on the Island on the day.

15 MarchSpecialist photographic walk.

22 MarchSpecialist ornithological walk.

23 March7.30pm Supporters' Social at the Kohia Centre. Speaker to be

announced. Please check the website.

29 MarchSpecialist photographic walk.

5 AprilSpecialist ornithological walk.

3-6 AprilEaster Working Weekend.

12 AprilSpecialist photographic walk.

19 AprilSpecialist photographic walk.

9-10 MaySupporters' Weekend

30 May-1 JuneQueen's Birthday Working Weekend

Supporters' Weekends are led by guides who will show off the Island's special places. Reduced price on the ferry and half price in the

bunkhouse. Children welcome.

Working Weekends are your chance to give the Island a hand. Travel is free, as is accommodation in the bunkhouse. Book through

[email protected]

Specialist walks are for small groups and are led by experts. They cost $25 and must be booked via [email protected]

Visiting Tiritiri Matangi for education or recreation

Supporters of Tiritiri MatangiPO Box 90 814Victoria Street WestAuckland 1142

New Zealand Permit No. 243683

For more information see www.tiritirimatangi.org.nz ring 09 476 0010 or email [email protected]

Specially recommended by the birdsLeave the hustle and hassle

behind. Spend a day on Tiritiri Matangi Island, see

the wonderful birds and the tranquil forest, enjoy free

tea and coffee, buy unique gifts for your loved ones, and support a wonderful conservation project. Our amazing range of goodies

includes nature books, ceramics, bags, puzzles,

jewellery, soft toys, works of art, special t-shirts and so

much more.

If you still haven't bought a souvenir of the historic 150th birthday of New Zealand's oldest working lighthouse then get in quick. There are still a few commemorative whisky glasses engraved with the 150th logo for $25 each.Men's tees at $36 and women's threequarter sleeve tees at $48 are selling fast.

Fridge magnets with the logo and pictures of the lighthouse only $2.50.

Don't delay placing your orders as stock will be limited.

Lighthouse birthday souvenirs

Our Metal Birds look so great silhouetted against the sky that even the real birds flock to have a look. Only $64. And remember, rust is natural, just mother earth reclaiming what's hers.

dawn chorus - home - tiritiri matangi project chorus/dawn chorus 100.pdf · 2 dawn chorus 100...

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