Jamie McAulay talking about Kiwi
Last night’s guest speaker was Jamie McAulay, son of President-elect Bill, who Zoomed in from his home in Te Anau.
Jamie works for DoC as a Biodiversity ranger, a job that he thoroughly enjoys. It involves a lot of fieldwork in remote parts of Fiordland, in rugged bush country. The mission is to ‘save the iconic kiwi’ and the target is a 2% annual growth in the kiwi population.
This is proving difficult because of predation, mainly by the dreaded stoat. In fact, over the last three years, none of the kiwi chicks hatched in Jamie’s area of study have survived.
Jamie’s team uses tiny radio transmitters and trail cameras to keep track of adult and young kiwis, and the stoats, possums, and keas that harass them.
Chicks hatch around August after 80 days incubation, but can’t defend themselves until they are 20 weeks old.
The solution is predator control. Trapping is not viable in such steep country, but 1080 poison drops are effective when the weather allows. These are done by helicopters using GPS for targeting.
Poll: Is dumping an issue in your neighbourhood?
There's nothing worse than strolling around the streets in your neighbourhood and seeing dumped rubbish.
Have you noticed this in your area? What could we do to combat this around the country?
-
43.5% Yes, I've seen some illegal dumping
-
56% No, our neighbourhood is pretty good
-
0.6% Other - I'll share below
This one was sent in by your fellow neighbour, can you figure it out?
What is first white then red and the plumper it gets the more the old lady likes it?
Do you think you know the answer to our daily riddle? Don't spoil it for your neighbours! Simply 'Like' this post and we'll post the answer in the comments below at 2pm.
Want to stop seeing riddles in your newsfeed?
Head here and hover on the Following button on the top right of the page (and it will show Unfollow) and then click it. If it is giving you the option to Follow, then you've successfully unfollowed the Riddles page.
Neighbourly challenge: Who can solve the daily riddle?
I have a crown but am not a king.
I'm prickly on the outside but sweet within.
What am I?
Do you think you know the answer to our daily riddle? Don't spoil it for your neighbours! Simply 'Like' this post and we'll post the answer in the comments below at 2pm.
Want to stop seeing riddles in your newsfeed?
Head here and hover on the Following button on the top right of the page (and it will show Unfollow) and then click it. If it is giving you the option to Follow, then you've successfully unfollowed the Riddles page.
Loading…
