Category Archives: Breeding

• Newsletter #43 15 January 2019

  Posted on January 15, 2019 by riveraid in ARRG, Ashley, Awards and funding, banded dotterel, bird survey, Black-backed gull, Breeding, Department of Conservation, DOC, ECan, Fresh water management, kaki /black stilt, migration, Newsletters, Reports, Waimakariri, wrybill

  Tēnā koutou, Happy New Year-of-the-Wrybill and welcome back to those of you who were taking a break. Braided Rivers Seminar 2019 As I mentioned in the last newsletter, thanks to funding from ECan, we are hosting full-day Braided Rivers Seminar at Lincoln University Wednesday 26 June. While we don’t yet have a final programme in […]

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  Linking science and management for effective long-term conservation: A case study of black-fronted terns/tarapirohe (Chlidonias albostriatus)

  Posted on November 26, 2018 by riveraid in Black-backed gull, black-fronted terns, Breeding, Canterbury Water Management Strategy, Ecology, genetic, Lower Waitaki, pest weeds, population trends, Waitaki, weeds

  Ann-Kathrin Schlesselmann has been researching the genetics of black-fronted terns/tarapirohe for the past few years for her PhD thesis. Her findings represents a signficant breakthrough on several levels, and a clear signal that we have to start managing South Island rivers as interlinked rather than isolated systems. Ann-Kathrin summarises her findings below: “In a nutshell, […]

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  Toolkit for assessing the natural character of braided rivers

  Posted on July 25, 2018 by riveraid in Breeding, Canterbury Water Management Strategy, ECan, Reports, Research

  This long-overdue tool will better enable the assessment of the existing character of braided rivers (and sections of braided rivers) and the degree to which they can be regarded as ‘natural’. Written by Duncan Gray, it’s an easy to follow ECan Technical Report that includes clear criteria and working examples (see one of the images […]

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  BRaid Newsletter #37: 08 April 2018

  Posted on April 8, 2018 by riveraid in banded dotterel, bird survey, Black-billed gull, black-fronted terns, Breeding, Clarence River, Ecology, gene editing, genetic, Lower Waitaki, Newsletters, pest mammals, Reports, Research, seabirds, trapping, traps, wrybill

  Greetings, At our last meeting in February, Ailsa’s Howard’s presentation on the use of ‘nesting cages’ on South Bay, Kaikoura, was impressive, to say the least. This method is proving to be a highly successful technique for saving nesting dotterels, with the added social engagement benefit of placing emphasis on ‘saving’ birds rather than ‘killing’ […]

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  A quick guide to creating bird nesting islands

  Posted on April 7, 2018 by riveraid in black-fronted terns, Breeding, Clarence River, Ecology, Lower Waitaki, pest weeds, Reports, Research, Waitaki, weeds

  Braided rivers are home to a number of our special native birds, and they need some help! Creating islands in the river where birds can nest is one way we can help reverse the decline of birds like the wrybill, black billed gull and black fronted terns. Several project to test the optimal size and […]

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  Braided River Newsletter #29: 06 March 2017

  Posted on March 6, 2017 by riveraid in ARRG, Awards and funding, biology, Breeding, community partnerships, Ecology, Newsletters, Orari, Wilberforce River

  Greetings, Thanks to everyone who pointed out the dozens (in fact hundreds) of broken links from our website to documents and pages that vanished when ECan rebuilt their website. It was an opportunity to update and restructure BRaid’s website. If you come across any errors that slipped through, I would appreciate it if you could […]

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  Ashley River Update – January, 2017

  Posted on February 3, 2017 by riveraid in Ashley, Black-billed gull, black-fronted terns, Breeding, pest weeds, trapping, traps, Trustpower

  Down on the river Birds Being the wet summer that it has, river flows have been good this season, but it is not the same with bird numbers and breeding success. As stated in the December Update, annual survey numbers were well down on previous years, and breeding success was similar. Our 8 wrybill pairs […]

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  Braided River Newsletter #26: 21 December

  Posted on December 21, 2016 by riveraid in Ashley, Black-billed gull, black-fronted terns, Breeding, Education, Lower Waitaki, Newsletters, Waitaki, wrybill

  Merry Christmas everyone. Firstly, a big thank you for your support this year. I’ll keep this brief as I know your email inboxes will be jammed with end-of-year missives. I will be away from Friday 23 December until the end of January. If I manage to snap a few photos of Iceland’s braided rivers, I’ll […]

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  Chicks on a Farm

  Posted on December 21, 2016 by riveraid in Black-billed gull, Breeding

  Black-billed gull colony on dairy farm alongside the Ashley-Rakahuri River (Story and video on Stuff) Most of the world’s gull species are associated with marine coastal environments. Not so NZ’s black-billed gull. This endemic species is an inland specialist, which usually breeds on our braided rivers, particularly in eastern and southern parts of the country. […]

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  Waimakariri River update October 31, 2016

  Posted on November 24, 2016 by riveraid in Black-billed gull, Breeding, ECan, Research, Waimakariri

  We are off to a slow start in terms of braided river bird breeding in the lower Waimakariri River. There are no settled black-billed gull colonies to report just yet, although one looks pretty close to being established out from “Dixons Bay” on the north bank (McLeans Island is directly opposite on the south bank […]

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  Lower Waimakariri River Nov 2016 aerial survey

  Posted on November 24, 2016 by riveraid in bird survey, Black-billed gull, Breeding, ECan, Waimakariri

  A big thank you to Christchurch International Airport, who sponsored the helicopter flight along the Waimakariri River from the river mouth to the gorge. This helps complete the picture of the national survey of critically endangered black-billed gulls currently being undertaken. See if you can spot the black-billed gulls in photos 6-8. It might look […]

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  Ashley River Update: October 2016

  Posted on October 10, 2016 by riveraid in Ashley, bird survey, Breeding, pest weeds, Reports, Research, trapping

  from Nick Ledgard Down on the river It is mid-October, which means the birds are back on the riverbed to start their breeding season. I walk a section of the riverbed every month, and 2 months ago there were only a handful of species present – most of which were introduced. Now all our major […]

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• An open letter to Cat Rescue Christchurch

  Posted on March 10, 2016 by riveraid in Ashley, Black-billed gull, black-fronted terns, Breeding, pest mammals

  An open letter to Cat Rescue Christchurch Dear Cat Rescue It has come to my attention that Cat Rescue has recently conducted a trap/neuter/release (TNR) programme near the Waikuku Beach campground, apparently trapping some eight cats, most of them feral. I wish to express my deep concern about your charity using the TNR method, especially […]

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  Fly safe month in Kaikoura for Hutton’s Shearwater

  Posted on March 3, 2016 by riveraid in Breeding, Events Comments Off on Fly safe month in Kaikoura for Hutton’s Shearwater Continue Reading...
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  Braid Newsletter #17: 22 February

  Posted on February 22, 2016 by riveraid in Black-billed gull, black-fronted terns, Breeding, Clarence River, Lower Waitaki, Newsletters, pest mammals

  Hello all, This is a reminder that the next BRaid meeting is this coming Friday 26 February at 2.20pm, not 1.00pm, at DOC offices, Nga Mai Rd. Sockburn. We will be holding a manager’s meeting at 1.00pm, prior to the general meeting. I will be sending the agenda and last meeting’s minutes to all members […]

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• Ferrets and feral cats decimating black-fronted terns on the Clarence River

  Posted on February 10, 2016 by riveraid in black-fronted terns, Breeding, Clarence River, DOC, ECan, Funding, pest mammals

  From Wildlife Management International Ltd: This video shows how one of the largest colonies of black-fronted tern colonies in the Acheron and Clarence River are under attack. Here, the stoat is killing an adult tern on the nest. The stoat didn’t even eat the bird, just killed it and moved on to another nest. When […]

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  A glorious day on the Waitaki rivermouth

  Posted on February 9, 2016 by riveraid in Black-billed gull, black-fronted terns, Breeding, Waitaki

  From Ann-Kathrin Schlesselmann It was a stunner day down here and I used the opportunity to go out to the Waitaki river mouth. The bar is full of birdlife starting with banded dotterels, oystercatchers, red-billed gulls, black-billed gulls, white-fronted tern, shags and black-back gulls. There is a massive colony of white-fronted terns (more than 500 […]

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  Update on black-fronted tern project in the Lower Waitaki

  Posted on February 8, 2016 by riveraid in bird survey, black-fronted terns, Breeding, ECan, Lower Waitaki, Reports, Research, traps

  From Ann-Kathrin Schlesselmann, Otago University After kick-starting the tern island project in the Lower Waitaki in October, we have now finished our monitoring for this breeding season. The aim of this project is to find alternative ways to improve the breeding success of black-fronted terns and other braided river birds by improving the breeding habitat […]

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  Ashburton black-billed gulls update

  Posted on January 26, 2016 by riveraid in Ashburton, bird survey, Black-billed gull, Breeding, pest weeds

  In early October 2015, a group of hardy volunteers braced themselves against a wild nor’wester to clear an area near the SH1 bridge at Ashburton, so that critically endangered black-billed gulls might have a fighting chance to raise a few chicks. Around 3,000 birds had settled nearby, but invasive weeds including  willows and lupins has […]

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  Jet-boaters helping black-fronted terns on the lower Waitaki

  Posted on December 14, 2015 by riveraid in black-fronted terns, Breeding, community partnerships, Department of Conservation, Lower Waitaki

  With the help of NZ Jetboating, the Lower Waitaki black-fronted tern project started in October this year is progressing well.  The group are currently monitoring 3 black-fronted  colonies (70 nests) and predators on 15 islands.  Checking the site every 10-12 days, the group have seen 5 fledglings, one colony fail, and a colony partially fail […]

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