This is a short announcement.
I posted three new and very beautiful high-resolution photos in the Free Wallpapers Download section. These photos were submitted by Markus Baumann.
Markus is a graphic designer and photographer. He has a stock of many great photos divided into several categories such as Sky, Water, Mountains, Plants, Animals, and much more.
Hello Everybody!
I am happy to announce that there is a new section at NZTramping!
I created a special place where I will put beautiful photographs from New Zealand in high resolution, which everyone will be able to download and use as personal wallpaper for free. I will regularly upload new photographs to this place so come visit often to see what is new there.
DOC personnel was very surprised when they found twenty eight Okarito brown kiwi eggs at the Okarito kiwi zone this spring. Last year they collected only three!
The reason that DOC are collecting these eggs is that Okarito brown kiwi (rowi), which is by the way rarest kiwi species in the world, is considered to be almost extinct with only three hundred birds left. So DOC personnel is collecting the eggs to hatch in protected area.
But the fact that more eggs were found this year means that kiwis are breeding increasingly themselves, and this is very encouraging. It may havehappened due to a mild winter.
Rowi breeding season started in late July, and will probably run until January-February, which leaves enough time for more eggs and chicks.
DOC staff were monitoring thirty five new birds that were caught during winter and about seventy pairs now have transmitters. Last year there were only 45 pairs.
The transmitters are attached to the birds legs, and they send out a sequence of 15 distinct sets of beeps. Rangers can detect these signals with the help of special receivers. If the received signal shows that kiwi doesn’t move then it is likely that it had laid an egg and now incubating it.
I really hope that rowi will continue breeding and their numbers will increase with years to come.
These news are very exciting for all Kiwi fans of New Zealand. For the first time in ten years (!) North Island Brown Kiwi was found in the Opuiaki Forest, which is located near Tauranga. In the DOC they think that the birds are even breeding! DOC ranger Lance Dew and his dog Jet (which was especially trained to track Kiwis) found a pair of brown Kiwis in the Opuiaki’s dense native bush after spending 9 hard nights following their scent. The found kiwis have been tagged with radio transmitters and from now on they will be monitored by the DOC.
These discovered kiwis are one of the signs that animal pest control in the Ouiaki Ecological Area is working, and probably not only kiwi will benefit from it, but also other endangered species of native plants and animals such as kokako kaka and others.
