New Island Managers Farewelled, New Manager Welcomed and AGM

Posted on 02/07/2014 by Bruce

During the April workday on Motuora the chairperson of the Motuora Restoration Society, Ray Lowe farewelled Sian Potier and Toby Shanley, island co:managers since 2012 and welcomed the new manager Vonny Sprey.

Sian & Toby previous Island managers with Ray MRS chairman and Vonny new Island manager

Toby Shanley, Sian Potier, Ray Lowe and Vonny Sprey

Ray Lowe with Sian and Toby after presentation of Raoul Island book

Sian and Toby came to Motuora after honing their conservation skills on Raoul Island in the Kemadecs. Their unique combination of skills enabled them to manage Motuora superbly. The Motuora Restoration Society delights in the accomplishments of these young professionals and the prodigious work that they have done on Motuora. We are sorry to see them leave but wish them well as they continue their conservation work and start a family. In appreciation for their work for the Motuora Restoration Society Ray presented Toby and Sian with a book on Raoul Island and the Kemadecs.

Vonny Sprey the new Motuora Island Manager

Remarkably the Society has managed to employ a new island manager, Vonny Sprey who has also honed her environmental skills on Raoul. Originally from a farming background she has much conservation and outdoors experience. Apart from Raoul and her Turangawaewae—Kapiti Island—her favourite places are Enderby Island and the diving around the Poor Knights but she suspects that Motuora will be added to that list. The Motuora Restoration Society is pleased to welcome another well qualified and capable person as the Manager of Motuora.

The Annual General Meeting of the Motuora Restoration Society was held on May 25th in the Silverdale St Johns Ambulance building. Originally scheduled to take place on Motuora the meeting was transferred to Silverdale because the weather forecast predicted winds that would make landing and leaving the island difficult.

Twenty-two members attended. Kit Brown, Treasurer, presented the Chairperson’s Report as Ray Lowe was unwell. (Click to download pdf copy of Report)

The following members were elected to the Motuora Restoration Society:

Chairperson: Ray Lowe; Treasurer: Lakshmanan Nataraj; Secretary: Kit Brown; Committee Members: Colin Cordes, Les Buckton, Kevin Hawkins, Helen Lindsay, Liz Norquay, Bruce Ross and John Stewart.

At the AGM John Stewart formally thanked Jill Thomas for her 11 years as the Society’s Treasurer. Her vital contribution ensured that the Society’s accounts were diligently and efficiently managed. After a vote of thanks, passed with acclamation Jill was presented with a small gift.

Jill Thomas, Treasurer of Motuora Restoration Society 2002-20014

Stephen Wallace, a masters student at Auckland University, presented the initial findings of his study of the insect population in the newly planted forest compared to established remnant bush on Motuora. This is a follow up study on the work done by Robin Gardner-Gee 10 years ago. Watch this space for a blog by Stephen outlining his findings.

Stephen Wallace presenting at AGM

Apart from farewelling Sian and Toby and welcoming Vonny the 14 volunteers and members worked during the April workday on Motuora to clean the gannet site and decoys, tend to some track clearance and weed nursery seedlings. Below is a gallery of photos taken during the April workday. (Click on each image to see full size)

: Refurbishing the decoys at the gannet nesting site

: John Stewart co:ordinator of Pycroft's petrel translocation contemplating future seabird translocations

: Les Buckton (orginal MRS Chairman) setting up gannet decoy after cleaning

: Ray Lowe with Sian and Toby after presentation of Raoul Island book

: Ray Lowe navigating inflatable dingy to water taxi.

: Vonny Sprey the new Motuora Island Manager

: Toby Shanley, Sian Potier, Ray Lowe and Vonny Sprey

: Kevin Hawkins, Ray Lowe and Vonny Sprey on water taxi leaving Motuora 27/05/14

: Stephen Wallace presenting at AGM

: Jill Thomas, Treasurer of Motuora Restoration Society 2002-20014

: MRS ANNUAL REPORT 2014

Island Minding

Posted on 11/03/2014 by Bruce

Pycroft’s petrel burrows prepared for chicks

Sian and Toby are away on Red Mercury helping with the collection of Pycroft’s Petrel chicks for translocation to Motuora. Later this week some 100 chicks fly by helicopter to specially prepared burrows on Motuora. The chicks are fed by an experienced team of bird feeders until they fledge in about a fortnight. Last year all the 70 Pycroft’s Petrels translocated to Motuora fledged.

While Sian and Toby are away various members of the Motuora Restoration Society volunteer as substitute managers. It was my turn last weekend (7th-9th March). The weather was perfect so the camp ground was full.

Home Bay camp ground full of tents 8th March 2014

Decoy gannets set up 6th June 2010

I didn’t manage to see kiwi this time but did spend some time near the new gannet colony where two juvenile gannets (taakapu) are only days away from fledging. These are the first juveniles to mature on Motuora since the decoys were set up in 2010.

It took me 40 minutes to photograph a juvenile flexing its wings.

Juvenile gannet flexing wings. Only days away from fledging. (2nd juvenile in lower left)

These are large birds with a wing span of about 2 metres and weigh about 2.3 kg. They keep their juvenile plumage for about a year and over 3 years progressively get more white and the distinctive yellow head reaching maturity after 3-4 years.

The Maori name Taakapu comes from taa ‘to strike’ and kapu ‘hand’ which means ‘to strike with hand’ an action that produces a splashing noise a bit like the sound of a taakapu hitting the water.

Gannets dive for fish and often dive vertically from 30 meters so they hit the water at a tremendous speed. Just before they hit the water they fold their wings back over their tail and a third opaque eyelid closes to protect the eye. Inflatable air sacs beneath the skin on their breast and lower neck cushion the entry shock. The image below shows the juvenile practising the backward movement of a wing.

Juvenile gannet stretching wing. When gannets dive they stretch their wings behind them as they enter the water so this is preparation for diving.

It was interesting to watch these young birds as they stood for the hour or more I was at the site as they were constantly grooming and transferring their weight from one large webbed foot to another. It seems they are plucking up courage to fly. No adult birds were present as this was between 2 and 3:30pm. When these juveniles fledge they will most likely end up with other juveniles in the coastal waters of Australia returning when they are mature birds.

Dried up pond March 2014

Motuora is very dry with the water tanks at their lowest since the new tanks were installed. The pond adjacent to the water tanks has dried up and the camp ground has little green grass.

Home Bay camp ground after campers departed, March 9th 2014 (note brown grass)

References

Schofield, Paul & Brent Stephenson (2013) Birds of New Zealand: A Photographic Guide. Auckland University Press pp. 216-217

Heather, Barrie & Hugh Robertson; Illustrated by Derek Onley (2005) A Field Guide to the Birds of New Zealand. Penguin Books. pp.238-239

Photo Gallery

Click on image to see full size

: Pycroft's petrel burrows prepared for chicks

: Home Bay camp ground full of tents

: Juvenile gannet flexing wings. Only days away from fledging

: One of first juvenile gannets to survive on Motuora. Decoys in background.

: Motuora Juvenile gannet waiting to fledge

: Juvenile gannet stretching wing. When gannets dive they stretch their wings behind them as they enter the water so this is preparation for diving.

: Second of two juvenile gannets on Motuora (decoy in foreground)

: Decoy gannets set up 6th June 2010

: Dried up pond March 2014

: Home Bay camp ground after campers departed, March 9th 2014

: Home Bay camp ground after campers departed 9th March 2014

Successful Planting Day

Posted on 28/08/2013 by Bruce

Despite a thunderstorm over Auckland at 5:30am on Sunday morning (25/08/13) 96 people got to Sandspit by 8:00am prepared to plant trees on Motuora. Although cloudy with occasional drizzle the day was calm so the trip to Motuora was smooth and the Kawau Kat was able to nose in to the shore enabling folk to disembark using a gang plank.

Embarking the Kawau Kat to leave Motuora

Ray Lowe, MRS Chairman welcoming volunteers

Before planting began Ray Lowe, MRS Chairman, welcomed the large contingent of Bridgestone workers as well as regular members and members of Forest and Bird who had braved the elements to come and plant trees. He also acknowledged Bridgestone Ltd’s sponsorship of MRS. Bridgestone Ltd have supported the restoration work on Motuora by encouraging their workers to participate in the workdays and recently the Company became an important financial sponsor of the Motuora Restoration Society.

Bill Dyall & Ray Lowe

Bill Dyall, Bridgestone Ltd Corporate Accounts Manager, responded to Ray’s welcome and spoke enthusiastically about the participation of the Bridgestone team in the restoration work before he and Trish Southan, Bridgestone Consumer Business, presented a sign to be mounted on a sign on the potting shed that recognizes MRS sponsors.

Bill Dyall & Trish Southan presenting sign acknowledging Bridgestone’s sponsorship of MRS

After the formalities some 5,000 trees were planted by the 96 volunteers under the able guidance of regular MRS members and volunteers, the group of Forest and Bird Society members present and MRS committee members. Many children also helped with the planting.

Busy planters

Planting was completed before noon so there was ample opportunity for folk to explore the island and see some of the bird life and the bountiful Kowhai and Manuka flowers.

Kowhai planted in 2003

The Motuora Restoration Society is grateful for the support of members and volunteers as we recognise that it is a considerable commitment to travel to Sandspit early on a Sunday morning and contribute to the cost of hiring the ferry to Motuora. MRS subsidises the ferry costs as we want as many people as possible to experience the magic of Motuora.

We hope you will come again.

A gallery of photos from Sunday 25th August 2013:

Click on image to see larger version.

: Bill Dyall & Ray Lowe

: Bill Dyall & Trish Southan presenting sign acknowledging Bridgestone sponsorship

: Happy young planter

: Colin, MRS Committe, with able helper

: Busy planters

: Completed planting!

: Kowhai flowers against grey sky.

: Manuka flowers

: Embarking the Kawau Kat to leave Motuora

: Kowhai planted in 2003

: Ray Lowe, MRS Chairman welcoming volunteers

Pycroft’s Petrel chick feeding

Posted on 01/04/2013 by Toby

Since the arrival of the 70 Pycroft’s petrel chicks three weeks ago efforts have been concentrated on feeding, measuring, and weighing the chicks in preperation for their fledging. Contractor Helen Gummer has been running this side of the translocation from the island, along with the help of volunteers.

The feeding process starts with the blending of a sardine smoothie

The chicks are then collected from their artificial burrows

Ngaire Skelton transports a chick to the feeding shed where the chick is weighed before being fed

The birds are held still by one person while another does the feeding

Kit Brown holds a bird ready to be fed

The chicks are crop fed small amounts of the sardine smoothie every few days. The amounts they are fed depends on their weight and how close they are to fledging.

So far 44 of the 70 chicks have fledged and all the remaining chicks have been out of their burrows at night.

Pycroft’s Petrel – collection and transfer

Posted on 16/03/2013 by LizN

John Stewart with Pycroft’s chick of approximately 5 weeks old

Motuora Restoration Society has just completed a successful transfer of 70 chicks from Red Mercury to Motuora!

The chicks will fledge from Motuora and the hope and desire is that, when these chicks reach adulthood, after spending their first three years at sea, they will return to nest on Motuora and start a new colony there. Pycroft’s petrels have been recorded breeding on a few offshore islands along the east coast of NZ – total population is around 2,000 to 4,000 breeding pairs.

It is important to select only those chicks at an appropriate stage of development for transfer to another location. Like many other burrow-nesting seabirds, this species normally returns to breed at the colony in which it was born. Young birds learn their home location before they fledge and leave the colony for the first time. They are thought to use a range of visual (star maps, local terrain features), odour, sound and possibly magnetic clues to find their way back to the colony. More advanced chicks may already have imprinted on the colony and so cannot be transferred. The removal of less advanced chicks might cause their parents to abandon their burrow for the next year’s breeding and also, it is more difficult to keep younger chicks in good condition at their new home.

For this transfer to Motuora chicks were selected on Red Mercury following Helen Gummer’s guidelines on measurement of weight and wing length as well as an overall health check to maximise their chances of successfully fledging from their new home.

Burrows marked with coloured flagging tape to help the collection team re-identify where chicks selected for transfer are

Vince Waanders carrying chicks to the helicopter landing pad. two chicks are in each box. There is a divider between each bird and the box has plenty of air holes.

Artificial burrows were installed on Motuora months before in preparation.

Boxes being loaded into the helicopter bound for Motuora

The transferred birds will be fed an artificial diet by crop tube until they grow full feathers and take off. A delightful ‘sardine smoothy’ will be given each bird on alterative days, which is their normal feeding pattern, by trained volunteer feeders. The feeders are last in the chain of volunteers overseen by sea bird specialists who have got this project off the ground.

If you’d like to help the project, the Motuora Restoration Society would be delighted to have donations towards the purchase of an outdoor sound system which will be used to broadcast recordings of a Pycroft’s colony every night for years to come. This will encourage the birds to return and nest on the Island.

Liz Norquay, collection team.

Motuora Restoration Society (Inc)

Restoring Flora and Fauna on Motuora Island

Category Archives: Motuora Island