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Harrier Hawk Release
11th June 2008

A Harrier Hawk was brought into the Centre in the early evening on 10th June 2008. The bird was found on a driveway, barely standing and very disorientated. By the time the bird arrived at the Centre it could hardly move. A quick check over of the bird did not reveal any broken bones, so the bird was left to rest on a soft warm bed of shredded paper for the night. Robert Webb thought that the bird might not make it through the night as his condition seemed to be deteriorating as he watched over him.

Wow, what a fighter, the volunteers came in the following morning to find the bird very much alive and not at all happy that he was stuck inside a brooder box. The bird would jump up at the slightest noise throwing himself at the netting cover damaging his feathers. A quick look over by Robert and a flight test around the room showed that the Harrier Hawk was ready to go. An amazing outcome considering his condition the night before. As the bird had come in from the local area so it was alright to release him from the Centre. The photographs show the release from the deck at the Centre.

Close up of the Harrier Hawk

Robert Webb holding the Harrier Hawk just prior to release

It is likely that when the bird was found on the driveway that he may have flown into something or taken a glancing blow from a vehicle causing a concussion. Adrenalin probably allowed the bird to fly to the driveway and be rescued by a member of the public. When a bird is injured and on the ground, that is the time that they are very vulnerable to predators such as dogs, cats and stoats.

Harrier Hawk flying free

Juvenile Bittern Tries to Get into the Chook House
January 2008

“The neighbour phoned me to come over and have a look at this strange looking brown and white bird. She said it was trying desperately to get into her chook house!”
Mr & Mrs Gregory rushed next door and immediately recognised the bird as a young Bittern. Bitterns fledge at 7 weeks (approx.), somehow the “teenaged” bird must have got lost and decided that any type of bird was a good bird to hang around with – even the chooks.

Robert Webb feeding the bittern

If I stay still, you can’t see me

The Gregorys’ realised that the bird needed a safe place to go to, as there were dogs and cats around. The Bittern was sure to be caught by one of them if left to its own devices. They picked up the young bird and kept him safe over night and delivered him to the Native Bird Recovery Centre the next morning. There did not seem to be any injuries he just seemed a bit disoriented and he was very hungry.

At first, “Bitty” (his nick name) was very friendly, a quite un-bittern like characteristic. These birds are usually solitary and secretive; they live in wetland areas especially beds of raupo and reeds in freshwater. They young bird was very hungry and we gave him a diet of ox heart, mince, corn kernels’ and peas. Of course being a young bird he ate all the meat and left the greens.

Bitty continued to eat well and changed to have more adult bittern characteristics each day. When ever we moved toward the brooder box he was housed in, Bitty would slowly drop to a crouch also retracting his head down close to his body. When the cover was removed to put his food in or move him so his bed could be cleaned he would then spring or lunge up at us. He would stand to full height and shoot his neck toward us with his sharp beak gaping wide and his feathers all puffed out. Quite a scary thing if you are not expecting it and I’m sure that sharp beak could inflict a nasty wound.

Typical bittern stance to assist camouflage being still is also very important

Bitterns spring up like a “jack in a box” to strike at predators.

Note the binocular vision. Even though the birds head is pointing to the sky it can see what is happening below.

Once Bitty started to exhibit this behaviour regularly and his weight had increased satisfactorily it was time for him to be released. Bitty was released on the18 Jan 2008 at a protected wetland area. He was with us for 9 days, it was a pleasure to see him go home back into the wild.

It wasn’t long before the bird was eating on its own.

Robert Webb with the juvenile bird next to a mounted adult bird.

Raising a Baby Kingfisher

This Kingfisher chick was found on the ground in the bush. We don’t know what happened to the rest of the chicks that would have been in the nest, this was the only one found. Perhaps he was kicked out of the nest early as a “runt”?

2 to 3 wk old kingfisher baby being hand fed.

The bird was probably about 2 to 3 weeks old when he came into the Centre. Kingfisher hatch just about bald and the little feather quill covering grows very rapidly. They are really are a rather funny if not slightly ugly and out of proportion when they hatch, huge beak and tiny feet. It is not very long before the quill coating starts to break and drop off with the help of the bird as it preens to reveal those stunning blue and green feathers.

They are fed on a variety of food until they can feed themselves. They are meat eating birds. This bird grew very rapidly and was able to be released after 4 weeks in care at the Centre. The kingfisher travelled between home and the Centre each day with Robert and Robyn so that they could keep him warm and feed him as often as he required it.

It was interesting to watch the bird after he had had a bath and was sunning himself on the deck handrail. He fluffed up his feathers when the sun was directly on him then flattened them down when he was shaded.

6 wks old

A scratch helps to loosen some of the feather casings

Sunbathing after a bath

Kiwi Hatched and Released

Two Kiwi eggs were brought into the Bayer incubation unit at the Whangarei Native Bird Recovery Centre late in November 2007. A Department of Conservation (DoC) ranger had found the eggs in a lovely kiwi nest made in a hollow punga (tree fern) stump, which extended approx. 60cm above ground. He immediately realised that while the adult kiwi could easily jump in and out of the stump, it was too high for kiwi chicks to jump out of and they would probably starve once they hatched.

The DoC ranger removed the eggs, wrapped them to keep them warm then transferred them to our incubation unit. Robert Webb the Centre manager cleaned and candled the eggs when they arrived and found they were both fertile and one of the eggs was probably only 8 - 10 days away from hatching. Both eggs were placed in the incubator and the waiting process began. Each day the temperature and humidity was checked and recorded.

On the 4 Dec one of the egg shells was “pipped” (cracked by the kiwi chick), the egg hatched on the 6 Dec 2007 and the chick weighed 261gms. The chick was transferred to a heated brooder box where it dried out and slept to recover from the huge effort of hatching. The chick is sustained for the first few days of life by the yolk sac on its tummy which is absorbed through the umbilical cord. Once the chick has fully absorbed the yolk sac it starts to get hungry and look for other food to eat. The parent bird does not have to feed or show the chick what to eat; the chick knows instinctively and forages for itself.

In captivity, a special combination of food with added vitamins and minerals is given. Once the chick starts to eat it puts on weight steadily, and usually, once the chick reaches 450 to 500gms in weight and has passed blood tests it is moved to a sanctuary island. The bird stays in this environment for between 8 to 12 months. The birds are monitored once or twice during this period to check that they are making good progress. Once the bird reaches the weight of approx 1200gms it is then transferred back out into the wild. Usually into an area where sufficient predator controls and trapping are in place to ensure that the bird has a fighting chance of survival.

It is a sad fact that in Northland the average life span of the North Island Brown Kiwi is only 13 years. This is mainly due to predation, and for adult birds in particular, dogs that are not kept under control and allowed to wander. These dogs kill kiwi. It is thought that the actual average life span for kiwi could be as long as 40 to 50 years.

The other egg hatched 23 days later on the 29 Dec 2007, this chick weighed 272gms. The photographs show the release onto Limestone Island sanctuary of this kiwi as well as another young kiwi that was found wandering in the middle of the road during the day following some heavy rain and stormy weather. The lady that stopped to rescue this kiwi kept and eye on his progress and had the pleasure of releasing him at the sanctuary island.

In preparation for release Robert gives the kiwi one last dose of medication and Peter Graham a kiwi ranger for DoC inserts a microchip for easy identification of the bird. Feather samples are also taken for sexing the bird and genealogy details.