Tākoketai in Medlands

LOTTE MCINTYRE (Oruawharo Medlands Ecovision)

At the end of January, Oruawharo Medlands Ecovision (OME) invited Joanna Sim, or Jo Duck as many of you will know her from her time as pāteke ranger on the island, to come to our neck of the woods to search for tākoketai (black petrels) with her seabird trained canines. As we are starting to explore further afield, we find ourselves lacking solid biodiversity information from within our own catchment and this was our first attempt at exploring what the wider Oruawharo area has hidden in the hills.

At the time when Jo was here the weather was absolutely horrendous for bush bashing through the steeper slopes around the ridge between Medlands and Tryphena. In spite of this Jo and her superstar canines managed to get out between showers to undertake a ‘needle in a haystack’ search for these very special birds. Tākoketai breed only on Aotea and Hauturu-o-Toi (Little Barrier), with the main population of around 5000 breeding pairs centred around Hirakimatā. Hauturu only has around 600 breeding pairs and the reason why they are not thriving as well over there, despite that island’s predator free status, is the sheer noise of the tītī (Cook’s petrels), inhibiting the tākoketai from finding their mates when they clack. The ‘clack’ is the call the males make outside their burrows pre-breeding time to attract their often returning mate. Not a bad problem to have, unless you are a tākoketai.

Letting OME committee members join her in her search was such a neat experience and one that will stick with us for a very long time. Observing Jo’s calm and quiet way and watching her dogs Miro and Rua concentrating so hard on the task at hand, was amazing to witness. The first search was around Mount St. Paul’s, where Jo was joined by another member of the OME committee, who just happens to be the owner of a property allowing easier access to the top. Four active burrows were located on this first attempt, which sharpened the interest for the coming days.

Following reports from property owners, who see petrels from time to time, seemingly lost in the flax bushes, we searched near Station Rock on the second attempt, but on that occasion crawled out of the bush, soaking wet and empty handed.

Another route was planned up near Needle Rock, and on that day I was the lucky person to accompany Jo and Miro, whilst Rua had a relaxing day in the ute. Miro looked like he was just strolling through, sniffing butterflies and honey bees, but all of a sudden he froze and pointed. He had such a good day that day with every single indication spot on. He managed to locate five more active burrows, meaning there were birds breeding.

The following day, Jo and young Miro, the two-year-old up-and-coming superstar sniffer dog, did another little search and found an additional two burrows. That made it 11 active burrows identified in total. Considering the conditions and the rather unstructured approach to this first stab at just confirming the presence of tākoketai, this is very exciting news indeed! It means we have another cluster on Aotea, adding to the overall population. It also gives us good reason to explore the possibility of doing a more thorough grid search to see if we can confirm even more birds along the ridge at the top of Oruawharo Bay.

To give you an idea of just how awful the conditions were during her stay, Jo left the island with both mouldy boots and mouldy car boot. She made a big impression on us all and we can’t wait to be able to invite her back to carry out a more thorough body of work.

Later in the year, at the very end of April, I had a chance to spend the weekend with Biz Bell and her team at the top of Hirakimatā, where Biz has been monitoring the tākoketai for close to 30 years. Biz is a seabird ecologist and an island restoration specialist and the Aotea black petrel project is her passion.

We were staying in luxury digs at ‘The Rats Nest’, a DOC research hut on the mountain, and found not a single sign of rats. They must have heard I was coming! The work Biz has done to try and understand the population of birds on the maunga, sees her and/or the team checking almost 500 burrows three times per year.

Yet again, as seems to have been the trend this year, the weather was not exactly favourable for outdoor adventures, but the experience was nonetheless incredible! Covered in mud, dripping from every bit of clothing, we set out to check how many burrows had chicks left in them and band the juvenile birds for future monitoring. The tākoketai chicks fledge in May-early June and their maiden journey takes them on an ocean crossing of the Pacific of over 10,000km to the waters off the coast of Northern South America. Here they will spend their next three to four years. During this time they don’t go to land at all, but rather stay at sea before returning to Aotea. In fact they return to their childhood home, the exact burrow they were hatched in. How they know to do this is way beyond me and has instilled in me some serious adoration for this species.

Tākoketai mate for life, live for about 50 years, and can breed for almost their whole life. In October, the males return to clean out their old burrows and then sit just outside the entrance clacking to attract/call home the females. Peak laying is December and eggs hatch late January to early February. They lay only a single egg which they incubate for 57 days and both parents take turns to feed the chick. When juveniles are growing feathers they sit outside their burrows, flapping, which is when they are most vulnerable to predation.

When searching for food, tākoketai can dive down to a maximum depth of 35 metres, but usually they stay much closer to the surface of the ocean. Less than five metres is the norm, and mostly during the day, which can cause problems with them ending up as bycatch on longlines.

A male bird was recently found just outside the main study area, 35 years after he was first banded as a fluffy chick! He would have returned home but had probably been forced out by his dad still wanting to use his own burrow and decided to find a new home close by, but not quite close enough to be monitored. It was great for Biz and the team to reconnect with an old friend after that long.

Back up on the maunga, the monitoring process requires you to stick your arm down each deep burrow, feeling for a sign of life. I succumbed to the newbie twitch (on more than one occasion) when the bird grabbed hold of my index finger. Not because it hurts, but because it somehow still comes as a surprise that someone is home, despite the very mission of knowing the chance is strong to middling of a bird being in there. Once the petrel has latched onto your finger, you are meant to gently hold onto the beak with the thumb and middle finger and start pulling the little fluff-pot out of its cosy hiding spot. Needless to say, they are not thrilled at the prospect and some of them are noisy, feisty characters. However, the joy of seeing them and getting a chance to hold them can’t be underestimated.

The ground nesting bird burrows, often very inconspicuous, extend deep into the rocks or root systems where they are safer from predators. Feral cats and pigs, prevalent on Aotea, are two of the biggest problems for this species. They are not as sensitive to rat predation, with an estimated 3% loss of eggs or chicks to rats in their worst year. This year was a bit of a sad affair, with many burrows flooded or washed out during Cyclone Gabrielle and the generally wet weather of their nesting season. This has been a less than average year for these birds, with an approximate 50% breeding success.

A couple of fairy tern DOC rangers were part of the Hirakimatā team. They were learning to band birds so they can take that skill back to the terns for monitoring purposes. Other visitors to this banding and advocacy trip included Makere Jenner from Tū Mai Taonga (TMT) and Newsroom’s The Details’ Sharon Brettkelly who was making a series of podcasts about TMT. Well worth a listen: The mahi bringing birdsong back to Aotea’s forests and Banding together to protect Aotea’s precious seabirds.

Biz came straight from her mountain stay to give a presentation on tākoketai at the DOC office in Okiwi. If you would like to see it, and I wholeheartedly recommend you do, please get in touch with Felicitas from Ecology Vision.

The more I learn about these amazing and stunning birds the more it seems to me we should be doing all we can here on Aotea to keep their population strong and thriving. Being one of only two places in the entire world (Aotea and Hauturu), where they choose to breed, they truly are Aotea’s birds and that carries a big responsibility not to be taken lightly.

Every little thing we can do is surely worth it. For instance dimming the lights around areas where the petrels might return from sea just after dusk, to avoid them getting disorientated and getting a bit lost on their way home. This is especially important in April-June when the young birds leave their burrows. Apparently they have a special love for Lister generators due to the sound being quite like the clacking of the males, so keep an eye on your generator shed in case you have inadvertently attracted a broody female! Be careful when driving at night around this time of year when the juveniles are fledging. They have not had a chance to build up sufficient worldly smarts to stay out of trouble. Stormy weather can also be difficult for them and can put them off-course and lead to exhaustion. 

If you do find a lost or injured petrel, or any other bird for that matter, please contact: Karen Walker (Aotea’s bird rescue expert) on 027 205 3197.

As well as the top 1000 ha around Hirakimatā (including Mt Heale, Hog’s Back etc.), there are tākoketai on Coopers Castle, Ruahine, Te Ahumata, Whangaparapara, Mohunga Peninsula, Glenfern, Windy Hill and historically in the Northern Block. Biz suspects there will be a few still there in isolated pockets. There could be others on ridgelines and other isolated spots, as recently discovered in Medlands, so if you suspect you might have tākoketai on your property or know of a place you think they nest, we would love to know about it.

Get in touch with OME: medlandsecovision@gmail.com

Check out their webpage: www.omeaotea.co.nz

Follow them on Facebook: Oruawharo Medlands Ecovision