Emus next on the NZ list?

[RussCannings]

Thanks for this report Cardinal. Can you please specify where on the "east coast" this was? Also, by "in a paddock" I assume you mean it was fenced? Was it 2+m emu/deer fencing or just regular fencing? Emus are quite capable if climbing over fences under 6ft high.

Russ

[Cardinal15]

The emu were seen SW of Tikitiki but if you want an exact location, here is a link to the location where they were seen.https://www.google.com/maps/place/37%C2%B048'53.1%22S+178%C2%B022'42.0%22E/@-37.814375,178.3780273,589m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m14!1m7!3m6!1s0x6d72b40b2be27157:0x2160479c8ea96318!2sPacific+Coast+Highway,+Tikitiki!3b1!8m2!3d-37.767495!4d178.3666171!3m5!1s0x0:0x0!7e2!8m2!3d-37.8147565!4d178.3783365
This link shows you the field the emus were on. https://www.google.com/maps/@-37.8145461,178.3778409,3a,75y,102.22h,81.25t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sxA5E5mJt6ZeK3sMBXIkcSA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
Regarding the fence, I think the fence to the west was under 6ft but I have posted close-ups of it to see what other people think about it. The south side is vegetation which was standing between myself and the emus and the east side looks like there is a small fence close to the road if you refer to the second link. as for the north side, I have no idea.
Also what I said about the birds being 'friendly' might be absolutely wrong. If you compare the emus in Whakatane to these birds, the birds in Whakatane were very uninterested when I had a look at them, which probably means they were used to human contact. The emus In East Cape were, as I said beforehand, were actually interested in me and came towards the place I was standing. This could have actually been their defense and therefore seeing whether I was a threat.

DSCN0198b.jpg (206.26 KiB) Viewed 1516 times

DSCN0198a.jpg (130.9 KiB) Viewed 1516 times

[RussCannings]

Appreciate the follow up Cardinal,

These birds are almost surely part of the population in discussion. I suppose the relative wariness of birds is somewhat moot as we can all think of domestic birds/animals that turn away from people or wild birds that are attracted/curious around people. More interesting will be to find out what the size of this population is, how far they range, whether humans are actively involved in any capacity, what their breeding success is like, and where to go next in terms of culling/not-culling, and the ultimate prize of 'ticking' (or not)

Russ

[Brent Stephenson]

I am interested in seeing some more debate on this topic - should Emu be added to the New Zealand list? I ask specifically with regards to adding it to the Wrybill Birding Tour's, NZ list - The 'Official' New Zealand Birder's Checklist which we use for the Birders' Totals page https://wrybill-tours.com/birders-totals/ on our website.

We had some good debate about this on the recent Kermadec trip, but I'd like to hear more discussion from others here on this forum, about whether it should or shouldn't be added to the NZ list and why? And if added, do we put certain geographic boundaries around it - only on the Chathams, only on the Chathams and East Cape, etc. I think it needs to be discussed here so that we can reach some sort of consensus, I doubt there will be 100% agreement, but let's have a discussion.

Look forward to hearing from people on this one,

[FraserGurney]

I'm convinced the emu on the Chathams should go on the list (and not just because I've seen them recently!). Chatting to Mike Bell recently he thinks over the last 30 years their numbers have built up to 80-100 individuals, all completely wild birds breeding with no human assistance. Mike has a write-up on these birds in the works which will be interesting to read.

It sounds like there's a bit more certainty with these birds vs those on East Cape in terms of wildness/breeding, so I'd suggest making only the birds on the Chathams tickable for now. If the East Cape birds could be shown to be self-sustaining like on the Chathams then they could be fair game too, but for now just the Chatham birds.

I look forward to hearing any counter points!

[troymakan]

The birds i have seen in the Chathams are certainly pretty wild and breeding freely without human assistance. You often see big groups and males with lots of young. They are on 'farm land' but the definition of whats farmed and whats not in the Chats gets a bit loose. You see them both behind fences and in unfenced country. But the cattle/sheep fences don't contain them. I can't see how they are diffent to a number if species on the 'Wrybill' list, so my vote would be to add them. I have spent a bit of time on the East Coast and have only ever seen birds in paddocks and normally the same places so they seem less wild than the Chats birds, but I think this will be hard to judge as to how much humans are influencing their survival and breeding.

[Dave H]

I too, am convinced that these birds must meet the criteria of a self-sustaining population that has been there long enough to be on the list. I can't really see the difference between them and say chukar, which are also not widely spread. I don't know enough about the East Cape birds to comment, but it would appear there are far fewer of them, if they are even "wild" and self-sustaining.

There are also cases in other parts of the world where feral populations of birds are "tickable" on offshore islands. In South Africa, chukar and peafowl were introduced to Robben Island and a few other locations in the '60's. Most of the mainland populations died out and for both species, only the Robben Island populations are considered to be self-sustaining and therefore "tickable"

I'd be interested to hear more about the East Cape emus.

[RussCannings]

I too hope more robust info can come to light about East Coast emus but it seems well established (to the best of our knowledge) that they are indeed feral (not kept by humans), are free-ranging, and have been for around 30 years. Even if their population is smaller than on the Chathams (not even sure if it is?), should that matter? Troy mentions that they are usually seen in 'paddocks' and so seem 'less wild'. What alternative do they have? They are open-country birds and the only other habitats in that area are dense scrub/forest and riverbed (Where they also occur commonly according to my Gizzy friend).

It may seem like I'm strongly advocating for East Coast emus to be 'tickable' but I want to make it clear that I'm more interested in having a consistent approach to all feral species. What are the rules? Is there a minimum population requirement? Is there a minimum "time in the wild" requirement? What is the tolerance for human impact (Supplemental feeding/introductions etc.)? Who is qualified to investigate these facts and what should they do to propose a new species to the checklist committee?

I like Brent's idea of attributing specific geographic areas for countable feral species. This could evolve over time but would not only help guide 'listers' but also eBird reviewers and atlassing. We're speaking of emus on this thread, but I'm reminded of South Island pheasants, peafowl, and turkey. Are there legitimate populations on the South Island? If so, which ones?

Because many(all?) of these species are sporadically released deliberately or by accident throughout the country, we will never have a perfect solution, but I think we all see the benefits of recognising the real-life, on the ground NZ avifauna, native or not.

Russ

[SomesBirder]

Is there a minimum "time in the wild" requirement?

A comment on the Australian Twitchers FB group said that, "... the official rules most Aussie birders subscribe to is a feral species has to have had a self-sustaining population for 10 years or three generations, whichever is longer... ". This was on a post about whether a wild population of ostriches in Australia can be ticked.

[RussCannings]

Thanks Somes,

10 years has been the standard in North America as well though they've recently changed this for native species being re-introduced to their native range. They can be counted essentially right away. Ferals require scientific papers and proposals.

Russ