How can we save the rooks.

General birdwatching discussion, help with bird identification, and all other things relating to wild birds and birding in NZ that don't fit in one of the other forums.
kelly111
Posts: 111
Joined: Tue Dec 13, 2016 2:42 pm

How can we save the rooks.

Postby kelly111 » Fri Jun 01, 2018 9:43 am

How can we save the rooks we have left. as once that are gone that is it for ever.and they are not as bad as the council says..I think if we keep the numbers low it will be ok.but not to have them gone.thay are a beautiful bird so what can we all do to keep them be sad for future kids to not see them..
Clinton9
Posts: 1008
Joined: Sat Aug 07, 2010 10:22 pm

Re: How can we save the rooks.

Postby Clinton9 » Fri Jun 01, 2018 5:23 pm

No, Rooks are exotic crows and they are unwanted pest in NZ.

They annoyed farmers by tearing and eating vegetable seedlings out of soil and fruits and damaging the pastures and rooks do eat eggs and baby birds.

Better for all of rooks to be destroyed in NZ, until they are gone for ever.
kelly111
Posts: 111
Joined: Tue Dec 13, 2016 2:42 pm

Re: How can we save the rooks.

Postby kelly111 » Fri Jun 01, 2018 9:12 pm

Clinton9 wrote:No, Rooks are exotic crows and they are unwanted pest in NZ.

They annoyed farmers by tearing and eating vegetable seedlings out of soil and fruits and damaging the pastures and rooks do eat eggs and baby birds.

Better for all of rooks to be destroyed in NZ, until they are gone for ever.
but this is the same as magpies do.but no one has it in for them...i have seein magpies take eggs and baby birds..the rooks do not do all of what you say they do..rooks do not have a economic and environmental impact here..theres mabe no more then 100 of them here now...
flossiepip
Posts: 191
Joined: Tue Jan 18, 2011 6:27 pm

Re: How can we save the rooks.

Postby flossiepip » Fri Jun 01, 2018 9:46 pm

Myna birds are a far bigger pest than Rooks could ever be but Rooks can be eradicated where as Mynas never can be. Someone soon is going to stand up happily and say, haven't we done a great job the Rooks have gone but they will never say peep about the Myna, I remember as a young boy on the farm in England, if we saw Rooks picking at the pasture then we knew that there was a pest infestation that the Rooks were telling us about and it would be addressed!
kelly111
Posts: 111
Joined: Tue Dec 13, 2016 2:42 pm

Re: How can we save the rooks.

Postby kelly111 » Fri Jun 01, 2018 9:55 pm

flossiepip wrote:Myna birds are a far bigger pest than Rooks could ever be but Rooks can be eradicated where as Mynas never can be. Someone soon is going to stand up happily and say, haven't we done a great job the Rooks have gone but they will never say peep about the Myna, I remember as a young boy on the farm in England, if we saw Rooks picking at the pasture then we knew that there was a pest infestation that the Rooks were telling us about and it would be addressed!
yes i see what you are saying and now we have a myna down here in chch.so on there way down to us.i am going out on sunday to see if i can get a photo of it..and yes i think thay a bigger pest than Rooks..but no one is doing any thing about them..but everone is so hard on the old rook..come on..
kelly111
Posts: 111
Joined: Tue Dec 13, 2016 2:42 pm

Re: How can we save the rooks.

Postby kelly111 » Fri Jun 01, 2018 9:57 pm

flossiepip wrote:Myna birds are a far bigger pest than Rooks could ever be but Rooks can be eradicated where as Mynas never can be. Someone soon is going to stand up happily and say, haven't we done a great job the Rooks have gone but they will never say peep about the Myna, I remember as a young boy on the farm in England, if we saw Rooks picking at the pasture then we knew that there was a pest infestation that the Rooks were telling us about and it would be addressed!

maybe if alot of us can do something about this we can save some of them or it will be to late..there has to be something we can do..
Clinton9
Posts: 1008
Joined: Sat Aug 07, 2010 10:22 pm

Re: How can we save the rooks.

Postby Clinton9 » Fri Jun 01, 2018 10:04 pm

Rooks were imported from Great Britain during 1880s and their numbers increased fast and they became major pest, so farmers got angry and asked councils to destroy the rooks, because they did to pastures and they pulled vegetable seedlings from soils.
Over last 150 years their numbers decreased and these large black birds became very wary.

Our government wants all rooks in NZ be destroyed.

Rooks eat mostly insects and worms and few greens most of year and in autumntime they ate walnuts and fruits, but during wintertime they eat any meats as dead birds and dead rabbits they find on roadsides and during springtime they eat eggs and chicks, and this would means tuis, bellbirds chicks being eaten by rooks.

Due to in farms they teared pieces of grass from pastures and flipping the cattle dungs when looking for worms, caused damages to pastures and pulling the vegetable seedlings from soils, these rooks are high risk pest birds that are not welcome in NZ.

In Hamilton in early 1990s I got a dead immature rook, it was entirely black in colour and not colourful, but plumage were glossy. It was slightly bigger than Australian magpies.

Rooks cannot be kept as pets in NZ and DOC will destroy any rooks if they see them.

Rooks are birds of cold temperate climate and open environment and they lives in farmland, rough pastures, with tall trees.

Rooks are extinct in North Island, but survives in southern South Island only.

Rook survival in NZ, are very low, as they can only eat European foods as earthworms and walnuts, and starvation during winter and springtime, will force the rooks to eat dead animals on roadsides and eggs and chicks of tuis and bellbirds and exotic birds.
Meats and eggs and chicks are not the rooks"s preferred diet.
Many juvenile and yearling rooks dies during first year of life in NZ.
Pat Miller
Posts: 218
Joined: Tue Sep 04, 2012 9:36 am

Re: How can we save the rooks.

Postby Pat Miller » Fri Jun 01, 2018 11:24 pm

They have been trying to eradicate rooks in NZ for decades now and they haven't succeeded yet. Admittedly they are harder to find than they used to be though. Probably the best way to keep the ones that are left is not to post on any publicly accessible forums like this one, where & when you see them. All I will say is that they are not extinct in the North Island as Clinton claims. Didn't NZ used to have it's own crow in prehistoric times? With that in mind, I don't see rooks as being a conservation problem species in NZ, they'll just be replacing our own extinct crow, even if (arguably according to some people) they are a farm problem species.

Cheerio,
Pat
Clinton9
Posts: 1008
Joined: Sat Aug 07, 2010 10:22 pm

Re: How can we save the rooks.

Postby Clinton9 » Fri Jun 01, 2018 11:42 pm

Rooks are European birds and wrong birds as replacement for our own extinct native crow.

Australian crows are correct replacement birds for our own native crow.
kelly111
Posts: 111
Joined: Tue Dec 13, 2016 2:42 pm

Re: How can we save the rooks.

Postby kelly111 » Fri Jun 01, 2018 11:45 pm

[quote="Pat Miller"]They have been trying to eradicate rooks in NZ for decades now and they haven't succeeded yet. Admittedly they are harder to find than they used to be though. Probably the best way to keep the ones that are left is not to post on any publicly accessible forums like this one, where & when you see them. All I will say is that they are not extinct in the North Island as Clinton claims. Didn't NZ used to have it's own crow in prehistoric times? With that in mind, I don't see rooks as being a conservation problem species in NZ, they'll just be replacing our own extinct crow, even if (arguably according to some people) they are a farm problem species.

Cheerio,yes I like what you have to say.it be good to have a poll to see what everyone thinks.maybe if we get a Lot of people on side we can do something about it.I know where there are some but will not put it up on here.as thay will then be gone..

Return to “General Birding Discussion”