Rook in Palmerston North

[Jake]

Hey y'all just saw a rook near the dog park at the end of Maxwells Line. Logged info into Ebird. This is the second time I've seen one in Palmy in the last few years... yet to see an elusive Myna in this district though

[TheBirderman]

Yes, it's very important the council remove Rooks from the region - they sure can wreck havoc!

Cheers

[les]

Seen a few around woodville on more than one ocassion?

[sav]

Hey,

I've driven through Woodville many times in the last couple of years and there dont seem to be any Rooks left there now. There are very few, if any, remaining in the Hastings/Napier area.

I did see a flock of about 30 birds last weekend, North of Napier, but the Regional Council seems hell-bent on destroying them. Why are they so vilified here when they are welcomed by farmers in Europe? They mainly eat invertebrates, particularly grass grubs..........

cheers

[SomesBirder]

Why are they so vilified here when they are welcomed by farmers in Europe? They mainly eat invertebrates, particularly grass grubs..........

Hi Sav,

I have done some research on this topic, and I have found that overseas reports of how helpful or damaging rooks are, are actually extremely inconsistent.
One handbook of the birds of a Western Asian country that I have read, states that rooks wreak havoc on crops. Meanwhile, the book said nothing bad about carrion crows; commenting that they are helpful in their habit of feeding on animal carcasses.
I think that I even read that rooks are the reason for why scarecrows were first invented!
Old reports of rooks attacking lambs and hoggets may be erroneous, but that is where their 'innocence' ends.
On top of that, rooks have been known to feed on the eggs and chicks of smaller birds in Eurasia.
They are best got rid of.

-Somesbirder

[RussCannings]

I suppose it's all subjective really. Ironically they were introduced, in part, to help farming for the reason Sav suggested. Not surprisingly however, being intelligent omnivores, they also feed on crops/seed/silage which makes them unpopular with farmers. They're impact at current numbers must be minimal but if allowed to build into flocks of 200-1000 (as they did in the past) I could see how this would be a large (if local) threat.

I would also guess a key reason for them being singled out is that they're large, locally distributed, conspicuous, and there is a real chance they can be eliminated completely from NZ. This is not the case for say pukeko, magpie, greenfinch, and sparrows, who all must consume exponentially more crop yields than rooks.

I like rooks, and I wish they could be left alone for selfish reasons, but I also understand why they're being taken out.

Russ C
Morrinsville, NZ

[les]

The only decent flock(still small by past standards?) I have seen recently, was also north of napier around the tutira area.They will no doubt be targeted in the breeding season with the man slung beneath the chopper poisoning the nests so the females will all die leaving only ageing males?

[kelly111]

Yes just leave them alone. There is not enough of the to do any damage. Be a shame to not see them anymore. We do not have any thing like them in new Zealand. So it's just nice to have one bird like this here.