Waikato Kaka

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Neil Fitzgerald
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Re: Waikato Kaka

Postby Neil Fitzgerald » Tue May 19, 2020 10:20 am

We (at Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research) plan to start trying to understand the movements of these winter visiting Waikato kaka. In a couple of months we hope to start tracking birds, and before then we would like to get a bit of a handle on where they are. To help with this, I have an iNaturalist project for people to record observations: https://inaturalist.nz/projects/waikato-kaka. Of course I will also be following any sightings posted here with great interest, and will keep an eye on ebird.
We are mainly interested in the more urban/agricultural parts of the Waikato (Hamilton, Morrinsville etc), but any sightings away from the known summer breeding areas (e.g. Pureora, Maungatautari) will be very helpful.
Any help with sightings or sharing this project will be much appreciated, and I will of course keep you posted on how it goes.
N
Davidthomas
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Re: Waikato Kaka

Postby Davidthomas » Tue May 19, 2020 11:11 am

Will let you know when my parents see/hear them showing up around Morrinsville as per usual Neil. We know the spot they’re usually hanging out in en mass in spring and during winter at times also if that’s useful.
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Neil Fitzgerald
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Re: Waikato Kaka

Postby Neil Fitzgerald » Tue May 19, 2020 11:31 am

Thanks David. Yes, that would be super useful. I might like to pay them a visit.
Cheers
Neil
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Liam Ballard
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Re: Waikato Kaka

Postby Liam Ballard » Tue May 19, 2020 12:25 pm

Saw at least one on the outskirts of Ngaruawahia (at the camp) on Sunday. We've ebirded it!
Liam Ballard
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Neil Fitzgerald
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Re: Waikato Kaka

Postby Neil Fitzgerald » Wed May 20, 2020 8:46 am

Thanks Liam.
bombaydave2
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Re: Waikato Kaka

Postby bombaydave2 » Sat May 23, 2020 3:01 pm

Single bird seen in huntly 2 weeks ago
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Neil Fitzgerald
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Re: Waikato Kaka

Postby Neil Fitzgerald » Sun May 24, 2020 1:37 pm

Thanks Dave.
bombaydave2
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Re: Waikato Kaka

Postby bombaydave2 » Mon Jun 01, 2020 11:01 pm

5 birds bracu olive estate area today, Bombay. Olives are being harvested
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Neil Fitzgerald
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Re: Waikato Kaka

Postby Neil Fitzgerald » Thu Nov 26, 2020 1:45 pm

We attached GPS tags to kaka around Hamilton and Morrisville in September. Things went well for a few weeks, then battery voltages dropped and the birds stopped talking to us. There was a lot of grey sky in the weather, and the birds spent a lot of time quietly feeding in trees with very dense canopies, so the solar panels were not providing much juice. It was a great surprise when three came back online after each being silent for a month or two. It's a small sample so far, hopefully more will phone in as the weather improves, but so far these birds seem to fly south for winter! The time between locations varies, but some of these big movements are only a day or so.

WaiKaka_GPS_movers_20201124_sm.jpg
WaiKaka_GPS_movers_20201124_sm.jpg (169.63 KiB) Viewed 2014 times
Nakilad
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Re: Waikato Kaka

Postby Nakilad » Thu Nov 26, 2020 9:05 pm

Thanks for posting that map, it's fascinating! Looking forward to seeing more results.
Vaughan Turner
Birding Remotely

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