Wildlife in the Northern Ruahine Forest Park

[ashercook]

Hi guys,

I am heading to the Northern Ruahine Forest Park soon for a 5-6 day tramp and I was just wondering whether birders had gone into this area in the recent past and could tell me which species (birds, lizards, bats, interesting plants etc.) to keep an eye out for.

I will be visiting Lake Colenso which I have heard has quite abundant birdlife. Any tips on what I might encounter?

Cheers,
Asher

[les]

lake colenso used to be a moulting spot for hundreds of paradise ducks years ago when i worked and hunted in that area.We used to find the odd poliwenta(sp?)land snail around the aorangi table top mountain,spent more time looking for deer than birdsa back then?have a good trip.

[ashercook]

Cool, thanks for the heads up. I'll keep my eyes peeled for the snails.

[David Riddell]

Don't know the area that well, but have seen the southern North Island forest gecko there. Other lizards recorded in the general area are common skink, common gecko and Wellington green gecko. I gather there are also still a few blue duck and possibly kiwi around - they'd be the best of the birds. Otherwise there's the usual range of North Island forest birds, including falcon, rifleman, robin, kaka and a few yellow-crowned parakeets, though I don't think numbers for some of those species are particularly high. There are long-tailed bats there too.

[ashercook]

That sounds very interesting! I've never had much luck looking for geckos in the past.... do you suggest using a head torch at night?

[David Riddell]

That's generally considered the best way to find them - see http://www.doc.govt.nz/documents/scienc ... cas285.pdf for example, though I have to say that apart from on mammal-free islands I haven't found many that way - densities of arboreal geckos on the North Island mainland are generally very low. The forest gecko I found in the Ruahines was in a pile of rocks some distance from the forest edge - rather atypical habitat. I also did a couple of hours' night searching with two others on that occasion and we found nothing. Don't forget that indigenous lizards are strictly protected and it is an offence to disturb them - I was taking part in a formal wildlife survey when I found mine.

[ashercook]

I returned from a very enjoyable tramp on the 23rd.

Overall the birdlife was generally pretty good, I saw/heard the following native species: whitehead, robin, tomtit, rifleman, bellbird, tui, NZ falcon, shining cuckoo, morepork, grey warbler, kereru, silvereye, fantail and welcome swallow. Both whitehead and rifleman were quite common on some of the upper ridges and we saw the falcon on the Makaroro river. We didn't see/hear any kakariki, kaka, kiwi or blue duck.

We also saw 3 very healthy looking red mistletoe plants in full flower! All of the plants were on the upper ridges were possum density must be relatively low.