Dob in a wood pigeon

Victoria University in Wellington has a new interactive website in December 2008, where you can dob in a wood pigeon – that is the public can report sightings of the bird nationwide.

Kererū

The Kererū Discovery Project’s site is the latest weapon in the fight to save the rare native New Zealand wood pigeon, the kererū. Once so plentiful, the chubby, iconic bird has been in rapid decline since human arrival, particularly in the last 200 years. This is due to loss of habitat, hunting and predation by rats, stoats, possums and cats. Conservation efforts in the last two decades have stopped the decline, but despite the increase in numbers in recent years, the birds only live for around five years on average. The reasons for this are the hazards of living in urban environments (such as fast cars and flying into windows). Getting drunk probably doesn’t help them either, the writer has seen two kererū intoxicated after eating fermented windfall fruit unable to fly off the lawn – making them easy prey for cats. Fortunately they sobered up and left before anything bad happened!

The birds can live for 20 years or longer, and if their average live span was improved it would give them more opportunities to breed.

Dr Wayne Linklater, Victoria University’s Senior Lecturer in Biology, explains why the wood pigeon is so important to New Zealand.

“What people might not realise is that kererū are important to the survival of our forests because they are the only surviving native species able to swallow the fruit of some of our major trees. Many of the seeds need to pass through the gut of a bird to germinate (sprout) and be dispersed, so if we lose kererū, we may lose our forests as we know them.”

Dr Linklater says the new website involves the New Zealand public in the fight to save the kererū.

“Overseas they call this ‘Citizen Science’, where the public is provided with the opportunity to get involved in the survival of a species. It’s also a win for researchers, because it provides us with many more ‘eyes’ out there.”

People can also upload photos and videos. “Plus, this new website will give researchers better feedback and allow us to provide the public with real-time information about where the birds are.”

Dr Linklater says anecdotal feedback shows the public, particularly those in urban areas, welcome the opportunity to get involved in wildlife projects.

“People who live in cities tend not to have as many wildlife experiences, so an interactive project is a great way for them to understand the impact of urbanisation on natural environments, as well as the application of biodiversity principles and the way natural species adapt to the modern landscape of urban environments.”

The new website is a collaboration between Victoria University, Te Papa, the Wellington Zoo Trust, Karori Sanctuary Trust and the Department of Conservation.