Whaka-Ora Bird Monitoring

Here is our guide on land birds that you might find in Whakaraupō/Lyttelton Harbour!  If you are having trouble identifying a bird, mark it as unknown in the form or write about it in the "Anything else you would like us to know" section. For more information on each bird, click on their names. For our guide on native birds click here .  Dunnock/Hedge Sparrow Look for: Small brown bird. Easily confused with Pihoihoi. Pihoihoi is greyer, with striped stomach and light colored beak.  Greenfinch Look for: Biggest green bird, with green back and stomach. Hurukōwhai/Yellowhammer Look for: Small yellow and brown bird. Kāhu/Harrier Look for: V shaped body while flying. Kererū/Wood Pigeon Look for: large bird with green head and wings and white body. Loud flapping wings. Koera/California Quail Look for: patterned stomach and neck. Feathers sticking out from the forehead.  Korimako/Bellbird Look for: Distinctive call, "like bells". Easily confused with Greenfinch. Greenfinch...

Nau mai, Haere mai! Welcome and thank you for helping take care of our harbour! Below is a step by step guide on how to do a five minute bird count. 1) Know which birds to look for Before you head out to count birds, make sure you can identify the native birds that are common in Whakaraupō. For some more practice, check out our guide on Whakaraupō's birds here . Or use our printable sheets to help identify the birds. 2) Choose a spot Five minute bird counts can be done anywhere, as long as you stay in the same spot for the whole five minutes. Bird counts that are close together can help give a clearer idea of the birds in that area, although try to make them at least 200 meters apart from one another. Far apart bird counts can help Whaka-ora get a better idea of the birds across the harbour. You can even do a bird count in the same exact spot on different days. For more inspiration on where to look, click here for our guide on past data. 3) Pick a day Try to count birds on a day ...

The actions of humans have lowered the amount of birds in Aotearoa. Whaka-Ora has started several projects to try to return and keep birds in Whakaraupō. There have been a couple of surveys on the number of birds in the area over the years though there has not a regular way of counting birds in Whakaraupō. The most recent project was done in 2017 and published in 2020. This survey counted the number of native seabirds and found that the most common one is the spotted shag. They took a boat and walked around the entire peninsula counting the birds in each spot they stopped. Area surveyed in 2017 study. Note that white lines are areas surveyed on land. The oldest report was in 1998 and counted seabirds. They found that the most common species were the Black-backed Gull, Red-billed gull, Black-billed gull and white-fronted tern. They found that there were big differences in the number of birds in different seasons and spots. This could be important because both of the other studies focu...

Counting the number of birds and the number of different birds is important for conservation and kaitiakitanga. Not only can knowing the birds in an area help the community understand what species are there and how they are doing, it can give clues to how healthy the area is as a whole. Large numbers of rare birds can only be present in areas with less pests and a good habitat. Although sometimes pest control can actually grow the number of pests in an area. For example, getting rid of possums can cause ship rat numbers to grow. Ship rats often kill eggs, chick, and sitting adult forest birds. Other pests such as cats and stoats numbers can also grow with ship rat populations (Shmechel, Frances 2010). Also, after planting natives in an area the number of birds can grow (Shmechel, Frances 2009). A few years after native plants have been growing there is more of a habitat for the birds to live. Getting rid of pollution and trash can also help birds live. Native plants can help the bir...

 Kia ora! We are so glad that you have chosen to help Whaka-Ora gain a better idea of the birds that live here in Whakaraupō. Feel free to continue bird counting as much as you like! You can even get your friends and whānau involved. Projects are better when we all work together.  Send your bird counts using  this google form .   

Print out our sheets to help you identify birds during your five minute bird counts. If you would like, use the sheets to play bird bingo afterward!

 Kia ora! Here is our guide on native land birds that live in Whakaraupō. Click on each bird name to learn more about each species.  If you are unsure of which bird you have seen, mark it as unknown or write a comment when you are sending in your bird count! For our full list of birds in the area click here . Kāhu/Harrier Look for: V shaped body while flying. Adults are usually about 50 cm long making the Kāhu a large bird. They have a brown back with a light brown stomach and yellow eyes. Young Kāhu are brown all over with brown eyes. They are mostly silent, but during breeding season their call is high pitched sharp and one note.  Kererū/Wood Pigeon Look for: large bird with green head and wings and white body. Loud flapping wings. Kererū are also a large bird at about 50 cm. They have distinct green wings and necks. Their stomachs are white and their beaks are orange and their eyes are red. They communicate by flapping their wings, so you are likely to hear wings flapp...