Website helps in fight to save threatened native bird

The latest weapon in the fight to save the rare native NZ wood pigeon, the kereru, is an interactive website that was launched in December.

The Kereru Discovery Project’s new website is geared towards encouraging the public to report nationwide sightings of the iconic bird that has hugely reduced in numbers compared with 200 years ago.

Victoria University’s senior lecturer in biology, Dr Wayne Linklater, blames the bird’s decline on a loss of habitat, hunting and predation.

“All of these are a direct or indirect result of the successive waves of human arrival in NZ. But what people might not realise is that kereru 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 and be dispersed, so if we lose Kereru, we may lose our forests as we know them.”

Dr Linklater says the new website is aimed at engaging the NZ public in the fight to save the kereru.

“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.”

The new website is a collaboration between Victoria University, Te Papa, the Wellington Zoo Trust, Karori Wildlife Sanctuary and the Department of Conservation, and replaces a previous site that doesn’t provide as much interactivity as the growing Kereru Project required.

“We wanted to make it simpler for the public to be able to report sightings, and to allow people to 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 Kereru Project: www.kererudiscovery.org.nz