Birds of Christchurch and Canterbury

TO ALL SOUTHERN BIRDERS – the Kea Conservation Trust is running a survey of
kea each weekend afternoon during July. There is now only one weekend to go!

If anyone is planning on being out in the Southern Alps, the Kaikoura Mtns and
along the South Islands West coast, please visit the kea website
(www.keaconservation.co.nz) and download the survey form and information to take
out with you. Your info can then be posted back to us or easily entered onto
our website survey form (link to online form on our homepage).

Please also pass this message on to your friends and family and any skiers,
hunters, trampers or daytrippers into the Southern Alps.

Also please be aware that zero counts are also very important as they indicate a
level of effort and provide presence/absence information).

We are posting information on the survey (including photos and names of
observers and the sights they have visited) on our Winter Survey page. These
will be updated continuously over the next month as more information comes in.
If you have any photos of your efforts out in the field, please send them in!

Year round recordings can also be sent in at any time on our online survey form
(follow the link -

http://www.keaconservation.co.nz/kearesearchprojects/populationresearch.html

Happy birding and thank you – we really appreciate your help!
Kind regards

Tamsin Orr-Walker
Kea Conservation Trust
www.keaconservation.co.nz

Support kea conservation!

NZ Falcon

June city-wide annual Pukeko census of key wintering sites – totals:
Styx Mill Basin = 201, Linwood paddocks = 555, Travis Wetland = 308,
Upper Lyttelton Harbour = 149, Heathcote Valley; Aidanfield area = 194;
Heathcote valley = 121

1 male Eastern Rosella at Victoria park HQ right through autumn/winter,
but no sightings yet of the usual Cirl Buntings.

Today i saw a Falcon at the Halswall Quarry (4.7.10 3.30pm) spotted it
after hearing a lot of screeching from it being mobbed by three Magpies. It
sat on the rocks inside the quarry for 30 minutes, attacked some finches
then flew up high and headed east out of the Quarry.

Regards,
Bruce kirkman

1 White heron,
192 Crested Grebe,
1631 NZ Scaup

Hi All

We are putting on an all-day offshore pelagic tour off the Kaikoura Coast (we only do 1 per winter) on Saturday the 31st of July (with Sunday as a backup for weather). It will be an early 6.00am start in order to be offshore at first light and the cost will be $175.

If anyone would like to book or to find out more details please drop me an email or you can call on 033196777.

Many thanks

Alex

Departures of SIPO from the Avon-Heathcote Estuary in CHCH have been
evident over the last week or two.

Early SIPO are now on inland sites, doing display flights etc.

Spring is just around the corner.

AC

At least one tui heard in Rue Benoit, Akaroa, yesterday afternoon – about 3pm

Early last Sunday morning, we heard a lovely “bell” birdsong close by
but were unable to locate where/what it was coming from.  However,
approximately an hour later, I looked out my kitchen window and there
was a tui singing again on the top of a neighbour’s macrocarpa tree.
Lovely to see and hear.

Regards
Suzanne