Transmitters

Source Author Year Title Quote
DoC 07/05/2014 DoC 2014 DOC code of practice for aerial 1080 in kea habitat “Kea monitoring requires specialist skills, involving capture of kea and tagging them with VHF radio transmitters weeks or months before poison baiting. Telemetry surveys are carried out during the risk period following the operation, on foot and from aircraft.”
Kea Conservation Trust updates 16/12/13 Kea Conservation Trust 2013 Kea Conservation Trust (KCT) Update “January is a busy time for us with our annual summer surveys running throughout January. This year we will have our workers and keen KCT volunteers up the mountains counting kea at Kiwi Saddle (Kahurangi National Park) and Kowhai Saddle (in the Kaikoura Mountains). Corey Mosen, our field co-ordinator will be directing both sites which will see up to a dozen people at each site locating tranmsmittered kea, attaching transmitters to any new birds and recording sightings and calls of kea early each morning and early evening for 10 days at each site.”
www.keaconservation.co.nz T. Orr-Walker 2013 Inspiring communities to protect kea, the world’s only mountain parrot “Kea are caught up where possible, biodata collected, bloods taken (to test for avian diseases and/or lead levels) and identification bands and transmitters attached (depending on sex and life stage). Females are attached with egg-timer transmitters to aid in detection of nesting behaviour”
NZ J Ecology 23: 95-100 T.C. Green et al. 2013 Monitoring selected forest bird species through aerial application of 1080 baits, Waitutu, New Zealand “Although radio-tagged birds are able to provide extremely robust information on the direct impact of toxins such as 1080…this technique is limited to those species that are able to carry a transmitter for sufficient periods of time without compromising individual survival”
NZ J Ecology 23: 95-100 T.C. Green et al. 2013 Monitoring selected forest bird species through aerial application of 1080 baits, Waitutu, New Zealand “Using mist nets a total of 34 ruru were captured and radio-tagged…However only 11 were known to be alive at the time of the poison operation, due to transmitter failure, predation, and 18 birds dying during a prolonged period of extremely cold weather 2 weeks prior to the operation.”
NZ J Ecology 19: 97-109 T.C. Green et al. 2013 Monitoring selected forest bird species through aerial application of 1080 baits, Waitutu, New Zealand “…plans to collect such data during the Waitutu operation were abandoned for ethical and operational reasons. Use of ‘backpack’-type harnesses…for attaching transmitters to kereru has been restricted by the Department of Conservation following concerns over instances of harness entanglement and resultant deaths”
Nestor Notabilis 6 T. Orr-Walker 2012 Nest Monitoring – Arthurs Pass “At the start of the 2011 season there were twenty-one kea radio tagged in the Hawdon valley, Arthurs Pass, to be monitored. Six transmitters were found to be in mortality mode (4 of which were adult breeding females). The loss of these birds significantly reduces the possible sample size of nests to monitor. Additionally, nine transmittered birds remained unaccounted for resulting in only six kea able to be followed. Three of these kea are adult females of which only one has been identified as attempting to breed (Queen Pow Pow). The other two females showed no indication of having active cavities or notable courtship or nesting behaviour. Nest cameras set up at the Queen Pow Pow’s nest showed that this nest was abandoned with an egg intact and this pair moved to another nest site which also did not produce chicks. Information gleaned from this nesting season appears to indicate that the high number of deaths of both adult and sub-adult birds may now be affecting productivity. A case in point is the late 2010 nesting by Mrs Moon (one chick fledged at the end of April 2011). Mrs Moon died one month later on 8 June 2011.
Nestor Notabilis 6 Corey Mosen 2012 Kea Survey – Kiwi saddle, Kahurangi National Park “During the period of 16-24 January 2012 a kea census was conducted by a group of 12 people in the Kahurangi National Park…All keas activity was recorded the majority of sites were surveyed twice and followup visits to the site were conducted if there was significant sign of kea. One potential nest cavity was visited and there was an attempt to catch the female who was perched close to the site….Four fledglings were caught and transmitters attached…There was quite significant kea activity at the top of the Gibbs track with at least six unbanded birds…Attempts were made to catch as many of these as possible with one team devoting two nights to this task.
Nestor Notabilis 6 Paul van Klink 2012 Kea Survey – Hawdon Valley, Arthurs Pass “Of these 11 kea, four had transmitters attached to them including one which has a satellite transmitter (two fledglings, two adult females)..Two nests/cavities were visited during the survey. One was not active (Moon’s nest 20/10/11) and How’s 2011/12 nest appears to have failed.
Kea Conservation Trust Updates Dec 2012 T. Orr-Walker 2012 Injured Kea on the mend “One of the kea, named Hobo, has had one leg amputated and has since been released back into the area. Fitted with a radio transmitter he will be closely monitored over the next few months by DOC and kea researchers to ensure he is able to cope back out in the wild.”
Wellington Zoo Sarah 2012 Part Two- let the adventure begin! “Tomorrow, we were heading to the Hawdon Valley to check on a couple of nests and put bands and transmitters on some chicks- can’t wait!”
Wellington Zoo Sarah 2012 Part Three – Learning on the road “Today, we went to the Hawdon valley to check on two nests and attach satellite transmitters, weigh, measure, band, and take bloods from the birds…”
Wellington Zoo Sarah 2012 Part Four – the days are just packed! “I ended up helping Erin, a PhD student, with trying to catch and remove some satellite transmitters. However with so much rain, we only saw 3 birds, 2 of whom were very bedraggled!”
Wellington Zoo Sarah 2012 Part Four – the days are just packed! “Day 4 was a trip up to CeeJay’s nest, which was empty – she seems to be only nesting every second year. We also saw and attempted to catch a male that was hanging around the nest, but he wasn’t having a bar of that! CeeJay has a transmitter attached as she is a breeding female, however today her transmitter was doing a lot of crazy things which made for some fun for Cory to figure out what was going on!”
Wellington Zoo Sarah 2012 Part Four – the days are just packed! “We weren’t expecting a chick, as there is no predator control in this area and her last two nests have been raided. But to our surprise, there was a wee chick there! I say wee but he weighed over 1000g. Cory got him out and we weighed, banded, took bloods and feathers and measured him. We attached a satellite transmitter as part of Erin’s work.”
Wellington Zoo Sarah 2012 Part Five – Telemetry and transmitters “Over the weekend, we monitored Kea during a 1080 drop in the Hawdon Valley. This involved climbing to the top of a big ridge and camping overnight. After camping the night, Corey ran off to chase a couple of birds whose transmitters were emitting the same signal as the bird in one of my earlier blogs. He managed to find one who was alive and well..I stayed on top of the ridge and used another set of telemetry gear to scan for the birds, all of whom were alive and well.”
Wellington Zoo Sarah 2012 Part Five – Telemetry and transmitters “We attached transmitters, weighed, measured, took feathers and blood and banded these chicks too”.
Scoop Independent News 8/7/11 Graf Boys 2011 18 of 31 Tagged morepork found dead day before 1080 drop “Of the 31 radio-tagged ruru known to be alive at the beginning of August, transmitters belonging to 18 of these birds were discovered in mortality mode during an aerial status check immediately prior (3 Oct 2010) to the distribution of toxic baits (4 Oct 2010). Ground-based checks of these birds commencing 4 October confirmed that all of these birds were dead and had been for some days (10 days).
Otago Daily Times Online News 12/09/11 Otago Daily Times Online News 12/09/11 2011 Seven keas dead in the wake of 1080 work “The seven birds that died recently were among 38 keas fitted with radiotransmitters as part of a four-year programme to assess the risks and benefits of 1080 operations on kea populations”
NZ J. Ecology 35: 229-235 R. G. Powlesland, L.R. Moran, D.M. Wooton 2011 Satellite tracking of kereru (Hemiphagia novaeseelandiae) in Southland, New Zealand: impacts, movements, home range “The satellite transmitters were attached to the birds using a back-mounted harness…”
NZ J. Ecology 35: 229-235 R. G. Powlesland, L.R. Moran, D.M. Wooton 2011 Satellite tracking of kereru (Hemiphagia novaeseelandiae) in Southland, New Zealand: impacts, movements, home range “…kereru sometimes suffer post-handling shock (become grounded and unable to fly) following transmitter attachment…”
NZ J. Ecology 35: 229-235 R. G. Powlesland, L.R. Moran, D.M. Wooton 2011 Satellite tracking of kereru (Hemiphagia novaeseelandiae) in Southland, New Zealand: impacts, movements, home range “S-80578 was found on the ground in a weakened state on the fourth day after transmitter attachment”
NZ J. Ecology 35: 229-235 R. G. Powlesland, L.R. Moran, D.M. Wooton 2011 Satellite tracking of kereru (Hemiphagia novaeseelandiae) in Southland, New Zealand: impacts, movements, home range “Of the four kereru used in this study, the one that had never been handled before responded negatively to handling and transmitter attachment”
NZ J. Ecology 35: 229-235 R. G. Powlesland, L.R. Moran, D.M. Wooton 2011 Satellite tracking of kereru (Hemiphagia novaeseelandiae) in Southland, New Zealand: impacts, movements, home range “In most studies that have involved radio-tagging kereru the occasional bird has suffered from post-capture trauma, with some kereru becoming grounded within a few days of having a transmitter attached”
NZ J. Ecology 35: 229-235 R. G. Powlesland, L.R. Moran, D.M. Wooton 2011 Satellite tracking of kereru (Hemiphagia novaeseelandiae) in Southland, New Zealand: impacts, movements, home range “Solar-powered transmitters have the potential to provide the increased transmission life needed and should be trialled on kereru”
The adventures of PK Maebo & Jimjam 9/2/09 Jaimie Stewart 2009 Kea catching “The kea was then “processed”, you know, like processed food. Out of Franny’s bag of tricks came a radiotransmitter, with nylon string to attach it, a beak-measuring device, scales and other fandangos…Oh yeah, I was going to talk abut 1080 and keas. Well the story as far as I can make out is that despite years of scepticism from DOC scientists, recent studies of mortality following an aerial 1080 drop have shown keas dying from 1080 poisoning…One point it is always worth making is that much of the 1080 poisoning in NZ is undertaken by the Animal Health Board in its ongoing battle with TB…But whatever way this does seem to be a big problem. Don’t quote me on this, but abut 1/3 of the keas habitat is under rotational TB control. Alarm bells seem to be ringing and DOC has teamed up with Landcare Research to investigate an effective bird repellent. It will be interesting to see what happens and if the planned drop in Okarito forest goes ahead”
Rarebits 55 DoC 2004 Newsletter “The remaining 22 females and 14 males were released on 10th September. Ten birds had tail-mounted transmitters attached and were monitored weekly. Two weeks after release, four transmittered saddleback were found dead following a week of extremely cold southerlies which brought snow to the higher parts of Boundary Stream. Necropsies of two birds found they died of aspergillosis, a common fungal disease that can become fatal when the bird is under stress. One bird had a broken neck, but mammalian predation was ruled out. The fourth bird was too decomposed to necropsy, but no obvious signs of predation were found. A survey six weeks after release estimated 21 birds present, giving a 57% minimum survival rate. There are five known pairs that are courtship feeding, but none are known to have attempted to nest.”
Rarebits 40 DoC 2000 Newsletter “Blue duck in Egmont National Park: The planned transfer of further wildhatched and captive-raised birds has been postponed owing to poor productivity of both wild and captive populations this season. Survivors from last year’s release are still encountered, but the birds had transmitters removed because of weight loss problems so monitoring is much more labour intensive. We plan to refit modified transmitters on birds based on findings from the takahe energetics study (see Rare Bits, December 2000).”
Rarebits 36 DoC 2000 Newsletter “Of the 13 Operation Nest Egg releases put back into Tongariro Forest, only 5 to date still carry functioning transmitters. One chick dropped its transmitter and 4 have had gear failure meaning we have lost track of them. One bird has been killed by a pig, another by a ferret, and 1 died from a ruptured liver after what we can only describe as misadventure because the bird was in perfect health otherwise – there were no visible sign of predation. Although the total of confirmed deaths from the 13 released chicks is only 3, there is the possibility of more among the 5 ‘missing’ birds.”
Rarebits 37 DoC 2000 Newsletter Intensive monitoring of the released birds has been regularly undertaken. Some of the captive-reared birds have been lost through starvation, not from a lack of food resource. We assume the birds starved because they did not know how to forage for aquatic invertebrates. Other birds have succumbed to predation from stoats or ferrets, and one of the wild caught birds was run over by a car (can you believe it!). All the captive birds lost weight initially, which resulted in transmitter harnesses becoming loose.”
Rarebits 40 DoC 2000 Newsletter Blue duck in Egmont National Park: The planned transfer of further wildhatched and captive-raised birds has been postponed owing to poor productivity of both wild and captive populations this season. Survivors from last year’s release are still encountered, but the birds had transmitters removed because of weight loss problems so monitoring is much more labour intensive.”
Rarebits 47 DoC 2002 Newsletter “The Pureora Field Centre is monitoring radio tagged kaka in the Waipapa Restoration Area to assess the effectiveness of pest control on a species sensitive to mustelid predation. Female kakas are followed to nests which are monitored. A sample of chicks have transmitters fitted to find out how many survived and where they disperse to…A dramatic increase in fledgling mortality has been noted coinciding with a change to the pest control regime. Seventeen female chicks were monitored since the breeding season and excluding missing birds, eleven of fourteen fledglings have died. Nine of these were probably (some certainly) killed by stoats. And just to show that the predators are not targeting birds wearing radio transmitters, one observation included finding the remains of two untagged kaka within the same den as a dead tagged bird. So the results of a productive nesting season for kaka in the Waipapa has very much been let down by poor fledgling survival. The pest control regime was an aerial 1080 pollard operation in October. While this did offer protection during the time birds were nesting, as pest numbers increased, the level of protection decreased toward the end of the season when fledgling kaka become vulnerable.”
Rarebits 39 DoC 2000 Newsletter “We have been monitoring a sample of radio-tagged takahe in the Murchison Mountains since 1991 to compare the success of captive reared birds and wild-reared birds. That sample has numbered more than 30 birds over recent years and we were keen to see if the transmitters may be compromising the birds’ survival in any way. Jason Godfrey.. used the doubly labelled water technique to measure the free-living energy expenditure of the 8 birds at Burwood. ..The scale of increase in expenditure due to tags might be sufficient to compromise survival and/or reproductive success Heat loss via the long external antenna was considered as [a] potential factor…We are happy with the backpack harness design so only looked to make changes in transmitter package”
Rarebits 38 DoC 2000 Newsletter This project[‘s] objectives include determining the costs (mortality as a result of the poison operation) and benefits (reduced mortality and increased breeding success after the poison operation as a result of poisoning introduced mammalian predators and competitors) of an aerial 1080 possum poisoning operation to kereru and kaka in Whirinaki Forest Park. This requires the radio-tagging and monitoring of kaka and kereru in a treatment area (Otupaka Ecological Area) and in a non-treatment area (Oriuwaka Ecological Area). The project began in October 1998. To date, 63 kereru have been captured and survived at least a fortnight after being radio-tagged. Of these, 28 (44.4%) have died…the following are the assumed causes: 1 died on a nest, 2 collided with vehicles, 5 killed by cats, 6 killed by mustelids, 5 killed by falcon/ harrier, 2 killed by poachers, and 8 killed by unknown predators. Most of the deaths were in autumn (43%) and winter (29%)…One of the birds had been caught by a cat while feeding a couple of metres above the ground. Fifty-three kaka have been captured and survived at least a fortnight after being radio-tagged. Of these, 3 (5.7%) have died, giving a mean life expectancy of 20.5 years. All 3 kaka that died were females killed by unknown predators.”