Meet our new Vice President!

Tēnā koutou kātoa. Ko Natalie Forsdick toku ingoa. I am excited to be stepping up as the new Vice President of Birds New Zealand. After completing my PhD at the University of Otago in 2020, I joined Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at our Auckland site. My research focuses on understanding the genetics of our threatened endemic species to support their conservation. Reduced genetic diversity and inbreeding are common challenges for many threatened species, and genetic/genomic research can help inform how such populations are managed to reduce their risk of extinction, and ultimately enhance their evolutionary potential. My current research projects involve both birds and insects, and are conducted in partnership with mana whenua, the New Zealand Department of Conservation, and Genomics Aotearoa.

I first joined Birds New Zealand ahead of the 2017 Te Anau conference, where I presented research from my Master’s project at the University of Canterbury investigating genetic diversity in the kakaruia/Chatham Island black robin, for which I was awarded Best Student Presentation. This, along with the warm welcome from my local Otago region led by Mary Thompson, led to me becoming more engaged with the society at a range of indoor and outdoor events. I am grateful to Birds New Zealand for providing funding for a part of my doctoral research, using new genomic sequencing tools to understand the impacts of hybridisation between kakī/black stilts and poaka/pied stilts. I had the opportunity to give back to the society and represent the student voice when I was elected to the Birds New Zealand Council in 2018. Through my role on Council, I have developed an understanding of the breadth of research and community projects underway that aim to understand our manu and their habitats.

With my research largely consisting of lab and computational work, participating in Birds New Zealand events provides me with the opportunity to enjoy time with our birds in the outdoors. I learn more on every outing, and as Vice President I hope to put my enthusiasm to good use as we look to the future for our growing society.

Constituent Membership of the Royal Society of New Zealand

I am very happy to advise members that the Ornithological Society of New Zealand has become a Constituent Organisation of the Royal Society of New Zealand.  In taking this step we are at a point in the history of our Society when we hope that the scientific significance of ornithology will become more fully recognised and understood by the science community in New Zealand.  Decisions by the Councils of both organisations that OSNZ will become a Constituent Organisation of the Royal Society follows a period of review and consultations that commenced in 2020.

Participation as a Constituent Organisation of the Royal Society will enable our Society to give a strong voice to ornithology by actively contributing to discussion at meetings with other scientific societies, where meaningful contributions can be made concerning birds and their habitats in contemporary earth science and environmental topics.  We will now have the opportunity to become more involved and engaged with the science community in New Zealand and we look forward to new occasions when we can elevate both the science of ornithology and our Society to a wider audience than is achieved presently.  Our Society is expected to benefit from collaboration with research-based organisations in other disciplines across science, technology and the humanities, including becoming aware of career development opportunities for young ornithologists.

Our participation as a Constituent Organisation of the Royal Society is consistent with the fifth aim of our Society, namely, “To effect co-operation and exchange of information with other organisations with similar aims and objectives”.  It is also an activity set out in the OSNZ Strategy for the 2015 to 2024 period aimed at increasing the awareness of the purpose, aims and objectives of the Society.

Council has nominated the Vice-President of our Society, Ian Armitage, to be the representative of OSNZ to participate at meetings of Constituent Organisations of the Royal Society. 

Bruce McKinlay

President

Collaborative Research Agreement with DOC

Collaborative Research Agreement with Department of Conservation for Studies on the South Island Pied Oystercatcher

The Ornithological Society has been operating a research project for over 10 years, led by David Melville and Rob Schuckard, aimed at increasing knowledge about the movement and longevity of the South Island Pied Oystercatcher/Tōrea in the Nelson/Tasman region.  The outcomes of David and Rob’s research is not only of scientific interest but, no less importantly, is of interest to the Department of Conservation to assist with conservation management planning of this species.  The Society and the Department of Conservation have a common interest in collaborating on research projects such as this with the objective of improving the protection of mobile bird species, especially species having conservation threat rankings.

New Zealand’s network of representative managed ecosystems is inadequate to sustain many mobile threatened species that use habitats both regionally and nationally, notably wetland, forest and shore birds, and birds inhabiting braided rivers.  Lack of knowledge on flyways, migration routes, key stopover points, wintering sites, threats and pressures on those sites and routes, and best practise management actions to deal with threats are significant impediments to designing protective landscape scale networks for several mobile species.

To enable the Department of Conservation to better address these important concerns further research on the seasonal and geographic movements of highly mobile species is needed to improve our understanding of the factors causing their decline and to gain a clearer picture of the patterns of movements of birds.  Our Society can contribute to this important conservation-oriented research by collaborating with the department on specific and important topics and where Society members have the knowledge, skills, resources and capacity to carry out studies.

Against this background the Society and the Department of Conservation entered into a collaborative research agreement in April 2021 that will enable sites and flight paths of specific mobile threatened bird species and other characteristics of their behaviour to be determined.  This will involve tracking the movements of birds and trialling a range of new technologies in doing so.  Ultimately, the information gained from tracking mobile threatened species will help improve conservation outcomes by identifying landscape wide habitats for which effective management arrangements can be developed.

The research programme will start with two complementary studies on the pied oystercatcher, a declining endemic coastal and inland migrant species.  The pied oystercatcher has been selected as a ‘model’ species because of its ability to carry next-generation GPS trackers that will identify details of specific flyways.

The Department of Conservation and the Ornithological Society will liaise regularly with each other, it will include researchers from both sides in project teams to ensure that shared objectives are reflected in decisions, it will apply common research standards and protocols and it will share technical know-how, tracking and other specific data collected during studies.  The agreement also acknowledges the contributions that will be made by each party by offering co-authorship of publications to researchers from the other side where this is appropriate, including in the Society’s scientific journal, ‘Notornis’.

Revised Strategy

A Revised Strategy for Ornithological Society of New Zealand / Te Kāhui Mātai Manu o Aotearoa: 2015 to 2025

In 2015 our Society celebrated its 75^th anniversary.  To help recognise that point in our history it was fitting to set out a strategy that would advance the purpose, vision, values, aim and objectives in order to emphasise our primary activities in the short term, and achieve improved public understanding and wider acceptance of the Society in the community.  The 2015 to 2024 strategy was adopted by the 2015.

At the midpoint of the present period, in 2020, Council considered that our strategy needed to be reviewed and where necessary revised in order to recognise factors that have changed and to provide a sharper focus in the Society’s development for the next five years.

The primary goal of increasing awareness of the purpose, aim and objectives of the Society through inspiring a scientific and a general interest in birds is unchanged.  Also unchanged is the goal that the Society will be recognised by the scientific community as the premier independent source of knowledge on ornithology in New Zealand and the South Pacific, in particular, for the reliable identification of birds. The Society’s scientific journal, Notornis, will not change in name, content or editorial style; it will continue to apply high standards of scientific rigour, objectivity and independence in editorial matters.

A shorter, succinctly expressed vision that recognises our charitable status under New Zealand law is introduced, also an ambition to increase membership with a focus on gaining younger members and to invite Māori participation in Society activities.  In 2019 we welcomed young ornithologists through a new “Young Birders” membership category that is linked to the Society through a Memorandum of Understanding with Young Birders New Zealand.  A new name for the Society in te reo Māori has been adopted and from March 2020 has been printed prominently on the cover of the ‘Birds New Zealand’ magazine.

Changes in activities to increase awareness of the Society include:

• wider use of social media, notably Facebook and Twitter.
• continuing development of the functionality of the Society’s website and regular use of newspapers, radio and TV to promote community knowledge of birds and ornithology.
• facilitate the delivery of video conferencing/lectures (using ‘Zoom’-type technology) to regions, especially in small regions, in order to strengthen their engagement and participation in learning about the results of new research on birds.
• upon request, arrange for experienced members and/or Councillors to assist with specific events, including giving talks, in regions having limited ability to do this.
• promote a range of field activities specifically for younger members that will provide memorable ‘hands-on’ practical experience and information about ornithology.
• engage with Māori, both nationally and regionally, to design and introduce programmes and activities that recognise and document customary knowledge about birds.

Helpful comments received following circulation of the revised strategy to the membership were considered in assembling the final text, including extending the term from 2024 to 2025.  The revised strategy for 2015 to 2025 has now been adopted by Council and is posted on the Society’s website.

Download the revised strategy here

Bruce McKinlay
President

Submission to the Climate Change Commission

The Society made a submission to the Climate Change Commission’s invitation for comment on its Draft Advice Document to the Government. Read the submission here

Regional Representatives – Voluntary Role

Regional Representatives play a leadership role in Birds New Zealand’s regional branches by organising projects, coordinating branch meetings and field trips, communicating with members, and promoting the Society.

We are currently looking for people to volunteer as Regional Representatives in the following regions:

Far North  –  Whanganui  

If you are interested in providing leadership for the study and enjoyment of birds in your region and have the time to volunteer, please get in touch with eo@birdsnz.org.nz

For more details on the Regional Representative role please refer to our guidelines https://www.birdsnz.org.nz/about-us/manual/guidelines/

Nest Record Scheme

With the winter season soon turning into spring, we need your help in increasing our knowledge of a very important aspect of bird behaviour!

With the Nest Recording Scheme you can help to fill the gaps in our knowledge. Are you able to observe birds nesting in your garden or neighbourhood park; or are you already undertaking valuable research on a species that could be reported ? Please check https://www.birdsnz.org.nz/schemes/nest-record-scheme/ or contact the Nest Records Scheme Convenor. Any contribution would be much appreciated.