Publications Archive

During 1968, 65 members of the O.S.N.Z. patrolled a total of 1,188 miles of coast and found 4,716 dead seabirds of 49 species. A unique factor was the tropical cyclone in April, the effects of which around southern coasts of the North Island have been described elsewhere. There was an unusually protracted period of strong westerly winds from mid-September to end of November which was accompanied by an extensive wreck of short-tailed shearwaters Puffinus tenuirostris and several other species. Excluding April specimens, unusual birds were three storm-petrels (Wilson’s, Oceanites oceanicus; grey-backed, Garrodia nereis; black-bellied, Fregetta tropica), a sooty tern Sterna fuscata and two spine-tailed swifts Chaetura caudacuta.

This article is an account of the first recorded rooks in the Waiuku area, their recorded sightings and nestings over the past five years. The arrival of two at first and the appearance of a third bird after four years of their establishment.

The habitat and the history of the distribution and status of the orange-fronted parakeet Cyanoramphus malherbi have been appraised. Never common, it occurred in most districts of the South Island and Stewart Island and, now rare, it seems confined to mid- and north-west Nelson. It favours forest at about 2,000– 2,500 feet above sea level but has been reported from higher altitudes.

Occurrences of the nankeen kestrel in New Zealand are listed; field notes on kestrels seen in 1969 are given in some detail.