Publications Archive

(i) Banding of takahe (Notornis mantelli) was begun in December, 1952, and has been continued since. Results are described up to and including December, 1957.

(ii) Thirty-five birds have been banded but of these only thirty bear a combination of aluminium and plastic colour bands. The other five birds, which were banded in 1952 with plastic colour bands only, have apparently lost them since.

(iii) A comparison is made between the durability and the resistance to wear of the aluminium and the plastic colour bands, and a recommendation is made that plastic wrap-on bands be cemented closed with a nitrocellulose lacquer whenever such bands are used. Some data on the fading of the colour bands are given.

(iv) Pairs of takahe show year-round territorial behaviour and extended attachment to the area they occupy – frequently lasting over a number of years. The size of this occupied area lies between 15 and 45 acres. Diurnal, seasonal and other movements are discussed.

(v) Usually takahe appear to pair for life and this bond persists throughout the year. The histories of some marked pairs and some territories are described.

(vi) Both birds of a pair take part in incubation; the breeding age is one year in at least some birds; doubIe brooding and renesting are known.

(vii) There is no obvious external difference between the sexes but a provisional method of separation based on marked birds of known pairs depends upon the use of a combination of culmen and weight measurements. (viii) Population estimates for the number of adults in the main colony indicate a figure of about 50. However, the species does occur elsewhere in the Murchison Range but nowhere in such concentration as in the Takahe Valley-Point Burn area.

Rooks, originally liberated in Auckland, Nelson and Christchurch between 1862 and 1873, are now established in Hawke’s Bay (28 rookeries), southern Wairarapa (1), Christchurch (19), Banks Peninsula (3) and near Peel Forest (3 rookeries). The Hawke’s Bay and Peel Forest populations are probably derived from subsequent liberations.

The existing rook populations are located on the eastern side of the country and mostly in districts where grain is grown (yellow-grey earths). The Hawke’s Bay population (1242 nests counted over 300 square miles) is less dense than the Christchurch one (1371 to 1806 nests over 100 square miles). The Christchurch population has increased from 1000 birds (one rookery) in 1925 to 7000–10,000 birds (thirteen rookeries) in 1947, and then remained at about this level, but with nineteen rookeries.

Control operations, especially shooting and tree-felling, have been important in causing a reduction in some large rookeries, the establishment of several small new ones, and a slow increase in the breeding range of the species, to the south in Hawke’s Bay and to the west near Christchurch. The restricted distribution and slow rate of spread are attributed to the behaviour of the species (gregarious habits and use of traditional nesting places), the restricted distribution of liberations and the nature of the environment (climate and land-use).

The Christchurch rookeries were all in eucalypts until about 1926, but later ones are mostly in pines, the change over following an epidemic in eucalypts; eucalypts remain the favourite nesting trees in Hawke’s Bay. Limited data are presented on breeding season, clutch size and the location of winter roosts.