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Native animals

In this section:

DOC's work
- Toutouwai - Robin's Return

Relocation of the birds

TV3 website:

Where did they come from?

The birds came from Pureora Forest Park between Lake Taupo and Te Kuiti. Pureora is home to a large healthy population of North Island robin and the closest mainland location to Moehau.

The 71 birds caught were checked and banded before being transported to Moehau. The birds travelled in specially modified cat boxes and were fed with mealworms and waxmoths.

North Island robin being removed from
a clap trap

Catching the birds

This was a two stage process.

At the source area, the robins were trained to feed on mealworms to the background of a tapping sound at specific sites in the forest. The birds learnt to associate the tapping
sound with food and come to investigate when they heard the noise.
After 5-6 days of training, the robins were very responsive and a clap trap was set up in the feeding area with a mealworm placed underneath the trap. Once the robin went in to feed on the mealworm, the trap was triggered and the robin caught inside. It was immediately restrained and removed from the net and then placed in a dark cotton bag ready for transport to a banding station. Here it was weighed, measured and checked before both colour and metal bands were attached to its legs.

Housing and feeding the birds prior to travelling to Moehau

The robins were housed in individual, modified cat boxes and fed mealworms and waxmoths three times a day. They were kept in a secure, quiet, dry area with good ventilation.

Once ready for travel, their water dishes were removed and the waxmoths and mealworms put directly in the leaf litter to avoid the food tins rolling around the box on the windy Coromandel roads.

The birds travelled in their boxes in air-conditioned vehicles and were fed once on the journey in the Thames Pak and Save car park!

The release sites

In 2009 and 2011, 30 and 31 birds respectively were released on public conservation land on the eastern side of Mt Moehau at Stony Bay; and
In 2009, 30 birds were released on 300 ha of privately owned land where Moehau Environment Group (MEG) runs a pest control programme just south of Stony Bay.

Both sites are suitable environments for the birds and have managed predator and pest control programmes in place.

How many people are involved, and where are they from?

The Department of Conservation and MEG have been the key players in this project.
Local iwi have also played their part.
For the on-going monitoring, DOC, MEG and community volunteers will all contribute so an overall picture of where the robins have established territories and if they are breeding can be determined.