OROKONUI TRIP

The junior school visited Orokonui to find out more about our native birds and how they can survive and thrive.

We entered the sanctuary through two doors linked to the large, special fence.  This fence is made carefully to keep the predators out. 

We had to check our pockets to make sure we weren't carrying any mice with us!

We were able to see the habitat where the tuatara now live. 








We were very lucky to see the takahe in their new enclosure of grasses.  Can you spot the takahe hiding in this photo?

These creatures can enjoy life without predators inside the protection of the fence.  They have everything they need to survive and now they can begin to thrive. 

We found damsel flies in this pond.
But when we released the bugs back into the pond, an eel slowly crept up and enjoyed gobbling the easy to catch, treats. 





   
These rocks are the habitat for lizards who enjoy resting on the rocks to soak up the sun to warm their bodies. Without predators, they won't get eaten easily and they can get on with  thriving.

 We made seed bombs and threw them into the gorse bushes.  We hope our seeds will germinate and grow up to be a new forest.  The new forest will give shelter, nectar, berries and leaves for the birds, insects and lizards.

 These tracking pads help the workers at Orokonui know what creatures are in the forest. It can show them if predators are in the forest too.  The creatures walk over the ink pads and get ink on their feet. Then they walk over white paper and leave their footprints.  The workers know which footprints belong to which creatures.  It will help the workers to catch any predators that don't belong in the forest because it will show where the predators are. The workers will set traps in the parts of the forest where the predators are lurking.

Here the new seedlings are having a sheltered start to their life. They can enjoy growing without rats eating their new shoots.   They are thriving too.

 This feeding station gives delicious sweet water to the nectar eating birds of the forest, like the tui and bellbirds.  We learnt that tui have feathers on their tongue to collect lots of droplets of nectar on the end of their tongue. There are also nuts and seeds for the kaka to discover hiding in a container with a foot operated lid. 

 This cabbage tree is 500 years old!!! Geckos like finding insects in the leaves and enjoy the shelter the leaves provide.

ROD MORRIS AND THE STOAT PREDATOR

Rod Morris came out to show us a dead stoat.  He found it on the road and he said it was killed by a car on the road.  We were able to take a close look at this predator.  

Rod told us that the stoat is a very good hunter and it can find and kill native bird chicks and eggs.  
The stoat has very good hearing and is able to hear birds singing and find where they live. 
They like to practice hunting and kill chicks even when they don't need to eat them.

We found out that stoats were brought to New Zealand as a present.  But now they have become a pest.  

Stoats are good in England but not in New Zealand.

EXPLORING OUR MACANDREW BAY STREAM

It was great to have Tahu and Chelsea come out from Orokonui to teach us about the creatures in our Macandrew Bay stream.

She showed us how to collect the little bugs from the stream using nets and buckets.

 

It was awesome to find creatures in our stream.  We even found creatures that can only survive in clean water. That tells us our stream is not too polluted.

DOG SAFETY

We learnt to always ask the owner if we want to pat a dog.
First we let the dog sniff our fist.  
Then we can pat the dog on its lower shoulder. 
That's where the dog enjoys being patted.