Rifleman Series: Part 8 - A New Beginning

It's a hot summer in the mountains of Boundary Stream Mainland Island reserve. The heat is sometimes dizzying. The cicadas took over the soundscape in January and February, and we can barely hear birds as they move on from their singing phase to parenthood and molting phase. When a bird molts, it means their breeding season is over.

Apart from following the cutest little birds, we also volunteered for the Department of Conservation to feed the translocated kākā here and maintain their feeders, as well as monitor a man-made seabird sanctuary near the Bellrock Track. I realized how much thought and research goes into helping birds in the wild.

I'm grateful to have climbed a steep learning curve during my first season here. I learned how to search for nests, set up mist nets to catch birds, how to extract, handle, band and measure birds, and how to read bands in the field.

Being in the forest everyday also meant I could see it grow. I noticed little things like the change in density of the undergrowth from spring to summer, and the rate of growing of young tree ferns along the trail. I know exactly when a log fell, where there were streams after rainy spells, and the changes of songs of many birds.

I took many photos of birds, insects, fungi and liverworts, trees, landscapes, and the moon and stars (all photos in this blog series were taken by me, and all photos of me were taken by my PhD colleague, Ines Moran). Some more challenging to capture than others. I could not list out every single thing that made me fall in love with research in the forest during my time here. There were too many! But I hope this series of blog posts gave you a 'giss' (as a birder would say) of what this forest is like and inspired you to go outdoors into nature.

It's a wrap for my first field season. Stay tuned for more updates on discoveries and findings through data analysis!

I heard the song and seen at least 3 pairs of the rare North Island kokako several times!

Till next time and have a great birding year of 2019 ahead!