#ecologicalmonitoring — Public Fediverse posts

After recent media stories about butterfly declines in New Zealand, centred around one transect in Nelson, it's heartening to see in Stacey Lewthwaite's graphs that kahukura and monarch butterflies have not declined around Christchurch. That's in the last two decades along my 78 km of transects.

#EcologicalMonitoring #butterflies #Ōtautahi #Christchurch #NZ

After recent media stories about butterfly declines in New Zealand, centred around one transect in Nelson, it's heartening to see in Stacey Lewthwaite's graphs that kahukura and monarch butterflies have not declined around Christchurch. That's in the last two decades along my 78 km of transects.

#EcologicalMonitoring #butterflies #Ōtautahi #Christchurch #NZ

After recent media stories about butterfly declines in New Zealand, centred around one transect in Nelson, it's heartening to see in Stacey Lewthwaite's graphs that kahukura and monarch butterflies have not declined around Christchurch. That's in the last two decades along my 78 km of transects.

#EcologicalMonitoring #butterflies #Ōtautahi #Christchurch #NZ

After recent media stories about butterfly declines in New Zealand, centred around one transect in Nelson, it's heartening to see in Stacey Lewthwaite's graphs that kahukura and monarch butterflies have not declined around Christchurch. That's in the last two decades along my 78 km of transects.

#EcologicalMonitoring #butterflies #Ōtautahi #Christchurch #NZ

After recent media stories about butterfly declines in New Zealand, centred around one transect in Nelson, it's heartening to see in Stacey Lewthwaite's graphs that kahukura and monarch butterflies have not declined around Christchurch. That's in the last two decades along my 78 km of transects.

#EcologicalMonitoring #butterflies #Ōtautahi #Christchurch #NZ

Here's some good news about local birds here in NZ.

Today I've been editing the final draft of a MSc thesis by Stacey Lewthwaite. Stacey has been applying her data skills to my 20+ year dataset of species counts between Christchurch and Lincoln. The bulk of her thesis has focused on looking at the phenology shifts (in abundance, flowering, singing) associated with climate change.

I don't want to steal much of Stacey's thunder just yet but I wanted to share these two good news graphs. These are the numbers of korimako (NZ bellbirds) and ducks (mallards/greylard hybrids) that I've counted per bike ride over the past two decades.

Both species have got *considerably* more abundant over this time period.

For korimako, we think it's because of the forest regeneration and mammalian predator control in their breeding grounds in the nearby Port Hills, done by City Council rangers and Summit Road Society volunteers. For the ducks, we think it's the planting of flood retention wetlands around the fringes of the city plus the increase in farm irrigation.

So, while we hear a lot of scary doom and gloom about nature in the media, some species are thriving because of our actions. Let's do more of that.

#EcologicalMonitoring #nz #nature #birds #LincolnUniversityNZ

Here's some good news about local birds here in NZ.

Today I've been editing the final draft of a MSc thesis by Stacey Lewthwaite. Stacey has been applying her data skills to my 20+ year dataset of species counts between Christchurch and Lincoln. The bulk of her thesis has focused on looking at the phenology shifts (in abundance, flowering, singing) associated with climate change.

I don't want to steal much of Stacey's thunder just yet but I wanted to share these two good news graphs. These are the numbers of korimako (NZ bellbirds) and ducks (mallards/greylard hybrids) that I've counted per bike ride over the past two decades.

Both species have got *considerably* more abundant over this time period.

For korimako, we think it's because of the forest regeneration and mammalian predator control in their breeding grounds in the nearby Port Hills, done by City Council rangers and Summit Road Society volunteers. For the ducks, we think it's the planting of flood retention wetlands around the fringes of the city plus the increase in farm irrigation.

So, while we hear a lot of scary doom and gloom about nature in the media, some species are thriving because of our actions. Let's do more of that.

#EcologicalMonitoring #nz #nature #birds #LincolnUniversityNZ

Here's some good news about local birds here in NZ.

Today I've been editing the final draft of a MSc thesis by Stacey Lewthwaite. Stacey has been applying her data skills to my 20+ year dataset of species counts between Christchurch and Lincoln. The bulk of her thesis has focused on looking at the phenology shifts (in abundance, flowering, singing) associated with climate change.

I don't want to steal much of Stacey's thunder just yet but I wanted to share these two good news graphs. These are the numbers of korimako (NZ bellbirds) and ducks (mallards/greylard hybrids) that I've counted per bike ride over the past two decades.

Both species have got *considerably* more abundant over this time period.

For korimako, we think it's because of the forest regeneration and mammalian predator control in their breeding grounds in the nearby Port Hills, done by City Council rangers and Summit Road Society volunteers. For the ducks, we think it's the planting of flood retention wetlands around the fringes of the city plus the increase in farm irrigation.

So, while we hear a lot of scary doom and gloom about nature in the media, some species are thriving because of our actions. Let's do more of that.

#EcologicalMonitoring #nz #nature #birds #LincolnUniversityNZ

Here's some good news about local birds here in NZ.

Today I've been editing the final draft of a MSc thesis by Stacey Lewthwaite. Stacey has been applying her data skills to my 20+ year dataset of species counts between Christchurch and Lincoln. The bulk of her thesis has focused on looking at the phenology shifts (in abundance, flowering, singing) associated with climate change.

I don't want to steal much of Stacey's thunder just yet but I wanted to share these two good news graphs. These are the numbers of korimako (NZ bellbirds) and ducks (mallards/greylard hybrids) that I've counted per bike ride over the past two decades.

Both species have got *considerably* more abundant over this time period.

For korimako, we think it's because of the forest regeneration and mammalian predator control in their breeding grounds in the nearby Port Hills, done by City Council rangers and Summit Road Society volunteers. For the ducks, we think it's the planting of flood retention wetlands around the fringes of the city plus the increase in farm irrigation.

So, while we hear a lot of scary doom and gloom about nature in the media, some species are thriving because of our actions. Let's do more of that.

#EcologicalMonitoring #nz #nature #birds #LincolnUniversityNZ

Here's some good news about local birds here in NZ.

Today I've been editing the final draft of a MSc thesis by Stacey Lewthwaite. Stacey has been applying her data skills to my 20+ year dataset of species counts between Christchurch and Lincoln. The bulk of her thesis has focused on looking at the phenology shifts (in abundance, flowering, singing) associated with climate change.

I don't want to steal much of Stacey's thunder just yet but I wanted to share these two good news graphs. These are the numbers of korimako (NZ bellbirds) and ducks (mallards/greylard hybrids) that I've counted per bike ride over the past two decades.

Both species have got *considerably* more abundant over this time period.

For korimako, we think it's because of the forest regeneration and mammalian predator control in their breeding grounds in the nearby Port Hills, done by City Council rangers and Summit Road Society volunteers. For the ducks, we think it's the planting of flood retention wetlands around the fringes of the city plus the increase in farm irrigation.

So, while we hear a lot of scary doom and gloom about nature in the media, some species are thriving because of our actions. Let's do more of that.

#EcologicalMonitoring #nz #nature #birds #LincolnUniversityNZ

@rnzbot_nz This article is referring to a short report on the website of the Moths and Butterflies of NZ Trust (link below). It shows a concerning decline in butterflies since 2009 along a monthly transect through the streets of Nelson walked by Kiran Thodiyll Kanakambujan.

Comparing with iNaturalist observations, the decline is at least consistent with the rise in observations of exotic paper wasps in the area. These are big predators of caterpillars, as the RNZ article notes.

We need a lot more monitoring like this. While the news headline boldly pronounces a significant decline in New Zealand's butterflies, that's not my impression from surveying butterflies in and around Christchurch city. I think it depends a lot on location. Worryingly, European paper wasps are just starting to ramp up in numbers in Christchurch while they've been abundant in Nelson for a decade.

If you want to contribute to standard butterfly monitoring, the Trust recommends butterfly-monitoring.net.

https://www.nzbutterflies.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/Kiran-Brief-Report-Nelson-Transect.pdf

https://butterfly-monitoring.net/

#insects #insectSurvey #entomology #butterflies #nz #EcologicalMonitoring

@rnzbot_nz This article is referring to a short report on the website of the Moths and Butterflies of NZ Trust (link below). It shows a concerning decline in butterflies since 2009 along a monthly transect through the streets of Nelson walked by Kiran Thodiyll Kanakambujan.

Comparing with iNaturalist observations, the decline is at least consistent with the rise in observations of exotic paper wasps in the area. These are big predators of caterpillars, as the RNZ article notes.

We need a lot more monitoring like this. While the news headline boldly pronounces a significant decline in New Zealand's butterflies, that's not my impression from surveying butterflies in and around Christchurch city. I think it depends a lot on location. Worryingly, European paper wasps are just starting to ramp up in numbers in Christchurch while they've been abundant in Nelson for a decade.

If you want to contribute to standard butterfly monitoring, the Trust recommends butterfly-monitoring.net.

https://www.nzbutterflies.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/Kiran-Brief-Report-Nelson-Transect.pdf

https://butterfly-monitoring.net/

#insects #insectSurvey #entomology #butterflies #nz #EcologicalMonitoring

@rnzbot_nz This article is referring to a short report on the website of the Moths and Butterflies of NZ Trust (link below). It shows a concerning decline in butterflies since 2009 along a monthly transect through the streets of Nelson walked by Kiran Thodiyll Kanakambujan.

Comparing with iNaturalist observations, the decline is at least consistent with the rise in observations of exotic paper wasps in the area. These are big predators of caterpillars, as the RNZ article notes.

We need a lot more monitoring like this. While the news headline boldly pronounces a significant decline in New Zealand's butterflies, that's not my impression from surveying butterflies in and around Christchurch city. I think it depends a lot on location. Worryingly, European paper wasps are just starting to ramp up in numbers in Christchurch while they've been abundant in Nelson for a decade.

If you want to contribute to standard butterfly monitoring, the Trust recommends butterfly-monitoring.net.

https://www.nzbutterflies.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/Kiran-Brief-Report-Nelson-Transect.pdf

https://butterfly-monitoring.net/

#insects #insectSurvey #entomology #butterflies #nz #EcologicalMonitoring

@rnzbot_nz This article is referring to a short report on the website of the Moths and Butterflies of NZ Trust (link below). It shows a concerning decline in butterflies since 2009 along a monthly transect through the streets of Nelson walked by Kiran Thodiyll Kanakambujan.

Comparing with iNaturalist observations, the decline is at least consistent with the rise in observations of exotic paper wasps in the area. These are big predators of caterpillars, as the RNZ article notes.

We need a lot more monitoring like this. While the news headline boldly pronounces a significant decline in New Zealand's butterflies, that's not my impression from surveying butterflies in and around Christchurch city. I think it depends a lot on location. Worryingly, European paper wasps are just starting to ramp up in numbers in Christchurch while they've been abundant in Nelson for a decade.

If you want to contribute to standard butterfly monitoring, the Trust recommends butterfly-monitoring.net.

https://www.nzbutterflies.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/Kiran-Brief-Report-Nelson-Transect.pdf

https://butterfly-monitoring.net/

#insects #insectSurvey #entomology #butterflies #nz #EcologicalMonitoring

@rnzbot_nz This article is referring to a short report on the website of the Moths and Butterflies of NZ Trust (link below). It shows a concerning decline in butterflies since 2009 along a monthly transect through the streets of Nelson walked by Kiran Thodiyll Kanakambujan.

Comparing with iNaturalist observations, the decline is at least consistent with the rise in observations of exotic paper wasps in the area. These are big predators of caterpillars, as the RNZ article notes.

We need a lot more monitoring like this. While the news headline boldly pronounces a significant decline in New Zealand's butterflies, that's not my impression from surveying butterflies in and around Christchurch city. I think it depends a lot on location. Worryingly, European paper wasps are just starting to ramp up in numbers in Christchurch while they've been abundant in Nelson for a decade.

If you want to contribute to standard butterfly monitoring, the Trust recommends butterfly-monitoring.net.

https://www.nzbutterflies.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/Kiran-Brief-Report-Nelson-Transect.pdf

https://butterfly-monitoring.net/

#insects #insectSurvey #entomology #butterflies #nz #EcologicalMonitoring

I spent Thursday morning this week at Ōruapaeroa-Travis Wetland, the largest freshwater wetland in Ōtautahi-Christchurch city, NZ. Once destined for more housing, the local community's protests led to the city buying up the land and restoring it for nature.

I'm helping PhD student Tommy Copeland to monitor the invertebrates of the wetland. Tommy's both repeating traditional survey methods used in a survey in the mid-1990s, and trying out new methods.

Enter Victor Anton from Wildlife.AI, a NZ-based non-profit dedicated to using artificial intelligence tech to improve conservation. On Thursday Victor gave Tommy one of their first field-ready prototypes of a new camera system with app control and built in machine learning image recognition. Tommy's going to be trialling it to see how he, with the Travis community group, can monitor invertebrates with this camera system.

Stay tuned.

https://wildlife.ai/

#EcologicalMonitoring #Conservation #invertebrates #Ōtautahi #Christchurch #nz #TravisWetland #WildlifeAI

I've been counting birds on my bike work commute between Christchurch and Lincoln, NZ, since 2003. On Friday, I counted my *first ever* Kōtuku Ngutupapa, Royal Spoonbill, on the route.

It was feeding in a paddock that had been recently scraped clear preparing it for a housing subdivision, but in the meantime had filled with water after a heavy rain. There are also restored wetlands nearby that I hope was what attracted it in. Perhaps there will be more.

#birds #nz #spoonbill #EcologicalMonitoring #wildcounts #UrbanEcology

https://inaturalist.nz/observations/340743507

I've been counting birds on my bike work commute between Christchurch and Lincoln, NZ, since 2003. On Friday, I counted my *first ever* Kōtuku Ngutupapa, Royal Spoonbill, on the route.

It was feeding in a paddock that had been recently scraped clear preparing it for a housing subdivision, but in the meantime had filled with water after a heavy rain. There are also restored wetlands nearby that I hope was what attracted it in. Perhaps there will be more.

#birds #nz #spoonbill #EcologicalMonitoring #wildcounts #UrbanEcology

https://inaturalist.nz/observations/340743507

I've been counting birds on my bike work commute between Christchurch and Lincoln, NZ, since 2003. On Friday, I counted my *first ever* Kōtuku Ngutupapa, Royal Spoonbill, on the route.

It was feeding in a paddock that had been recently scraped clear preparing it for a housing subdivision, but in the meantime had filled with water after a heavy rain. There are also restored wetlands nearby that I hope was what attracted it in. Perhaps there will be more.

#birds #nz #spoonbill #EcologicalMonitoring #wildcounts #UrbanEcology

https://inaturalist.nz/observations/340743507

I've been counting birds on my bike work commute between Christchurch and Lincoln, NZ, since 2003. On Friday, I counted my *first ever* Kōtuku Ngutupapa, Royal Spoonbill, on the route.

It was feeding in a paddock that had been recently scraped clear preparing it for a housing subdivision, but in the meantime had filled with water after a heavy rain. There are also restored wetlands nearby that I hope was what attracted it in. Perhaps there will be more.

#birds #nz #spoonbill #EcologicalMonitoring #wildcounts #UrbanEcology

https://inaturalist.nz/observations/340743507

I've been counting birds on my bike work commute between Christchurch and Lincoln, NZ, since 2003. On Friday, I counted my *first ever* Kōtuku Ngutupapa, Royal Spoonbill, on the route.

It was feeding in a paddock that had been recently scraped clear preparing it for a housing subdivision, but in the meantime had filled with water after a heavy rain. There are also restored wetlands nearby that I hope was what attracted it in. Perhaps there will be more.

#birds #nz #spoonbill #EcologicalMonitoring #wildcounts #UrbanEcology

https://inaturalist.nz/observations/340743507

I spent part of my summer on Banks Peninsula with a team from #LincolnUniversityNZ monitoring lizards, invertebrates, and birds. We also, optimistically, put out a set of bat recorders.

Native bats haven't been reliably sighted on Banks Peninsula in many decades but there's always hope that there's a colony or two out there somewhere. If you know the Peninsula, we put our recorders out at Tutakakahikura, Ellangowan, Panama Rock, Mount Pearce, Hay Reserve, and Montgomery Reserve. All have areas of old growth forest with some gnarly old trees where bats could roost.

Sadly, the results are in and we detected no bats.

:ablobsigh:

#ecology #EcologicalMonitoring #nz #bats #BanksPeninsula

I spent part of my summer on Banks Peninsula with a team from #LincolnUniversityNZ monitoring lizards, invertebrates, and birds. We also, optimistically, put out a set of bat recorders.

Native bats haven't been reliably sighted on Banks Peninsula in many decades but there's always hope that there's a colony or two out there somewhere. If you know the Peninsula, we put our recorders out at Tutakakahikura, Ellangowan, Panama Rock, Mount Pearce, Hay Reserve, and Montgomery Reserve. All have areas of old growth forest with some gnarly old trees where bats could roost.

Sadly, the results are in and we detected no bats.

:ablobsigh:

#ecology #EcologicalMonitoring #nz #bats #BanksPeninsula

I spent part of my summer on Banks Peninsula with a team from #LincolnUniversityNZ monitoring lizards, invertebrates, and birds. We also, optimistically, put out a set of bat recorders.

Native bats haven't been reliably sighted on Banks Peninsula in many decades but there's always hope that there's a colony or two out there somewhere. If you know the Peninsula, we put our recorders out at Tutakakahikura, Ellangowan, Panama Rock, Mount Pearce, Hay Reserve, and Montgomery Reserve. All have areas of old growth forest with some gnarly old trees where bats could roost.

Sadly, the results are in and we detected no bats.

:ablobsigh:

#ecology #EcologicalMonitoring #nz #bats #BanksPeninsula

I spent part of my summer on Banks Peninsula with a team from #LincolnUniversityNZ monitoring lizards, invertebrates, and birds. We also, optimistically, put out a set of bat recorders.

Native bats haven't been reliably sighted on Banks Peninsula in many decades but there's always hope that there's a colony or two out there somewhere. If you know the Peninsula, we put our recorders out at Tutakakahikura, Ellangowan, Panama Rock, Mount Pearce, Hay Reserve, and Montgomery Reserve. All have areas of old growth forest with some gnarly old trees where bats could roost.

Sadly, the results are in and we detected no bats.

:ablobsigh:

#ecology #EcologicalMonitoring #nz #bats #BanksPeninsula

I spent part of my summer on Banks Peninsula with a team from #LincolnUniversityNZ monitoring lizards, invertebrates, and birds. We also, optimistically, put out a set of bat recorders.

Native bats haven't been reliably sighted on Banks Peninsula in many decades but there's always hope that there's a colony or two out there somewhere. If you know the Peninsula, we put our recorders out at Tutakakahikura, Ellangowan, Panama Rock, Mount Pearce, Hay Reserve, and Montgomery Reserve. All have areas of old growth forest with some gnarly old trees where bats could roost.

Sadly, the results are in and we detected no bats.

:ablobsigh:

#ecology #EcologicalMonitoring #nz #bats #BanksPeninsula

Each season I do four nights of moth lighting in my garden in suburban Ōtautahi-Christchurch, NZ. My summer moth lighting this year started on Saturday. I photograph every moth that settles at my light and today I've been uploading my photos to #iNaturalist.

I've been doing this consistently each autumn since 2015 and every season each year since (at least) 2021. You might think I would have found all the moth species that visit my garden, but no.

So far I've finished uploading Saturday's moth photos and have found six new species to our garden. Here are four of them.

There's the endemic moth *Gymnobathra hamatella*:
https://inaturalist.nz/observations/337290749

There's the "nationally vulnerable" endemic species *Gadira leucophthalma*:
https://inaturalist.nz/observations/337263605

There's the endemic Clematis triangle *Deana hybreasalis*:
https://inaturalist.nz/observations/337285888

Also, less ideal, there's the introduced Case-bearing Clothes Moth *Tinea pellionella*:
https://inaturalist.nz/observations/337285916

#mothodon #moths #Lepidoptera #Ōtautahi #Christchurch #NZ #insects #EcologicalMonitoring

For the past week four of us from #LincolnUniversityNZ were based at Hinewai Reserve on Banks Peninsula, NZ. We visited a set of monitoring sites in and out of the predator control area of the Predator Free Banks Peninsula project. Predator Free Banks Peninsula is primarily targetting brush-tailed possums at the moment and we're interested in how that is affecting birds, lizards, and invertebrates.

We've been doing this for several years so we're also interested in what the general trends are in these animals in this amazing landscape.

We counted, weighed, and photographed all the lizards in our lizard shelters (mostly geckos). Jennifer Gillette is using the unique patterns on geckos' backs and irises to track individuals over the years.

We also brought in our audio recorders, which monitored birds and, optimistically, bats. Bats haven't officially been detected on Banks Peninsula in decades. There's still hope so we put out bat recorders in several of the areas of oldest forest.

We also brought in our invertebrate pitfall traps.

We've got three more days on the Peninsula this coming week, then we can get stuck into identifying the specimens, processing the data, and finding our what the patterns and trends are.

#ecology #fieldwork #EcologicalMonitoring #BanksPeninsula #NZ

For the past week four of us from #LincolnUniversityNZ were based at Hinewai Reserve on Banks Peninsula, NZ. We visited a set of monitoring sites in and out of the predator control area of the Predator Free Banks Peninsula project. Predator Free Banks Peninsula is primarily targetting brush-tailed possums at the moment and we're interested in how that is affecting birds, lizards, and invertebrates.

We've been doing this for several years so we're also interested in what the general trends are in these animals in this amazing landscape.

We counted, weighed, and photographed all the lizards in our lizard shelters (mostly geckos). Jennifer Gillette is using the unique patterns on geckos' backs and irises to track individuals over the years.

We also brought in our audio recorders, which monitored birds and, optimistically, bats. Bats haven't officially been detected on Banks Peninsula in decades. There's still hope so we put out bat recorders in several of the areas of oldest forest.

We also brought in our invertebrate pitfall traps.

We've got three more days on the Peninsula this coming week, then we can get stuck into identifying the specimens, processing the data, and finding our what the patterns and trends are.

#ecology #fieldwork #EcologicalMonitoring #BanksPeninsula #NZ

For the past week four of us from #LincolnUniversityNZ were based at Hinewai Reserve on Banks Peninsula, NZ. We visited a set of monitoring sites in and out of the predator control area of the Predator Free Banks Peninsula project. Predator Free Banks Peninsula is primarily targetting brush-tailed possums at the moment and we're interested in how that is affecting birds, lizards, and invertebrates.

We've been doing this for several years so we're also interested in what the general trends are in these animals in this amazing landscape.

We counted, weighed, and photographed all the lizards in our lizard shelters (mostly geckos). Jennifer Gillette is using the unique patterns on geckos' backs and irises to track individuals over the years.

We also brought in our audio recorders, which monitored birds and, optimistically, bats. Bats haven't officially been detected on Banks Peninsula in decades. There's still hope so we put out bat recorders in several of the areas of oldest forest.

We also brought in our invertebrate pitfall traps.

We've got three more days on the Peninsula this coming week, then we can get stuck into identifying the specimens, processing the data, and finding our what the patterns and trends are.

#ecology #fieldwork #EcologicalMonitoring #BanksPeninsula #NZ

For the past week four of us from #LincolnUniversityNZ were based at Hinewai Reserve on Banks Peninsula, NZ. We visited a set of monitoring sites in and out of the predator control area of the Predator Free Banks Peninsula project. Predator Free Banks Peninsula is primarily targetting brush-tailed possums at the moment and we're interested in how that is affecting birds, lizards, and invertebrates.

We've been doing this for several years so we're also interested in what the general trends are in these animals in this amazing landscape.

We counted, weighed, and photographed all the lizards in our lizard shelters (mostly geckos). Jennifer Gillette is using the unique patterns on geckos' backs and irises to track individuals over the years.

We also brought in our audio recorders, which monitored birds and, optimistically, bats. Bats haven't officially been detected on Banks Peninsula in decades. There's still hope so we put out bat recorders in several of the areas of oldest forest.

We also brought in our invertebrate pitfall traps.

We've got three more days on the Peninsula this coming week, then we can get stuck into identifying the specimens, processing the data, and finding our what the patterns and trends are.

#ecology #fieldwork #EcologicalMonitoring #BanksPeninsula #NZ

For the past week four of us from #LincolnUniversityNZ were based at Hinewai Reserve on Banks Peninsula, NZ. We visited a set of monitoring sites in and out of the predator control area of the Predator Free Banks Peninsula project. Predator Free Banks Peninsula is primarily targetting brush-tailed possums at the moment and we're interested in how that is affecting birds, lizards, and invertebrates.

We've been doing this for several years so we're also interested in what the general trends are in these animals in this amazing landscape.

We counted, weighed, and photographed all the lizards in our lizard shelters (mostly geckos). Jennifer Gillette is using the unique patterns on geckos' backs and irises to track individuals over the years.

We also brought in our audio recorders, which monitored birds and, optimistically, bats. Bats haven't officially been detected on Banks Peninsula in decades. There's still hope so we put out bat recorders in several of the areas of oldest forest.

We also brought in our invertebrate pitfall traps.

We've got three more days on the Peninsula this coming week, then we can get stuck into identifying the specimens, processing the data, and finding our what the patterns and trends are.

#ecology #fieldwork #EcologicalMonitoring #BanksPeninsula #NZ

I've learned the hard way that there is an enormous difference between microSD cards in the amount of power they need. When it comes to putting audio recorders out in nature, that matters a lot.

As an example, I was just comparing my latest AudioMoth results with SanDisk Extreme 64GB cards compared with Samsung Pro Plus 128 GB cards last year.

In the same device, with the same dawn-dusk daytime recording settings, on the same three fully-charged Powerex rechargeable batteries, the Samsung card recorded for four days (11 GB) before flattening the batteries, while the SanDisk cards recorded for 12 days (44 GB) before the flattening the batteries.

Given that it takes a lot of time for me to get to these remote sites to deploy these recorders, this makes a big difference to how much data I get.

#AudioMoth #AudioRecorder #birds #BirdMonitoring #EcologicalMonitoring #SDcards #EcologyMethods

I've learned the hard way that there is an enormous difference between microSD cards in the amount of power they need. When it comes to putting audio recorders out in nature, that matters a lot.

As an example, I was just comparing my latest AudioMoth results with SanDisk Extreme 64GB cards compared with Samsung Pro Plus 128 GB cards last year.

In the same device, with the same dawn-dusk daytime recording settings, on the same three fully-charged Powerex rechargeable batteries, the Samsung card recorded for four days (11 GB) before flattening the batteries, while the SanDisk cards recorded for 12 days (44 GB) before the flattening the batteries.

Given that it takes a lot of time for me to get to these remote sites to deploy these recorders, this makes a big difference to how much data I get.

#AudioMoth #AudioRecorder #birds #BirdMonitoring #EcologicalMonitoring #SDcards #EcologyMethods

I've learned the hard way that there is an enormous difference between microSD cards in the amount of power they need. When it comes to putting audio recorders out in nature, that matters a lot.

As an example, I was just comparing my latest AudioMoth results with SanDisk Extreme 64GB cards compared with Samsung Pro Plus 128 GB cards last year.

In the same device, with the same dawn-dusk daytime recording settings, on the same three fully-charged Powerex rechargeable batteries, the Samsung card recorded for four days (11 GB) before flattening the batteries, while the SanDisk cards recorded for 12 days (44 GB) before the flattening the batteries.

Given that it takes a lot of time for me to get to these remote sites to deploy these recorders, this makes a big difference to how much data I get.

#AudioMoth #AudioRecorder #birds #BirdMonitoring #EcologicalMonitoring #SDcards #EcologyMethods

I've learned the hard way that there is an enormous difference between microSD cards in the amount of power they need. When it comes to putting audio recorders out in nature, that matters a lot.

As an example, I was just comparing my latest AudioMoth results with SanDisk Extreme 64GB cards compared with Samsung Pro Plus 128 GB cards last year.

In the same device, with the same dawn-dusk daytime recording settings, on the same three fully-charged Powerex rechargeable batteries, the Samsung card recorded for four days (11 GB) before flattening the batteries, while the SanDisk cards recorded for 12 days (44 GB) before the flattening the batteries.

Given that it takes a lot of time for me to get to these remote sites to deploy these recorders, this makes a big difference to how much data I get.

#AudioMoth #AudioRecorder #birds #BirdMonitoring #EcologicalMonitoring #SDcards #EcologyMethods

I've learned the hard way that there is an enormous difference between microSD cards in the amount of power they need. When it comes to putting audio recorders out in nature, that matters a lot.

As an example, I was just comparing my latest AudioMoth results with SanDisk Extreme 64GB cards compared with Samsung Pro Plus 128 GB cards last year.

In the same device, with the same dawn-dusk daytime recording settings, on the same three fully-charged Powerex rechargeable batteries, the Samsung card recorded for four days (11 GB) before flattening the batteries, while the SanDisk cards recorded for 12 days (44 GB) before the flattening the batteries.

Given that it takes a lot of time for me to get to these remote sites to deploy these recorders, this makes a big difference to how much data I get.

#AudioMoth #AudioRecorder #birds #BirdMonitoring #EcologicalMonitoring #SDcards #EcologyMethods

We live in an age of unprecedented, rapid environmental change. One of my personal responses to this, as a trained ecologist, has been to consistently count as many of the changes in nature around my city as I can. I've got a series of regular routes around the city where I map and count all birds, butterflies, assorted other insects, plants and fungi, and vertebrates. Hence "JonCounts".

I just tallied up my biodiversity surveys and observations from 2025:

52 weekly and 12x2 monthly run routes: total distance 1,095 km
240 daily and 12x3 monthly bike routes: total distance 6,898 km
225,516 species observations, including transcriptions from 466 hours of field audio notes
~60,000 photos
1,225 audio recordings of species vocalising

that's plus my automated AudioMoth recordings and monthly timelapse phototransects

This creates an enormous amount of data curation work, which I typically chip away at over my summer holidays, like now (at the moment I'm correcting errors in the automated transcriptions).

#wildcounts #nz #EcologicalMonitoring

My Port Hills audio recorders seem to have detected a ruru (morepork) in Kennedy's Bush. This morning I listened to the sections of recording that BirdNet had identified with moderate certainty as being riflemen (no, these were baby korimako), pīpipi (no, these were a combination of riroriro and piwakawaka singing at once), and ruru. Surprisingly, the ruru seem to be ruru, just five detections in total over a 10 day stretch from Kennedy's Bush.

I've just posted them on #iNaturalist, where they're the first ruru from the Port Hills. I recently heard that someone had heard a ruru at Living Springs, and eBird has one record, without a recording, from Hackthorne Road from 2023. I'm not aware of any ruru in Kennedys Bush or elsewhere in the Port Hills.

It's promising, if true. Oddly, my owl was singing in the day time. Perhaps it's a young bird travelling.

Have a listen and please disagree if you know of another local bird that would make similar calls.

https://inaturalist.nz/observations?subview=table&verifiable=any&field:Same%20specimen%20over%20time=332064177

#birds #owls #nz #Ninox #ruru #moreport #Christchurch #BirdNet #AudioMoth #EcologicalMonitoring #AudioMonitoring

My Port Hills audio recorders seem to have detected a ruru (morepork) in Kennedy's Bush. This morning I listened to the sections of recording that BirdNet had identified with moderate certainty as being riflemen (no, these were baby korimako), pīpipi (no, these were a combination of riroriro and piwakawaka singing at once), and ruru. Surprisingly, the ruru seem to be ruru, just five detections in total over a 10 day stretch from Kennedy's Bush.

I've just posted them on #iNaturalist, where they're the first ruru from the Port Hills. I recently heard that someone had heard a ruru at Living Springs, and eBird has one record, without a recording, from Hackthorne Road from 2023. I'm not aware of any ruru in Kennedys Bush or elsewhere in the Port Hills.

It's promising, if true. Oddly, my owl was singing in the day time. Perhaps it's a young bird travelling.

Have a listen and please disagree if you know of another local bird that would make similar calls.

https://inaturalist.nz/observations?subview=table&verifiable=any&field:Same%20specimen%20over%20time=332064177

#birds #owls #nz #Ninox #ruru #moreport #Christchurch #BirdNet #AudioMoth #EcologicalMonitoring #AudioMonitoring

My Port Hills audio recorders seem to have detected a ruru (morepork) in Kennedy's Bush. This morning I listened to the sections of recording that BirdNet had identified with moderate certainty as being riflemen (no, these were baby korimako), pīpipi (no, these were a combination of riroriro and piwakawaka singing at once), and ruru. Surprisingly, the ruru seem to be ruru, just five detections in total over a 10 day stretch from Kennedy's Bush.

I've just posted them on #iNaturalist, where they're the first ruru from the Port Hills. I recently heard that someone had heard a ruru at Living Springs, and eBird has one record, without a recording, from Hackthorne Road from 2023. I'm not aware of any ruru in Kennedys Bush or elsewhere in the Port Hills.

It's promising, if true. Oddly, my owl was singing in the day time. Perhaps it's a young bird travelling.

Have a listen and please disagree if you know of another local bird that would make similar calls.

https://inaturalist.nz/observations?subview=table&verifiable=any&field:Same%20specimen%20over%20time=332064177

#birds #owls #nz #Ninox #ruru #moreport #Christchurch #BirdNet #AudioMoth #EcologicalMonitoring #AudioMonitoring

My Port Hills audio recorders seem to have detected a ruru (morepork) in Kennedy's Bush. This morning I listened to the sections of recording that BirdNet had identified with moderate certainty as being riflemen (no, these were baby korimako), pīpipi (no, these were a combination of riroriro and piwakawaka singing at once), and ruru. Surprisingly, the ruru seem to be ruru, just five detections in total over a 10 day stretch from Kennedy's Bush.

I've just posted them on #iNaturalist, where they're the first ruru from the Port Hills. I recently heard that someone had heard a ruru at Living Springs, and eBird has one record, without a recording, from Hackthorne Road from 2023. I'm not aware of any ruru in Kennedys Bush or elsewhere in the Port Hills.

It's promising, if true. Oddly, my owl was singing in the day time. Perhaps it's a young bird travelling.

Have a listen and please disagree if you know of another local bird that would make similar calls.

https://inaturalist.nz/observations?subview=table&verifiable=any&field:Same%20specimen%20over%20time=332064177

#birds #owls #nz #Ninox #ruru #moreport #Christchurch #BirdNet #AudioMoth #EcologicalMonitoring #AudioMonitoring

My Port Hills audio recorders seem to have detected a ruru (morepork) in Kennedy's Bush. This morning I listened to the sections of recording that BirdNet had identified with moderate certainty as being riflemen (no, these were baby korimako), pīpipi (no, these were a combination of riroriro and piwakawaka singing at once), and ruru. Surprisingly, the ruru seem to be ruru, just five detections in total over a 10 day stretch from Kennedy's Bush.

I've just posted them on #iNaturalist, where they're the first ruru from the Port Hills. I recently heard that someone had heard a ruru at Living Springs, and eBird has one record, without a recording, from Hackthorne Road from 2023. I'm not aware of any ruru in Kennedys Bush or elsewhere in the Port Hills.

It's promising, if true. Oddly, my owl was singing in the day time. Perhaps it's a young bird travelling.

Have a listen and please disagree if you know of another local bird that would make similar calls.

https://inaturalist.nz/observations?subview=table&verifiable=any&field:Same%20specimen%20over%20time=332064177

#birds #owls #nz #Ninox #ruru #moreport #Christchurch #BirdNet #AudioMoth #EcologicalMonitoring #AudioMonitoring

The last three days I've been along the Port Hills of Ōtautahi-Christchurch, NZ, doing my monthly biodiversity surveys. Saturday was my 117th run up through Victoria Park and Sugarloaf, and today was my 80th bike ride along the Summit Road from Cashmere.

Since September this year I've added 27 AudioMoths along the routes to record bird songs, so now I come back with an iPhone filled with audio notes, a camera filled with photos, and now a pocket filled with bird songs to analyse.

Here are some photos of the scenery from each of the three days, plus today's handful of bird song.

#EcologicalMonitoring #nz #Ōtautahi #Christchurch #wildcounts

Perhaps the biggest highlight of today's run up through the Ōtautahi Port Hills was just how many more korimako (NZ bellbirds) there are about now compared with when I started doing this survey.

I just checked and on my July 2017 run, I made 54 korimako observations. Today, on the same route, I made 249(!). That's just the mapped points. Some of today's observations were of about 50 birds singing at once.

Check out the two maps to see the big difference.

Huge credit here goes to the City Council Port Hills rangers and the volunteers of the Summit Road Society. Both groups have been helping the native forest to regenerate and have been controlling the pest mammals that eat the birds. It's working!

#UrbanEcology #EcologicalMonitoring #birds #nz #Christchurch #map #ChristchurchCityCouncil #SummitRoadSociety

Today I did my monthly biodiversity run up into the Port Hills of Ōtautahi-Christchurch city, NZ. That takes my out of the Cashmere suburbs through the planted native forest and grasslands of Victoria Park and up into the old growth and naturally regenerated native forest of Sugarloaf peak.

I've been doing this route monthly since 2016, mapping and counting out birds and butterflies and assorted plants and fungi.

Here are some of today's highlights.

I had a close encounter with a kererū, perched about 1 metre from me (always a treat): https://inaturalist.nz/observations/297848998

A kahukura (red admiral) was feeding from exotic Viburnum flowers: https://inaturalist.nz/observations/297849009

Some scarlet pouch fungi were lighting up the forest floor on Sugarloaf: https://inaturalist.nz/observations/297848989

The one taramea (Aciphylla subfabellata speargrass) that I know of is still up by the Summit Road and looking healthy: https://inaturalist.nz/observations/297848991

#nature #WildCounts #UrbanEcology #EcologicalMonitoring

Here are my bird results for this year's NZ #GardenBirdSurvey. This is the maximum number of each bird species I saw or heard at one time during the hour.

60 silvereyes (approximately, seen and calling, at our sugar water feeders and in our flowering Eucalyptus tree)
20 house sparrows (approximately, seen and calling)
5 korimako (NZ bellbird)
4 blackbirds
2 piwakawaka (calling nearby)
2 black-backed gulls (flying by)
1 dunnock (heard calling)
1 starling

A song thrush started singing a minute after I finished, so it doesn't get in this year. No kererū this time, unfortunately, although there was one perched in our garden yesterday.

The Garden Bird Survey doesn't take photos so I'm about to load those onto #iNaturalist. Here are four of them.

#birds #nz #UrbanEcology #EcologicalMonitoring

I'm heading out into our garden, with my woolly hat on, to do my 1-hour bird count for this year's NZ #GardenBirdSurvey.

The last day for the 2025 survey is today.

https://gardenbirdsurvey.nz/

#birds #nz #EcologicalMonitoring

If you’re going to count some garden birds in Aotearoa-New Zealand this year, this week is the time to do it. Each winter the NZ Garden Bird Survey gives us a snapshot of how our birds are doing. The more people join in, the more we learn about our feathered friends.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/565412/annual-new-zealand-garden-bird-survey-begins

https://gardenbirdsurvey.nz/take-part/

#NZ #Birds #NZGardenBirdSurvey #EcologicalMonitoring #CitizenScience

Check out what I saw on my afternoon run through Cashmere, Christchurch, NZ.

This was on one of my fortnightly ecological survey runs through the city, 12 km, which I started in 2008. Today is the first time I have seen a tūī on this route!

Yeah!

https://inaturalist.nz/observations/289447711

#birds #tui #nz #EcologicalMonitoring #wildcounts