Banded dotterel slaying 'a devastating loss' for Kaikōura study

Monday, 19 October 2020

A cat has been captured taking a banded dotterel from a nest at South Bay, Kaikōura (first published October 2020).

A Kaikōura bird researcher is calling for tighter cat control after the killing of one of her most studied banded dotterels.

Ailsa Howard has been studying the birds at South Bay for the past five years, and ramping up protection measures each breeding season to try to ensure their survival.

However, extensive efforts including surveillance cameras and cages around nesting pairs have proved no match for roaming cats.

RLBB pictured on South Bay beach. The bird was one of the population's most successful breeders for four years until he was killed by a cat last week.

Last week, RLBB (named after his coloured leg bands) was taken from the nest where he was protecting his hatching chicks. A cat was caught on camera with the bird in its mouth.

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Howard said RLBB was one of the most studied breeding birds at the site and one of the most successful, producing several clutches of fledglings over the past four years.

“The loss of this particular bird is devastating for our study,’’ she said.

“It is a topsy-turvy world which allows a pet cat to roam free to hunt and kill when a rapidly declining endemic species is potential prey.’’

Howard said the three chicks on the nest had subsequently frozen to death, bringing the total number of killed birds this season so far to eight.

A further 17 nests had been destroyed – most by cats. It was also easy for humans to accidently damage the nests as they were very difficult to spot in the camouflage of the stony beach.

Efforts had been made to protect the nests through signage and by educating quad bike riders, freedom campers and dog walkers, she said.

Howard had now exhausted all legal means to protect the nests and was urging cat owners to play their part by keeping their pets inside at night.

In a submission to the Kaikōura District Council’s draft annual plan this year, Howard called for a cat bylaw to reduce the animals’ negative impacts on wildlife.

The council stopped short of adopting a bylaw, but agreed some form of responsibility on cat owners should be considered, and planned to work on finding a “pragmatic solution” with Howard, the Department of Conservation (DOC) and Environment Canterbury.

New Zealand’s banded dotterel (pohowera) populations are in decline in part because of introduced mammalian predators, including hedgehogs and cats.

According to DOC, there are only about 1700 dotterels left, meaning they are more at risk than some species of kiwi.

Efforts are also being made at Eastbourne, near Wellington, to protect the local dotterel population. A cat has been responsible for mass slaughter there for the past two years.