Kapiti Island

28/11/16
Intro:
Hi my name is Akari and I'm 15 years old. Im from Whitby and I took this course because I have never been to Kapiti island before. I am also interested in the culture and history of the island.
Hi my names Millie, i am originally from England but over here 8 years ago. i took this course because i wanted to learn more about it, and i would really like to go to Kapiti island again.
LI:I am learning about Native species on Kapiti Island: Identify 1-2 to focus on. Think about: endangered, breeding, physical and biological features, habitat etc.
Doc has spent millions of dollars to get all predetors such as rats and possums out of the island. The last rodent was captured in 1996. This makes Kapiti island predator free and a safe place for our native animals to live on.

29/11/16

Today we learnt history about Te Rauparaha and European settlers. At lunchtime, we walked down to the local beach and we heard a story about Kahe and her swim. This was story was very inspiring that she put herself in so much danger to save her tribe. When we came back we learnt a bit about pets and conservation . We found out that 25 million native animals die from pests and that the government spends 3.3 billion on pest control.

30/11/16

We made a pest tracker. Which we placed under a10. We are hoping that some rodents will walk through, and make footprints on the paper. We are doing this so we can find out if small pests live at our college.

Haiku poem

Millies poem: Kahe and her swim

The wind whips my hair...

I see the land emerging,

I’m just about there.

~

I see her running

Determined with each foot step,

Deep fear in her eyes.

Akari’s Haiku: blue bird losing eggs

Steps outside the nest…

Pounce, all around me is black,

Snatched, my hard work gone

The little spotted kiwi

The introduction to Kapiti island in the early 1900’s saved the kiwi from extinction.

~These kiwis live in offshore island’s, mostly Kapiti island. Kapiti island is a perfect place for these kiwi’s to live because it is completely predator free and has nice vegetation.

~They mostly eat invertebrates like earthworms, flies, cicadas, spiders, adult beetles and fallen fruit or leaves.

~The little spotted kiwi population is just over 1500, with growing numbers.

~The little spotted kiwi died out from the North island in late 1800’s. As a result of predation from cats and dogs. Luckily a few kiwis were transported to Kapiti island where the population flourished. Transfers to large to predator free sites have been very successful.

~They lay one white egg from January to July in a burrow, hollow logs or thick vegetation. The male incubates the chick alone for 65 to 75 days, until the chick hatches.  

~It is the smallest kiwi species with a male weighing 1150 g and a female 1325 g.

Cats

~ cats were introduced to NZ in the 19th century by European settlers

~they were introduced to help keep the rising number of rabbits down, but soon the cats joined the rats and stoats as a predictor

~ as of 2011 there was estimated 1.419 million domestic cats in NZ

~ it is estimated that feral cats have been responsible for the extinction of 6 endemic bird species, and over 70 localized sub species. They have also lowered the population of many bird and lizard species.

~ they eat mostly young rabbits, rats and mice, but also eat native birds, lizards, and large insects such as weta, cicadas and dragonflies

~it is estimated that cats kill up to 100 million birds each year. Many of them being native species such as, tuis and kukupa

~and average male cat weighs between two and seven kilograms, while females weigh between 1.6 and 4.6 kilograms.

1/12/16

Today we went on a class trip to Kapiti island. First we took a 20 minute ferry ride to the island.  We went on the Wilkinson track which took us 1 and a half hours to get to the top. On the way we saw many native birds that live on the island. We saw Tui, Weka, Kaka, Hihi, Saddleback and a Kereru. You could also hear many birds chirping throughout the walk. The track overall was a great experience and would definitely do again. It was great to see all the native birds that are able to live in an predator free environment.

	Pros	Cons
Trapping	~the animals die instantly	~you can't trap in a place you can’t walk to and place the trap
Hunting	~The animal usually dies instantly with no suffering	~Sometimes you will hit the wrong animal and possibly hit a native animal
Poisoning	~It is an effective way of killing possums and reduce the population ~track records in possum control ~biodegradable in the environment	~no effective antidote ~secondary poisoning for animals that eat carcass ~the animals suffer for a while before they die