Sunday, November 15, 2009

If you have worms you have friends - November 6th


Alison, Kev and Melanie have been hard at work for the last two weeks tracking the robins back to their nests. It is no simple task, it can take hours to find just one and so far they have found nearly thirty black robin nests. All of us carry a special robin nest hunting kit at all times, containing a map of the island with all the known nests marked on it, a compass, ruler, vivid, pink tape, notebook and a mirror like the one your dentist uses on an extendable pole. And the most important thing to have at your fingertips? Mealworms.


Petrel boards make all of us crash through the bush like elephants and the robins come to investigate, swinging from supplejack across the track or jumping from tree to tree, watching closely. They will cheep, just to make sure you know they are there – and woe betide you if you take too long handing out worms: robins may be cute but they have a way of stamping their feet and looking daggers!


There is a double advantage to having worms. Firstly, it attracts the robins to you, instead of having to stumble about the forest looking for them. Also, it is a good way to identify boys and girls. The birds have very definite roles. The females build the nest and incubate the eggs. The males bring dinner. If a robin picks up the mealworm that you throw and carries it about with excited little chirps, it is a male. If you are careful, you can follow him when he goes to feed his girl and she can lead you to her nest.

Dr Melanie Massaro is based at the University of Canterbury's School of Biological Sciences. Learn more about her research at http://www.biol.canterbury.ac.nz/people/massaro.shtml

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4 comments:

  1. room6macbayNovember 15, 2009 at 11:01 PM

    We loved seeing your pictures and videos. We are a New Entrant class in Macandrew Bay. We have been learning about endangered NZ animals. We have found out a lot about the Black Robins. It is great that you are helping to look after them. Rod Moris came to tell us how he helped to move Old Blue and the other black robins from Little Mangere Island. It was sad when there were only 5 birds left.
    Do you know how many black Robins there are now?

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  2. University of Canterbury Science OutreachNovember 16, 2009 at 12:21 PM

    Hi - Great to hear that you are following our blog! Currently there are about 160 black robins in the world - about 110 black robins live on Rangatira Island and 50 live on Mangere Island. UC Science Outreach.

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  3. room6macbayNovember 18, 2009 at 12:05 AM

    Thank you for telling us about the number of birds. It is great that there are more now. Rachael wants to know "How do the birds know which nest is theirs?"
    She also asks, "How many chicks would a pair of black robins have in a single year?"
    Rata said, "My Dad worked with someone who is working on the island." she thinks it might be Melanie.

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  4. University of Canterbury Science OutreachNovember 18, 2009 at 11:50 AM

    Hi - I will ask the scientists on Rangatira Island how the birds know which nest is theirs. Each year a pair of black robins will have 2 chicks. What is Rata's dad's name - we can ask Melanie if she worked with him!

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