International Owl Awareness Day on 4 August is a great opportunity for people to consider how they can support our native owls, says NPDC’s Brooklands Zoo.
The zoo has two owls on public display and Brooklands Zoo Lead Eve Cozzi says the birds are natural pest controllers in healthy ecosystems.
However, they face threats from human activity – such as rodent bait, vehicle and window collision, outdoor pets and habitat loss.
Introduced pest species can also attack nesting female ruru and their eggs and chicks.
“There are things we can do to make our back yards safe spaces for owls, and we’ll being sharing our tips with visitors at two special Keeper Talks at the start of August,” says Cozzi.
“They’ll be a great opportunity for people to learn more about our wonderful native birds.”
New Zealand has three native owl species: the ruru/morepork, the little owl (in the South Island), and barn owls (in the northern part of the North Island).
Brooklands Zoo takes care of ruru and other native birds that need rehabilitation after injury or illness, in partnership with New Plymouth Vet Group and DOC. Five ruru have been rehabilitated at the zoo in the last four years.
Sometimes the vet clinic receives ruru that have been caught in the sticky seed pods of parapara/bird-catcher trees. The sticky substance results in the birds being covered in debris and unable to fly, making them very vulnerable on the ground.
Once treated, the ruru spend time at Brooklands Zoo for valuable rehabilitation time to ensure they are flying and eating well enough to be returned back to the wild.
“Parapara are meant to be coastal trees where big seabirds are strong enough to not be trapped by the sticky seeds but when the trees are planted more inland, they can capture small birds like silvereyes, and then ruru who come in to eat the trapped birds,” says Eve.
“The birds can starve in the trees if they’re not rescued in time.
“If you have parapara in your garden, please remove the seeds when they appear or consider removing the plant entirely, for the sake of our birds.”
Owl-themed Keeper Talks will be held at noon and 2pm on Saturday 1 and Sunday 2 August.
How you can help ruru:
1. Keep old trees on your property so that the birds have places to nest, and plant new (preferably native) trees so that ruru will have places to nest in the future.
2. Try making a nest box and put a metal sleeve on the tree’s trunk to make it harder for pest species to climb up.
3. Don’t plant parapara (Ceodes brunoniana) as its sticky seeds can capture or harm small birds.
