Kaka face new human threat

WHO'S A SQUAWKY BOY THEN? Kaka around Zealandia have a healthy squawk but it is their powerful beak that is making them unpopular with some residents. Photo: ZEALANDIA supplied to The Dominion Post Saved from the brink of extinction in Wellington, kaka could face a new threat from humans, with one city dweller threatening to kill them.

Zealandia conservation manager Raewyn Empson said a small number of people living near the Karori sanctuary had called with complaints about the rare parrots eating plums from their trees. One had called threatening to kill the endangered bird, which Ms Empson said was "very unwise", given that they were strictly protected.

However, most who called to report kaka sightings were thrilled to see them. Ms Empson said Wellington was the only city with a breeding population. "All indications are that the kaka are here to stay."

The birds tended to gather at dawn and squawk noisily, but Ms Empson said their song had not generated complaints – a far cry from 2008, when the sanctuary said people were ringing to complain about noisy tui, after an explosion in their numbers.

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Busselton cockie control

Little Corella's playing around. Photo: Pierre PouliquinBUSSELTON shire has asked the Department of Conservation and Environment to assist it with a program to control the town’s cockie population.

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Crazy Corella Cacophony

Long-billed Corella at Centennial Park, Sydney, NSW, Australia. Photo: Rachel TaftThe Corella seems to be public enemy number one in some parts of Victoria, and here in the South West they're also causing a bit of a ruckus.

You often hear Corellas long before you see them - and usually at times of the day when their noisy squawking is less than welcome, but what exactly are these loud, restless birds up to?

Corellas are natives - they're members of the Cockatoo family and their distribution in Victoria is fairly restricted although as retired DSE employee Phillip Du Guesclin points out, they do seem to be expanding their range.

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Double award for parakeet researcher

Luis Ortiz-Catedral holding a kakariki on Raoul Island, where he studied them last year.A biology doctoral researcher whose work has seen the return of endangered kakariki, or red-crowned parakeets, to two Hauraki Gulf islands and Auckland's mainland has won two awards.

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New Protected Areas in Bolivia Offer Refuge for Rare Red-fronted Macaw

Red-fronted Macaws. Photo: Hugo ArnalWith significant help from ABC, two new protected areas in Bolivia are providing habitat protection for the endangered Red-fronted Macaw and other rare and declining species. The first of these two areas was established in the Andean municipality of Aiquile, while the second, in the neighboring Omereque municipality, will be officially declared later this year.

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