Newsletter #103
Top image: Vote #1 ‘Ngutupare wrybill’ in this year’s Bird of the Year competition.
Tēnā koutou katoa,
Firstly, many thanks to those who have donated to BRaid. While we do get support from other organisations, our costs keep mounting and donations help enormously. We are humbly grateful for every cent that comes in as we know that everyone is feeling the pinch. If you can donate, please scroll to the end of this post for details.
Now, to the important business of voting in this years Bird of the Year competition. To learn why you should vote to Ngutupare wrybill this year, see this great campaign page on the Pūkorokoro Miranda Shorebird Centre website. Voting commenced Monday 15 September and closes 5pm Sunday 28 September.
I would have sent out a reminder a few days ago, but I’ve only just come home from a three-week visit to the Kimberley region in Western Australia and its ~2 billion year old rock formations (and countless crocodiles). Not a place where you find *braided* rivers, but I was mesmerised by the colours of the dry braidpains visible on the flight from Broome to Perth (see below).
Now, off you go and vote! And remember anyone can vote, including anyone in other countries. So please encourage friends and family members to vote for Ngutupare wrybill!
Ngā mihi,
Sonny Whitelaw
manager@braid.org.nz
News/articles
- University of Canterbury: Ashley Rakahuri PhD Scholarship! The scholarship supports braided river bird conservation research by supporting a student to undertake a research doctoral degree in the School of Biological Sciences at Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha | University of Canterbury.
- World Rivers Day: 28 September: Join Christchurch Envirohub Sunday 28th September as AvON Ōtākaro Network celebrates World Rivers Day at our brand-new riverside hub in Christchurch!
- Biographic: A Scaredy-Cat Won’t Hunt “To protect imperiled birds, these ecologists are working to put the fear back in New Zealand’s cats.“
- Forest&Bird: Birdle! (Wordle for twitchers!)
- DOC: Free Online Courses: Learn about topics like biodiversity basics, bird identification, biosecurity, and conflict de-escalation.
- Podcast (Youtube): How water shapes our planet; The Undervalued Resource that Supports Everything We Do Great perspective from global experts including Mike Joy about the nitrate problems in our rivers and the impacts on the health of native ecosystems. The entire podcast is worth listening to as it covers several aspects of the water cycle and nuances around land use that I thought I knew, but hadn’t previously considered the wider perspective.
- Predirections (Aotearoa): To heal a river, you need more than good intentions “Connectivity isn’t just about water — it’s about the movement of organisms, opportunities for restoring ecological function, and the flow of energy.” (Part 3 of a series that you can link to from the same page)
- Biographic: Where Art Thou, Little Songbird? “The advent of tiny radio-frequency tags made it possible to track hummingbirds, dragonflies and monarch butterflies. So researchers began to build towers that could pick up the tags’ signals, establishing what came to be called the Motus network, after the Latin word for motion.” Motus is in Australia but not yet in NZ.
- Movie (Youtube) LISTERS: A Glimpse Into Extreme Birdwatching Two brothers learn about competitive birdwatching by becoming birdwatchers—spending a year living in a used minivan, traveling the country to compete in a ‘Big Year’. Based in the U.S., this hilarious documentary is an insight into the competitive world of birdwatching.
Research & Reports
- Harris et al; Braided rivers as a case for landscape-scale management, New Zealand Journal of Ecology (2025) 49(1)
- ECan: Read updates on the following (there are more; these are directly related to braided rivers and waterways):
- Community conservation brings native birds back to South Rakaia (scroll down to see one of the signs that BRaid designed for the Rakaia).
- Flood & river resilience
- Pest management
- Protecting Waitaha Canterbury rivers from invasive weeds
- Responding to environmental harm incidents
