Newsletter #101
Top image: Screengrab of the new Canterbury Maps braided river bird database.
Tēnā koutou katoa,
Thank you to everyone who contributed to making this year’s seminar a success. Without the support of our sponsors, the Waitaha Action to Impact Fund and the Department of Conservation it would not be possible to run them for a nominal fee.
Thank you to all the speakers who reminded us once again that these dynamic ecosystems are incredibly diverse, and that the only certainty is constant change. Pest species adapt to take advantage of these changes far faster than we’d like. What works—or doesn’t work—in one section of a river at a certain time of year can’t necessarily be applied to other rivers, or even the same patch of river the following year. Supposedly sterile willows have become fertile, even hermaphroditic. One rat’s favourite food might not be peanut butter, but another rat. And the moment one member of a predator guild is changed, the entire guild changes, upending long-established predator control strategies.
The purpose of these seminars is to facilitate the exchange of knowledge and help overcome siloed research, as this will enable us to develop response strategies that are as rapid and dynamic as the rivers themselves. Take some to explore the presentations. There’s something there for everyone. Personally, I was most surprised by the staggering scale (by weight) of invertebrates and native fish species, both crucial food for braided river birds, found in the Cass River.
Several of the links to news and research papers below relate to the content of some presentations or questions asked during the afternoon discussion and the black fronted tern workshop held the following day. More about that workshop at a later date.
Ngā mihi,
Sonny Whitelaw
manager@braid.org.nz
Bird surveys
News/articles
- New Zealand Geographic: Our deeply toxic relationship with willows
- Tane’s Tree Trust: What is it with willows? (PDF)
- North Canterbury News: Feral cats in the spotlight. To read this online, search for the back edition ‘Thursday July 10, 2025’. Screengrab below:
- Biographic: Fire Island Has Gone to the Cats We’re not the only country with a feral cat problem: “In New York’s only federal wilderness area, the loss of a key predator has led to the rise of a new one—with dire consequences for the island’s native birds.”
- Mongabay: Is a River Alive? “Some rivers have rights, but author Robert Macfarlane argues they’re also alive.”
- Carbon Brief: How the world’s rivers are releasing billions of tonnes of ‘ancient’ carbon
- PV Magazine: Birds thriving, breeding successfully in Germany’s solar parks “Birds
are learning, too. Initially nesting only at the edge or in surrounding
compensation areas, they are increasingly migrating between the rows.” - Audubon: How an Indigenous Community in the Amazon Created a Bird Guide of Their Own “Inspired by naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace’s visit nearly two centuries ago, an isolated Indigenous community in Brazil worked with scientists to survey local birds and document cultural traditions. In doing so, theyn flipped the script of how research gets done.”
- Science Media Centre: Sea ice loss linked to salty Southern Ocean surface – Expert Reaction “When combined with the steadily warming waters of New Zealand’s Exclusive Economic Zone, we should expect to see more of the intense rainfall events we’ve experienced recently…”
- Australian Geographic: Why are we seeing ‘supercharged thunderstorms “You’ll often come across the statement that for every 1°C of warming, the atmosphere can hold about 7% more moisture. This figure comes from research undertaken by the French engineer Sadi Carnot and published 200 years ago. Yes, a hotter atmosphere has the capacity to hold more moisture. But the condensation of water vapour to make rain droplets releases heat. This, in turn, can fuel stronger convection in thunderstorms, which can then dump substantially more rain...What we’re seeing is that thunderstorms can likely dump about double or triple that rate – around 14–21% more rain for each degree of warming.”
Research & Reports
- Waiau Toa/Clarence and Wakaputawatea/Acheron rivers tarapirohe/black-fronted
tern monitoring project – 2023/24 operational report (PDF) - Rayne et al; Rethinking freshwater translocation policy and practice in Aotearoa New Zealand, New Zealand Journal of Ecology 49 | 1 (Open access)
- Summary of Southern Black Backed Gull Control Works Undertaken by the Braided River Revival Team 2024 – 2025 Season (PDF)
- Yiu et al; Problematic cats in urban reserves: Implications for native biodiversity and urban cat management ScienceDirect 60 (Open access)
- Xu; The curious case of how bird wrists evolved, Nature News & Views 09 July
- Dean et al; Old carbon routed from land to the atmosphere by global river systems, Nature 642, pp105–111 (Open access)
