supplementary feeding

Supplementary food is provided to native birds in eco-sanctuaries throughout New Zealand to discourage their movement outside the sanctuary, to enhance reproductive success, and to promote visitor encounters with wildlife. We recorded the frequency of visits by South Island kākā (Nestor meridionalis meridionalis) to four feeders in Orokonui eco-sanctuary to quantify sugar water consumption as a contribution to daily energy requirements.

The New Zealand Garden Bird Survey started in 2007 primarily to monitor long-term trends in common garden bird populations. The method was based on the Big Garden Birdwatch in the UK. Volunteers spent one hour in midwinter each year recording for each bird species the largest number of individuals detected at any one time in their gardens, as an index of abundance. A large number of species was recorded, the two most numerous being house sparrow (Passer domesticus) and silvereye (Zosterops lateralis).