A FLOCK OF 520 BIRDS AT KAIAUA

The weather was perfect and the view of the distant Coromandel Peninsula was stunning. The Kaiaua foreshore was just the place for our Labour Weekend FLOCK appearance. Thanks to Louisa who was much involved with planning this event.
It took an hour or so to put the 500+ birds in the ground. Lots of the birds come from local schools as did many of the spectators, along with their mums and dads.

 One small FLOCK had just come from Mangatangi School's Calf Day held the day before..

There were also a few live birds that joined the FLOCK like these red-billed gulls.

The South Island pied oystercatchers were a bit more standoffish.

Luckily we had a couple of scopes along so that visitors could get a good close-up view of the real birds.

A highlight of the occasion was the arrival of a coach load from Auckland, members of the Chinese community with involvement in conservation activities.

Earlier this month a FLOCK of 50 "godwits" was welcomed onto the Piritahi Marae, Waiheke Island. The powhiri was witnessed by some real godwits down on the shore. Trudy Lane, one of the FLOCK team, was there to accept the gift of these "birds" for our FLOCK.

Across the Tasman there is a big event planned, the Shorebird Festival at ST. Kilda on 30th October.

Dave and Mick from Pooraka Farm Mens' Shed produced cut-out birds to be decorated.

This weekend there was a big painting session at the Port Adelaide Information Centre.
Here at Pukorokoro Miranda we have been welcoming back our Arctic migrants from their breeding season.
 Here and down South our endemic birds are busy breeding. Great efforts are underway on the South Island braided rivers to protect against predators.

 Can you find the Wrybill nest among the river pebbles, in this photo from Nick Ledgard?

Predators find it easily. Hedgehogs are a major problem for ground nesting birds, both in the braided rivers and coastal sites.

We have just received this video from young Jamie Tully. Jamie was at Devonport recently when  Prime Minister, Rt. Hon. John Key and Hon. Maggie Barry, Minister for Conservation, visited. Thanks Jamie.

 This is a good place to give advance notice of 2 events happening in Devonport. All the schools in Devonport are making birds for the FLOCK. Their birds and others will be on display in Windsor Park, Devonport from 18-28 November. It will be a spectacular, in fact majestical, FLOCK appearance.

Also in Devonport on Sunday 20th November there will be a special film show and commentaries from Adrian Riegen and Keith Woodley at the Victoria Theatre. Don't miss out you can book online now www.thevic.co.nz

The FLOCK team would love to see you in Devonport.

IT WAS A WONDERFUL OPPORTUNITY

A chance to show off the FLOCK to 20,000 people, young folk and family members. Meticulous plans were made, FLOCK team members rose before dawn and drove in cars packed with FLOCK birds. The occasion was Ambury Park Farm Day on Sunday October 2nd, a great happening on the edge of Auckland city.
Unwilling to accept the tyranny of the weather the team battled on and planted the FLOCK in dawns early light. Then the wind strengthened, the rain became horizontal and thunder and lightening threatened.Hardly anyone was there or likely to come. Time to pack up.

Trudy, Wendy,Louisa and Krystal still smiling though after a heroic effort.

It was a busy weekend for the FLOCK elsewhere. In the city itself was the Australasian Shorebird Conference. We scraped together a small FLOCK to welcome them on the AUT campus.

At the Shorebird Centre was another FLOCK to welcome those on Monday on their field trip from the ASC .

Also a new FLOCK member, mascot and money collector AKA "Noddy"

The same busy weekend and yet another small FLOCK appeared at Miranda's Farm Gallery.

The Farm Gallery is promoting the work of Derek Onley who painted the illustrations for the latest Field Guide/Hand Guide to the Birds of NZ.

Back on the North Shore the weather on Sunday 2nd was a little kinder. The Holy Trinity Church in Devonport celebrated St. Francis of Assissi Day. Jim Eagles talked to the congregation about shorebird conservation.

The church group made many new FLOCK members and also donated to the cause. Thanks to Rev. Charmaine Braatvedt and her team for their great contribution.

In the eastern Bay of Plenty a FLOCK of over 200 birds from six schools were being planted in the Ohiwa Dunes.

It looked like a lot of fun! Thanks to Meg and Mike Collins who organised it and sent these photos.

We are thrilled with the latest recruits to the FLOCK campaign. Last Friday at the Devonport Naval Museum our Prime Minister, Rt. Hon. John Key, and the Minister for Conservation, Hon. Maggie Barry, spent some time with members of Pukorokoro Miranda Naturalists' Trust.

As you can see they also painted and signed some new FLOCK members.

It is great to have their support and also that of all you folk out there who are making the FLOCKNZ project such a success.

BRaid in the S.I. continue to do remarkable things. Their Flocks have been touching down in a great number of spots. Here are just a few of them. 

Kaikoura

Methven

Rakaia

Twizel Area School

THERE'S A LOT OF NEW STUFF TO LOOK AT!

There's a lot of new stuff to look at! you can find it at http://www.miranda-shorebird.org.nz/flock-media
Many thanks to Trudy Lane for loading all these resources onto the Pukorokoro Miranda website.Trudy also designed all of the poster resources, logos and a lot more.

This poster, which you can download and print, tells of the risk level for 15 of our shorebirds. Trudy has left space at the bottom left for you to add your own message.

There is an A5 mini poster for each of the 15 shorebird species with a few facts about each of them.
If you would like to know a little more there are 4 articles (Extinction is forever. Arctic migrants.Endemic species.Stilts) which you can download as PDF's.
You will also find the FLOCK logo and font details you can use for your own FLOCK publicity.

Here in NZ now it is School holiday time but, a while ago, the very first school to join the FLOCK had a surprise. When the students from Kaiaua Primary arrived at school their FLOCK birds and many more had landed on the lawn.

A welcome also to two more schools, Paparimu Primary and Peninsula Primary Te Atatu.

Thanks also to Waikato Regional Council  for posting this photo on their Face Book page.

In this school holiday time we start to use the beaches a bit more. Now is when some birds are starting to nest.

This pair of Variable Oystercatchers have an egg already. They can be very scary and will dive bomb you if you get too close to their nest or their chick.

The NZ Dotterel also nests on the beach. Here the chick is being shaded from the sun.
We humans can cause beach nesting birds big problems. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ml32UJxDmiU
This quite beautiful video cartoon from Bird Life International shows how nesting birds react to us.

This weekend, Sunday 2nd October, will be the first really big FLOCK appearance. Many Flock birds will roost at Ambury Park Farm Day, Ambury Regional Park, Mangere Bridge, Auckland. Find out more
http://ourauckland.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/articles/events/2016/10/ambury-farm-day/

THE FLOCK IS LIKE AN ICEBERG

The FLOCK is a bit like an iceberg. You can't see how big it is. 90% of the Flock isn't under water but it is under construction! It is hard to imagine just how great it will look when all of our birds are together. Here is a clue:

These 300 birds came to roost in Hamilton Gardens yesterday as part of the Waikato Enviro Schools event.

Krystal Glen, our PMNT educator (pmnteducator@gmail.com), was there to talk about two special birds, the wrybill and the bar-tailed godwit. She brought along binoculars for the students to use.

Hidden among the FLOCK were numbered birds. The trick was first to spy them and then to identify their species.
The "unseen" FLOCK members are being created near and far.Visit  http://issuu.com/devonportflagstaffnewspaper/docs/sept23devonportflagstaff?e=11678115/38970066 
And scroll through the Devonport Flagstaff to pages 42-43 for an article about the Devonport FLOCK. Every school on the Devonport Peninsula, Auckland North Shore, is involved. A big occasion is planned for November, more later.

Not so far away on Waiheke Island, the Hauraki Classroom has opportunities to paint birds at the Waiheke Library. They have developed their very own bird cut-outs. To find out more, and there is a lot more, visit https://www.facebook.com/Hauraki-Classroom-962701903849779/?fref=ts
New schools are joining all the time.Welcome to the Avon-Heathcote Estuary Ihutai Trust Christchurch who have 5 schools helping them to build a FLOCK. It will roost at the annual Farewell to the Godwits in February and they hope to sell their birds to raise money to fund a permanent flock of giant godwits for New Brighton. A really great idea.

Also down in Christchurch the BRaid Flock has touched down at Christchurch airport and a few other places too! Watch out for them.

There is also news from overseas. FLOCKOz is making lots of cut-outs for schools in Adelaide and along the Samphire Coast. We look forward to seeing their painted birds.

Exciting developments from South Korea too.
A while ago David Lawrie sent a small parcel of cut out birds to Tomoko-Ichikawa of the EAAFP Secretariat in Incheon, S Korea. This group co-ordinates the groups in the flyway that migratory birds use from NZ and Australia, through the Yellow Sea and on to Alaska and Siberia. The folk there were thrilled to get their parcel and enjoying making their FLOCK.

 We also hear from Andreas Kim that an ECO-class in the Muan Mongtan Middle School http://mongtan.ms.jne.kr/user/indexMain.action?siteId=mongtan_ms will be joining FLOCKNZ soon. Andreas says that they would love to hear from some of you.For some of our migratory shorebirds the mudflats of S. Korea are very important re-fuelling stops on their journeys. A very big welcome to Muan-Mongtan Middle School.

 Just to finish here is a banner we have made to explain the situation our shorebirds are in. For the birds in the "Nationally Critical" group the next step is "Extinct". We know that our iconic brown kiwi is in trouble. It is 3 steps away from "Extinct", the same as the red knot on the poster. It is a real worry that so many of our shorebirds are only one step away from "Extinct"
 Thank you for being part of the FLOCK, for helping to spread the message and caring about these special birds.