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Tahiti Monarch Flycatcher No.89 December 1998 . ' Note: Deadline for the March issue will be 10th February. Edited by TONY CROCKER Supplement to NOTORNIS Vol. 45, Part 4 December 1998 ISSN 0111-2686 118 Cones Road, Ashley RD2 Rangiora. Phone: 03-313 4995, Fax: 03-364 2057 Email: t.crocker@)cont.canterbury.ac.nz for the members of the Ornithological Society of New Zealand (Inc.) Please note that sightings recorded in this newsletter are subject to confirma- tion. Tahiti Monarch Flycatcher OSNZ has previously provided financial at an early stage. One pair had built five hole. To their credit, whenever I had to assistance for members working in nests by early November. It has been sug- deal with them they were always very Rarotonga to assist in conservation of gested that disturbance from introduced polite when I finally did get a response. the Kakerori (Pomarea dimidiata). species, such as the Common Myna and The podiums, in this huge, modern Readers will be familiar with Hugh Red-vented Bulbul, may be more signifi- conference centre where the congress was Robertson's accounts of this work and cant than first suspected. held, seemed to have a mysterious array how rat control has allowed numbers PETER GAZE of buttons or menus which continually to rise from c.30 to c.150 in less than a baffled and foiled even the most prac- decade. tised and prepared speakers. Right up until During September and October I was the last day, room lights and slides seemed able to visit 'lahiti to assess the situa- Ornithological Flocks to be run by a mischievous computer with tion with another monarch flycatcher E! - the 22 International Ornithological a mind of its own. The lights and slides nigra. Only three other species still sur- Congress, Durban. South Africa, 16-22 would be fliclung on and off in a seem- vive in this genus, all of which are on August 1998. ingly random pattern, while the speak- the Marquesas group of French "We have sorted out the laser point- ers glared at panels, punched buttons, Polynesian islands. ers, and you will not need to pay 150 looked around and muttered. The Tahiti Monarch Flycatcher was rand (about $40)~~session to use them A couple of days before the event had common in forested areas of the island after all". The crowd gave a collective sigh concluded, the government saw fit to erect last century but has undergone a dra- of relief in sympathy for the speakers and concrete carriers all around the centre, matic decrease, some ofwhich has been presenters. It did seem a rather high price in preparation for a large meeting of non- well documented even during the last to pay, especially since the cost of regis- aligned nations. It was excellent fodder two decades.Working with a resident tering for the conference was about $1600 for jokes. Aldo was not impressed. In spite French biologist, Caroline Blanvillain, we (which included a nice green bag, the of the challenges, he managed to keep a located approximately 17 birds, all of abstracts from the talks, and cups of cof- good sense of humour, and I always which were in lowland valleys - effec- fee at the breaks). And so Aldo Berruti, looked fonvard to his South African ac- tively four separate populations, none the Secretary-General of this year's IOC, cent and dry wit during the daily an- of which comprised more than two once again triumphed in spite of the many nouncements. pairs.Only one of these birds was in ju- hurdles organising such an event must Similar to past congresses, over one venile plumage, suggesting that there has throw up - especially in South Africa. He thousand delegates attended. Some of been little recruitment for the species did say something about how, although the delegates at the Durban 10C were over recent years. he was glad to see it finally coming to- still talking about the Christchurch con- The forest habitat was startlingly dif- gether, if he had to do it all over again - ference, which seems to have set the stand- ferent from Karotonga, as it is largely he wouldn't. ard for IOC congresses ever since. Unique composed of introduced invasive spe- You could hardly blame him. Although to this congress, the proceedings will be cies, such as the African tulip tree, and it was obvious from many comments made published only on CD Rom, not on pa- was usually confined to a narrow strip that the South African ornithological com- per. along the floor of steep basalt canyons. munity was very pleased to be part of the Thanks in part to a generous grant One of these canyons, which held two world community once again after their from the NZ Ornithological Congress Trust pairs and one or two single birds, has long period of isolation, it was also obvi- Board, I was able to present a poster on been subjected to an intensive rat con- ous that when anything goes wrong the my work on the Chatham Island Oyster- trol programme initiated by Jean-Claude chairman hears about it, and not always catcher. Unfortunately my allotted space Thibault and Te Manu, the French in the most polite manner. was in a very out of the way corner, so Polynesian Ornithological Society. This A few things did go wrong. Turners, the visitor volumes seemed low while I will hopefully determine whether rat a company contracted to cover all the was standing near the poster. I felt a bit control holds the potential to avert ex- travel arrangements, seemed unprepared like a sales person trying to appear like I tinction for this species. for the task they had taken on. Long belonged with the poster, was friendly Unfortunately nesting in this valley queues were always snaking around their and helpful, but not too pushy. I was and elsewhere has so far been charac- desk. Pre-conference communcations pleased to hear later that someone had terised by birds abandoning their nests often seemed to disappear into a black seen the poster and remembered it. There were hundreds of other post- Another interesting fact that emerged the youth hostel, a young local fellow, ers on myriads of topics. It was good from a symposium entitled "Predation who went by the nickname of Tornado, fun making it a goal to visit all the other by birds on tidal flats" was the signifi- took an interest in our birding activities posters in the session. I was impressed, cance of nocturnal feeding by waders and came out with us one morning. He not only with the amazing types of re- (by Klaus-Michael Exo). 93% of all wad- shared with us some of the Zulu names search going on all around the world, ers forage at night as well as during the for the birds and demonstrated the lo- but also with the variety of ways one can day (and many use different methods cal handshake. Unfortunately many of present a poster. New Zealand made a to forage at night, eg tactile instead of the local African people, even those pro- good showing at the congress,with about visual). Of direct relevance to my stud- viding guided birding tours in the parks, ten other posters, all of impressively high ies was a paper by Durwyn Liley present- have no access to binoculars or field quality ing results of research and modeling into guides. Besides the challenges of visiting all the effects of disturbance (and effective After the conference I toured the area the other posters, there was also the loss of nesting habitat) on the popula- with another New Zealand student del- daunting task of choosing which sym- tion dynamics of a shore nesting bird, egate, Brent Stephenson, plus a couple posia, talks and workshops to attend. the Ringed Plover in the UK. Disturbance, of others. The variety of birds was amaz- Fortunately the sessions were reason- by preventing birds from nesting in cer- ing. In less than two weeks we saw be- ably concurrent, so it was possible to tain areas, can have a significant impact tween 200-300 species of birds in just move from session to session (which I on a species' population. one province (Kwazulu-Natal). In spite did frequently). In addition to the main Unrelated to my research, but abso- of all the human pressures on the IOC in Durban, I also attended and pre- lutely enthralling, was some of the work land,there are some active conservation sented a paper at a satellite conference done in the area of exploratory behav- projects underway and a good system in Cape Town (the International Wader iour in birds. In a symposium led by Hans of national parks. The ornithological Study Group conference). Both were ex- Winkler and Bernd Leisler, several fas- scene in South Africa is very active,with cellent sources of important, though cinating papers were given on how birds a high level of participation and publi- informal, information - current ornitho- respond to new objects in their environ- cation by both professionalsand ama- logical research - and the people and ment. A study by Russell Greenberg of teurs. The level of cooperation between thinking behind that research. two closely related species revealed how ornithologists and birders of all levels One of the most remarkable plenary one species (a habitat generalist) was was inspiring to see. sessions was by Nick Davies, on cuck- more curious about new objects than FRANCES SCHMECHEL oos and their hosts. He presented a slide the other (a habitat specialist), and even of a small host species feeding an enor- as young chicks the habitat specialist mous (probably three times its size) showed a highly stereotyped order of cuckoo chick and shared how, at the be- preference for exploring different ob- ginning of his research career, he wanted jects, an order that was very similar even to know why this bird was acting so stu- between individuals raised with no con- pidly.
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