Mahi Kororā
Kororā boxes & kick-off nights
Our tireless Kororā volunteers have been checking the nest boxes weekly throughout the year even in the off-season when there is not much action. Earlier in June we put together a volunteer dinner at both Urenui and Wai iti colonies to provide an opportunity for our volunteers to get together and regroup for the upcoming breeding season. After dinner we went out for our first catch and tag session of the season. We hope to hold at least a couple of catch and tag evenings each month now untill the kororā head back out to sea in March. After many months of quiet, our Urenui colony is now starting to get busy with four boxes occupied with pairs at the last check. Most excitingly, they are now using the newer boxes, which were left empty for the whole season last year. This could be the return of young pairs breeding for the first time as kororā tend to use their same burrow each year. Our Ngāmotu colony has already recorded their first egg of the season.
.Kororā
Our kororā are busy raising chicks at the moment which has given us an opportunity to fit GPS trackers to two kororā to monitor fishing patterns. We have successfully retrieved one of these but unfortunately are undertaking night vigils at Urenui beach to try an retrieve the second one as the kororā is fishing 24/7 coming to shore only 10 minutes at a time to feed chicks. We will look at refitting these at the next available opportunity.
