Kereru. Photo by Stephen Jaquiery.
Project Kereru in Dunedin is urging people to join a
survey recording sightings of the native wood pigeon.
Forest and Bird's junior division, the Kiwi Conservation
Club, is running a nationwide survey of kereru from February
24 to March 4.
''We want to get as many people behind this as possible,''
the project's Nik Hurring said.
Last year's inaugural event generated more than 1100
sightings, with Dunedin emerging as a kereru hot spot.
''We want to see if we're a hot spot again and what they're
doing, where they are.''
Dunedin had a reasonable population of kereru but there was a
need for more information about their habits, she said.
The survey was aimed at building a picture of kereru
populations and distribution around New Zealand.
People are being asked to record where they spotted kereru,
how many they saw and what they were doing and eating at
www.kererucount.org.nz.
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