How can we help the kererū?

 

How you can help

Kererū are not fussy eaters – they browse on over a hundred native and 50 exotic, shrubs and trees. To help increase kererū numbers, plant kererū-friendly native plants in your garden such as rimu, ngaio, kōwhai, karaka, mataī, harakeke and rewarewa.

From the data we already have, we know that some of the best ways people can help kererū in their community is by planting trees like kowhai which is the most common tree people have seen kererū feeding on.

Dr Stephen Hartley, Director of the Centre for Biodiversity & Restoration Ecology, Victoria University of Wellington

Don’t forget to also lay pest traps to help protect the kererū, and if you are in an area with kererū around, consider putting decals on your windows to help prevent kererū flying into the glass. The Hub has a range of resources around predator-free New Zealand including a practical student activity for monitoring pests – Making a tracking tunnel.

In October 2017, the New Zealand Transport Agency approved a new road sign asking drivers to slow for kererū in some urban areas and in areas with roads passing through native bush corridors. Kererū can often take a while to get elevation when they take off, which puts them at risk of being hit by cars, especially when they are feeding on vegetation that is close to the ground.

Rights: The University of Waikato Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato 

Slow for kererū 

This new road sign was part of a partnership project between the New Zealand 
Transport Agency, Kererū Discovery NZ and Wellington City Council that aimed 
to increase awareness and encourage drivers to slow down to avoid hitting kererū.

The Great Kererū Count citizen science project

For 10 days in September during 2014 to 2021, New Zealanders were asked to count 
kererū as part of one of New Zealand’s biggest citizen science projects. The aim was to 
gather information from across New Zealand on the abundance and distribution of kererū.
 During the eight years this project ran, citizen scientists contributed to a total of 64,036 
observations and 144,472 kererū were counted. This helped create a statistically 
significant database to understand and secure the future of these birds.

Rights: Great Kererū Count, Kererū Discovery Trust 

The Great Kererū Count 2014–2021 

This 8-year citizen science annual count gathered data on the abundance and 
distribution of the kererū – a keystone species in Aotearoa.

Kererū numbers are much lower than the flocks reported from 50–100 years ago, but 
as kererū do not have formal threatened status classification, the Great Kererū Count 
was the only centralised data gathered to monitor the overall national trends.