Just received this from the hunters trust.
On Monday the Southland times published this article after the reporter attended the December meeting of Southland Conservation Board
https://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-ti...aland-dotterel
Video of the whitetail who liked an egg.
https://vimeo.com/62571465?ref=em-share
Whitetail deer have been known to eat bird eggs and there have been documented cases in USA of them eating birds as well. I am aware of only one incident on Stewart Island where a fledgling muttonbird was found in a deer paunch some forty year ago.
There are so many things wrong about the Southland Times report claiming deer pose a threat to dotterels. These birds nest on the open herb fields above the bushline on theTin Range.
This footage has not ‘just surfaced’ it has been on the internet for six years and was filmed in January 2013.
DOC have had cameras on nesting sites since that time and no other footage of deer near nests has been found.
Why the acting Operation Manager would bring this to the attention of the Board almost seven years later is unknown.
Mr Bull, who the article stated had seen whitetail eating dotterel chicks has since said he was misquoted.
The footage shows a very young deer eating ONE egg
In recent years DOC have been shooting whitetail found in the nesting area. It would be interesting to know how many deer they have shot there, Probably less than you can count on one hand. DOC have been forced to take this action as deer numbers in this alpine area are so low, no hunters actually hunt there. And the area is only of interest to deer when the the alpine plants are in flower.
Remember the reason Kakapo were shifted from the southern part of the Island to Codfish Island. It had nothing to do with deer, it was predation by cats. Cats and rats will also be the villain with the dotterels but you can also add predatory birds such as harrier hawks, skua and gulls.
Dotterel nests in these alpine areas are easy pickings for aerial predators. Will the trail camera footage of the harrier Hawk killing three fledgling dotterels at the nesting site that DOC captured in November 2019 feature on the internet? Probably not. And was that relayed to the Conservation Board? and why not?
A deer eats one egg six years ago and poses a threat to a critically endangered species but a hawk killing three juvenile birds do not rate a mention in the same article.
When questioned about balance and accuracy of the report, the reporter told me he tried to contact someone from Southland Branch but was unable find anyone. Clearly he did not search the contacts page on the Branch website which lists the Branch Presidents cellphone and the branch email. Nor did he seem inclined to pursue the positive things hunters are doing on the Island. (Lets just sensationalize and publish anyway)
There has been some copy on social media. A number of hunters contacted me after reading the article. The answer to the headline is obvious Fake news.
