Pest inquiry

Pest Inquiry

Intro

Rainbow Lorikeets have been a problem for a while now. So in these last past years, people have not found a really good solution to contain them. This report looks over some questions of how they are a pest to the Bay of Plenty region. In this report, Kaleb and I are going to show you the impacts the Rainbow Lorikeet has on its food web. And some solutions we could maybe use in the future to contain them.

What is a Rainbow Lorikeet

The Rainbow Lorikeet is a small animal. Just growing over 26cm and weighing just 105g. The Rainbow Lorikeet is just like any pet bird noisy, playful, annoying. Legally they are a pest to New Zealand and in the Bay of Plenty. They have a very colourful body with colours of yellow, orange-red. Rainbow Lorikeets are often confused with the eastern rosella as they have the same colours and are about the same size.

What Impacts does the Rainbow Lorikeet have on its food web?

The Rainbow Lorikeet diet consists of berries, insects, seeds, blossom buds, plants and nectar. Rainbow Lorikeets are a different type of pest as they don't eat our native birds or plants, instead, they are known for carrying the avian disease that is deadly to native birds and chickens. Bird flu also is known as avian influenza, is a viral infection that can infect not only birds but also humans and other animals. Most forms of the virus are restricted to birds. H5N1 is the most common form of bird flu. The Rainbow Lorikeet other than putting diseases into birds would compete with our native birds for there food sources and nesting spots. So in perspective, it's like living homeless with people taking over your food and then more people taking over a place to stay.

How do other countries that have the Rainbow Lorikeet contain it/ or what do they do with them?

Rainbow Lorikeets are very similar in their characteristics in many different countries, such as australia. So the people in these countries use similar methods and some actually work well. I did some research and found that other countries especially australia have the same problems as New Zealand and we don't have any heavy effective way of controlling them. For example a good solution I found was enclosing crops with permanent netting.

Solution .1

Alternative foods.

Farmers would place flowering or fruiting plants that attract the lorikeets are placed or planted away from the crop. A little corner piece of the crop is sacrificed to the Rainbow Lorikeets where they are left undisturbed. The big benefits of this solution would be more in tree plantations which means more plantations/forest. This trap can be only used if there is always alternative foods available. Personally, I thought this idea was great and we could use this solution in New Zealand.

Solution .2

In Australia, I found that they have a variety of different ways of controlling the Rainbow Lorikeet.

Managing the impacts of rainbow lorikeet is difficult and expensive. There is no easy solution unless anti-bird netting is used. Using a number of techniques with neighbours is likely to be more effective than relying on any one technique at a single location. An example would be the shooting of some birds combined with using a variety of scaring devices. The benefits of this trap are effective, long term, and humane when properly installed.

Solution.3

Enclosing crops with temporary or permanent netting. Being available from a number of specialist companies as well as rural and hardware suppliers. It is effective, long term, and humane when properly installed. This May be annoying or obstruct farming practices and require maintenance unless properly designed. There could be many different problems especially with loosely applied nets or nets with large mesh-size, as birds can be entangled. Reduces air movement so may increase crop disease problems. Also can exclude beneficial predators and increase insect damage. Could move birds to other types of crops like wine grapes.

Discussion of Solutions

All of these solutions are great in my opinion. But I think solution 3 was the best. Enclosing crops with temporary netting. This type of netting is great it can keep birds out of crops it is effective, long term, and humane when properly installed. There can be a lot of mishaps that can happen with this trap as well. Such as it can be annoying for farmers, it can reduce air movement in the crops which can have a higher chance of crop disease and might require maintenance if it is designed wrong. With all of these problems, it still is a really good trap and I think we should maybe try using it in New Zealand.

Why were they introduced to NZ

The Rainbow Lorikeet otherwise known as the Coconut Lorikeet came from Australia. Large numbers of captive Rainbow Lorikeets were illegally and released into the Auckland area as cage birds and aviaries throughout the country in the 1990s and started breeding by 1994. By 1999 they started adapting to the New Zealand environment 150-200 birds had fled to the Bay of Plenty. A breeder thought It would be a good Idea to have a large population of Rainbow Lorikeet in the wild, so It would give New Zealand a bit of colour in our bush.

What is currently being done to contain my pest in the BOP

There are many ways to contain the Rainbow Lorikeet In the Bay of Plenty. The Council, aim to prevent rainbow lorikeets from establishing in the wild. Escaped birds are caught using a range of methods including trapping and netting. The captured birds are returned to their owners where they can be identified or sent to commercial aviculturists with secure captive facilities. Since In New Zealand, legally they are not able to live in the wild, because of this, owners of theses pest/pet birds have to be really careful on how they take care of the Rainbow Lorikeet.

What are the benefits of mitigating/contain the pest

Since the Rainbow Lorikeet puts a big threat on our native birds. Personally, I think that the benefits of mitigating/contain the Rainbow Lorikeet are huge especially with being able to keep our native birds safe. Containing this pest, even more, would be great, it would let our native birds have a more of a chance to be able to find food, good nesting spots and a shorter risk of dying. Rainbow Lorikeets can be very annoying animals as they destroy our native bird's lives and destroy our crops and fruits.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the Rainbow Lorikeet is a very different kind of pest, as it doesn't eat our native birds or plants. In this report, we talked about how they are a pest in the bay of plenty and some solutions t how we can contain them. As we know now there are many different options to containing the Rainbow Lorikeet, but the biggest solutions where alternative foods, anti-bird netting and enclosing crops with netting.

Pest Inquiry #2

Reflection

How I did

In this pest inquiry, Kaleb and I did some research on the Rainbow lorikeet and answers the fertile question. I found working together in a pair is a lot better as you can help each other to find the questions and write the report. As a writing structure level of 4, I thought Kaleb and I worked really hard to make our writing structure better, we did this by making each other read there sentences they just wrote. I also think Kaleb and I did well on keeping our notes organized and easy to read. In the Ancestry Inquiry, I said that I need to improve on my self-management. So in this inquiry, I thought I managed my time pretty well as I didn’t need to catch up in my own time. Personally, I thought Kaleb and I worked really well together to finish this report.

What I need to improve on

Since my Ancestry Inquiry, I think I have improved in my self-management and staying focused. For the next inquiry, I need to work on the introduction so that means making my intros more eye-catching and interesting so it makes the reader more intrigued to read more. In this inquiry, I have tried to improve on all my improvements from the last inquiry.

The favourite bit about inquiry

My favourite bit about inquiry is being able to research different things and find bits of information that you didn’t even know about. For example the Ancestry inquiry I found that in the 1850s England wasn’t the best country to live in as it was packed of people and had really bad hygiene. So this is interesting for me learning new things. To me the best part about this pest inquiry was two, being able to work with someone else and discover a pest in the bay of plenty I didn’t even know.