Long-tailed Cuckoo – Part 103/03/2026Gerald McCormack, CINHT The Long-tailed Cuckoo (Karavia, Urodynamis taitensisavia) winters in tropical Polynesia and migrates to New Zealand in October and November to breed by duping other birds to incubate its eggs and raise its young. This post explores; its behaviour in the Cook Islands and New [continue reading…]- Kōpeka – The remarkable Atiu Swiftlet03/03/2026Gerald McCormack, CINHT The Atiu Swiftlet (Kōpeka, Aerodramus sawtelli) lives only on ‘Ātiu. They roost and nest inside totally dark caves, where they navigate by echolocation. They emerge at dawn to fly continuously after flying-insects and they rest only if they return to their cave. With a [continue reading…]
- Are there snakes in the Cook Islands?02/03/2026Gerald McCormack, CINHT Inshore sea-snakes are common on and around the reefs of Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and Niue, but have never been recorded in the Cook Islands. The snake-like creatures in our lagoons are scaleless fish in the Snake-eel Family. Snake-eels differ externally from sea-snakes in having [continue reading…]
- Cook Islands’ Needlefishes25/02/2026Gerald McCormack, CINHT The Cook Islands’ biodiversity database lists 650 species of marine bony-fishes. In looking at the distribution of fishes across the Pacific it is obvious that there must be at least another hundred to be recorded locally. The Trust is always interested in information [continue reading…]
- Life in the Karekare Bee Hotel23/02/2026Gerald McCormack, CINHT We built a small hotel to study the behaviour of the local Leaf-cutter Bee, which usually nests around March or April. The hotel had three 12mm holes about 50mm long drilled to overlap two blocks of wood so that separating them would open the holes for inspection. As a [continue reading…]
- Dengue – A Complex Issue09/02/2026Gerald McCormack, CINHT Introduction Dengue Fever epidemics have been reported in the tropics of Africa, Asia and the Americas since 1780. It was a non-fatal disease with a very high fever and intense joint/muscle pain. It was not until the 1950s, in Southeast Asia, that dengue became associated [continue reading…]
- “That isn’t really a pig”09/04/2024Gerald McCormack, CINHT The Cook Islands has a rich tradition of working with spirits. In ancient times all misfortune and ill-health were attributed to spirits who consisted of a plethora of Gods (Atua/Aitu) and the countless souls of deceased people (vaerua tangata). Life revolved around the [continue reading…]
