Adult and chick – Joseph Brider, 2021
Gerald McCormack, CINHT
The Cook Islands Fruit-Dove (Kūkupa, Ptilinopus rarotongensis) lives only on the islands of Rarotonga and Ātiu, making it a 2-island endemic of the Cook Islands. It was recorded on Ma‘uke in the 1820s but was lost sometime before 1970 – cause unknown. It was also in the fossil record of Mangaia but was lost before the arrival of the Missionaries. Continue reading →
Gerald McCormack, CINHT
Karekare Bee Hotel at 6pm on 28th December 2021 with suites numbered left to right
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 hotel, each hole is a suite and any occupying bee or wasp makes its own rooms by building partitions or doors. Within a suite, Room 1 is the first to be partitioned and will contain the oldest offspring.
Early morning on the 28th December 2021 it was unexpectedly noticed that a large Tahitian Mason Wasp had already sealed Suite 2 with mud and was starting work on Suite 3, which she sealed in the early evening. Suite 1 remained vacant. Twelve days later, on the 9th January the hotel was opened for inspection. Continue reading →
