Spur-winged plovers may not be everyone’s favourite bird; their distinctive calls and habit of dive-bombing anyone who gets too close to their nest can make them unpopular, but these little birds are native to Aotearoa, arriving here under their own steam from Australia. They thrive in the ecological niche created through the clearing of land. Open areas of short grass and mown reserves can provide suitable habitat for the ground-nesting plovers although they are vulnerable

Have you heard the distinctive call of the pīpīwharauroa (shining cuckoo)? Right around now, these small migratory birds are arriving back in Aotearoa for another summer. After spending winter in New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, they make the long journey south, arriving here around September. For Māori, the return of the pīpīwharauroa is an important tohu (sign) of the changing season. Its arrival signals that Kōanga (Spring) has begun and was traditionally associated wit

Rivercare founders Chris Ballantyne and Rusell Cavanagh Rivercare Group was conceived in early 2019 from a growing sense of concern about the wellbeing of Te Wai ō Pareira/Henderson Creek by fed-up Te Atatū locals Russell Cavanagh and Chris Ballantyne They had both observed the sewage overflows and the lack of official response to these. The key moment in the founding of Rivercare was the discovery of a poorly managed and significant untreated sewage discharge into Huruhuru