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GREBE DIARY 15 March 14, 2022
Leaving the nests to us
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As summer is winding down, so is the grebe season. Although a few latecomers are still sitting on their nests, incubating their eggs or watching their last chicks hatching, the grebe team slowly starts to get ready for the off-season. Primarily, that means for us to reduce the numbers off platforms we have in the water and move them into storage where they can dry out and be maintained over winter. Every platform will get a thorough check over winter and, from experience, most of them need some kind of fixing and refurbishment to be ready for the next season. It is very interesting to see the wear and tear that these platforms show after only a few months in the water so there is a lot to do. For now, we left six platforms anchored in the bay and three are still occupied by grebes. It is questionable but definitely not impossible that these breeding attempts will still be successful as the temperatures drop. It is increasingly hard for the grebes to keep their eggs warm and successfully incubate them. In addition, we have another six platforms still attached to the marina and three are occupied by breeding pairs. Again, it will be interesting to find out if we see chicks hatching from these nests in the upcoming days or weeks. Last weekend we removed six abandoned and now unused platforms from the water. When taking the old nests off the platforms, we are always astonished by what we might find in the PHOTO: Wānaka Sun nests. That leads me to the question: “What do baby dummies, dog toys, car radio antennas, covertly watching lately, or been stopped and safety and prescription glasses, pieces of a wondered how we saw them on their phone? deceased hedgehog, Christmas tree tinsel, On Thursday there was another crash, this time on Ruby Island Road, where another single vehicle has rolled after losing control on a corner. No one was injured on this occasion. On Thursday we also attended a building site after a new air-conditioning unit was taken from The Southern Districts Health Board the building. has warned it may cut back services in On Friday night Wānaka Police joined the response to increasing numbers of its staff Otago Lakes Safter Roads Team to conduct contracting Covid. checkpoints in Wānaka. Unfortunately, three It says some staff are having to isolate as drivers were quickly found over the limit and will household contacts or stay home to look have fines associated to their driving. This trend is after family. disappointing and unfortunately regular. We will Some services across the Southern DHB continue to put checkpoints anywhere at any time. may change or scale back to allow staff to Over the weekend it was reported that the be moved to areas in the health care system batteries were stolen from the traffic lights where care cannot be deferred. These areas operating on the road from Makarora to Haast. This include services such as cancer care, nonis long term road works and while I can appreciate deferrable surgery and diagnostic procedures it can be frustrating, stealing the batteries is clearly such as radiology. not the answer, and a criminal one. Some services that may see changes Hope this week treats you well. If you see include non-urgent surgeries and non-urgent the Wānaka Police out there, don’t be afraid outpatient clinics. to say hello. “Staff across the Southern DHB are doing a – By Kim Chirnside great job to care for patients during a difficult Sergeant, NZPD
Driving home the message
Kia ora Wānaka. We’ve welcomed back our colleagues deployed to Wellington and we’ve all been busy with the day-to-day policing of the town. On Monday last week there were some adverse weather conditions which led to two crashes on Cardrona Valley Road, approaching the summit. Both resulted in the single vehicle rolling after failing to navigate their respective corners. One driver was injured. This road is not to be taken for granted when it is wet and needs more caution from drivers. On Tuesday there was an overnight burglary where a residential house was entered and a range of property taken. Thankfully this is not the norm in our town but is something to be wary of and to take the appropriate precautions with locking doors. Police have noticed some rather high speeds on the newly sealed stretch of Ballantyne Road. We have been out to enforce this 60km/h limit and a few drivers have come precariously close to losing their licence instantly by approaching 100km/h. Another focus has been the use of cell phones while driving. This is a clear danger on the road, so Wānaka Police have been conducting operations to observe and enforce this. Has anyone seen us
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pieces of a popped beach ball (see photo) and uncountable pieces of litter and rubbish have in common?”. They are all items that our family of Wānaka grebes find irresistible as nest building materials. We regularly find them weaved into old and abandoned nests when we remove them to swap over platforms or extract the platforms towards the end of the breeding season as we are doing at the moment. On one hand it is fascinating to see how these birds use the things we humans have left behind, lost, or carelessly thrown in the lake to build and improve (and maybe decorate?) their nests. On the other hand, it is very sad to see the birds exposed to all this rubbish, even in that tiny stretch of our beloved Lake Wānaka. At least the low water level at the moment enables us to regularly collect most of the rubbish around the marina. We sometimes see members of the community doing the same and we, on behalf of the grebes, are very thankful and appreciative of that! Finally, we want to mention that our grebes, even that late in the season, are still attracting a lot of very keen visitors, spectators, ornithologists and professional photographers from all over the country. Last week we had one of New Zealand most famous and eminent bird photographers in Wānaka and she planned to spend hours hiding in the vegetation around the boardwalk waiting for some good photos of our Wānaka grebes. Watch this space as we might be able to report further about the outcome of her visit. – By Markus Hermanns
Health Board stretched
THURSDAY 17.03.22 - WEDNESDAY 23.03.22
time.” Hamish Brown, Chief Operating Officer for SDHB said. “We apologise in advance to those affected by these changes and remind the Southern community to still seek out medical care if they or a loved one need it.” The Board says people affected will be contacted directly. Mr Brown said all healthcare staff were doing their best to care for patients and the community during an unprecedented time. He said it was understandable that some people who visited hospitals and healthcare providers were anxious or frustrated “but this is no excuse to take these feeling out on staff ”. Emergency and non-deferrable surgeries and procedures are being given priority, and anyone needing health advice should continue to call their GP or Healthline on 0800 611 116 or dial 111 if it’s an emergency.
THE WĀNAKA SUN
