Titī – Cook’s Petrel Research
The Seabird Trust is collecting reports of Cook’s Petrel (tītī) calls, heard as they fly across the Auckland Isthmus / North Auckland Isthmus. Because of their kek-kek-kek calls, these birds have been dubbed ‘flying goats’. You can help the tītī (and NZ fairy tern) on their mainland flyway by tracking them across Auckland as they fly between the Tasman Sea and Hauraki Gulf.
There are several aims: to better understand these seabirds, raise public awareness, highlight seasonality and the risk to fledglings departing colonies, and to promote the
reduction of artificial light at night to mitigate threats to them and other species.
You can add your own ‘research’ using the programme’s online form: such as the number of ‘Times when you heard a petrel or petrels on one night’.
Jared Anderson, park ranger at Mahurangi Regional Park, says that he often hears the calls of the tītī over Sullivan’s Bay. The tītī breed from October to April, with the peak of calling by birds flying overland occurring from October to January each year.
For more information on how to join the programme go to:
