Thread: Nelson Lakes getting the Green rain over 33000ha in July...better get into it.

Originally Posted by Moa Hunter

The unfortunate thing with that linked study is that there is no science. Kea nest high, high above the range of cats and rats and stoats. There is no prey up in the rocks to attract predators, so the Kea nest unmolested until poisoned. I am sure that a bush area with only rock outcrops for nesting can be found for the purpose of justifying predation numbers, to that end the 'study' doesn't say where the nests where that were monitored but I bet they weren't way above the bushline.

Wrong. See distribution and habitat, second paragraph where kea nest.
Kea | New Zealand Birds Online

Tell rock wren that stoats dont eat there nests. Now they live above the bushline and nest above the bush line.

Rock wren | New Zealand Birds Online

I know a guy that traps up in Arthurs Pass and he was telling me a few months ago the last stoat he caught was right in the sub alpine scrub. It is also thought that invasion of valleys can occur when stoats come right over the tops not only up the valley floors.