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The Whio by Grace

Published on Mar 16, 2016

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PRESENTATION OUTLINE

The Whio

-Apperance - Habitat - Habits - Young - Threats - 

Appearance

  • The Whio has a smooth streamlined head.
  • The Whio also has large webbed feet so it can walk around and swim in fast moving waters.
  • The upper bill has a semicircular fleshy lip that overlaps the lower bill the fleshy lip helps the Whio scrape insect larvae off rocks without ruining its bill.

Habbitat

  • In the blue duck habitat they need bouldery rivers and streams, they also need to have stable banks to get in and out of the stream/river.
  • The Blue ducks like clean, fast flowing waters called white waters.
  • During the they hide in caves,log piles or among plants.

Habits

  • The Whio are are mainly active during early morning and late evening periods during the day they hide in log jams , caves and other such places some populations have almost adopted a nocturnal existence.
  • Blue ducks defend their territory all year round the size of each pairs territory is around 1.5km.
  • They eat insect larvae including cassidyfly,mayfly,and stonefly larvae.

The Young

  • The Whio nest between August and October laying 4-9 creamy white eggs the female stays and keeps the eggs warm for 35 days.
  • Chicks can fly when they are about 70 days old.
  • Whios have 4-9 ducklings a year.
  • It takes a bit of time for the ducklings to be confident to be near or around the fast flowing waters.

Threats

  • Habitat loss is a big threat to the Whio as they then will have no where to live.
  • Stoats are one of the greatest threats to the Whio, they attack females on nests, steal eggs and take young ducklings from river edge.
  • Ferrell cats and domestic dogs and ferrets are also known as predators of the whio.

What is being done to help the Whio

  • When people are walking their dog by the river they are being asked to put their dog on a leash just in case you are near some whio or are in their territory.
  • The people that are rescuing and releasing whio into the wild check on the whio they have let out into the wild every month as the bird is becoming safer in the wild.
  • If you spot a Whio watch from a distance and give them some space