Chapter Three: Summer 2019-2020
The second season, in 2019-20, we tried different tactics, having noticed that the Kuriri seemed to follow a more predictable pattern in the first few months after arriving from the Arctic. This time our cannon netting produced three birds first time out – and would have got about 20 but for a miss-firing cannon – but thereafter the birds returned to their wary ways. Only right at the end of the season, when we were about to give up, did we catch three more.
Those six birds, named Ra, Ahi, Tea, Kikorangi, Kowhai and Whero after the colours of their bands, were all seen regularly around the Firth and their tags sent us comforting messages. But the Curse of the Kuriri struck again when they left on migration in early April and five of the tags abruptly went silent.
The sixth, Ra, (whose route is shown on the globe below) reported intermittently from Japan and Alaska – following the same route as JoJo and Amanda – and then also went quiet. So, it was with great excitement that on 9 October we got a signal indicating that she was about 1,000km north of Hawaii and heading south. Since then she’s gone silent again but we’re still hopeful of hearing more. We have also had watchers out hoping to see one of the nine PGPs we have banded over the two seasons but so far there have been no reports.
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