The Bio Report: February 2020

As silently as I can, I step cautiously along the trail behind my house. I walk at the pace of Iron Maiden's song In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida. A slow song, but one that I was trained to survey butterflies to and thought it might be appropriate for looking for geckos.

My neck sore from staring upwards, my headlamp is at its brightest setting as I use my binoculars to survey the forest canopy. The forest surrounding me is nearly silent save for the few Morepork owls and shorebird calls in the distance. The full moon shines through the canopy in some areas adding to the eerily silent landscape.

After an hour and a half of surveying the track behind my house which normally takes me 15 minutes to walk I failed to observe any geckos.

There are quite a few gecko species in New Zealand and they keep discovering more. Many of the species people do know about they know very little information on their life history. Because of their small size, ability to camouflage with surrounding vegetation, and many of them being nocturnal and arboreal, they are often referred to as a cryptic species.

From the information I can gather, there are three species on Waiheke. Two of the species are nocturnal (forest gecko [Mokopirirakau granulatus] & Pacific gecko [Dactylocnemis pacificus]) and one is diurnal (Auckland green gecko [Naultinus elegans]).

I've contacted several people regarding looking for a geckos and haven't heard anything back. This may partially be due to wanting to keep gecko populations secret as they are a target for poaching. I have realized that it's okay that I don't have any direction as I feel like it's a rite of passage to find one on my own.

Here are some other photos from the past few weeks. Many of the photos were taken on Tiritiri Matangi island.