Project Early Bird

04/02/2026

This months volunteers, awesome to have such a great turn out thanks for all coming along!
Huge thanks also to for feeding us all!

4 stoats and 4 rats this month caught in this UNESCO World Heritage area 🐀

20/12/2025

It works out to be roughly just over 1 hrs volunteer time to catch 1 rat for our project 😳

We want to thank all our volunteers and wish them a Merry Xmas and Happy New Year for all their hard work 🎄 we cant do it without you!
Special thanks to for supporting us over the years with delicious food 😋

05/10/2025

Beautiful weather for trapping today! Heaps of snow and good yarns

19/09/2025

🥁Here's the latest standings in this year's election so far... There's still nine days left – and literally anything could happen. Will the top manu be toppled from their perches? Is there an underbird on the rise just out of sight? 🐦

If you've voted, did you verify your vote with a click from your email? Or is your vote sitting uncounted in your spam folder? We'll just say, if every vote was verified, this graph might look a bit different. 👀

Also, don't forget the "special votes" – more than 80 schools are on board this year, making our tamariki an influential voting bloc. The kids know their birds! School votes will be counted at the end and could definitely shift the picture at the last minute.

It's time to publicly release your endorsements. It's time to get door knocking and make sure everyone you know has had their say. It's your civic duty.

Vote at www.birdoftheyear.org.nz

22/07/2025

Thanks to everyone who donated raffle and auction items last night at for Quiz Night, we raised $1315 for Project Early Bird!

Also, thanks to everyone who came along to quiz, all our wonderful dedicated trapping volunteers, and for providing yummy lunches every month.

Huge thanks to:
Bilky @ Snakebite Brewery for the amazing cake
Claire Jones for the gift basket
Claire & James Airey for the cake and wine
The landing Bar Franz Josef
Bernie @ Holly Honestead for the biscuits
ZIP for the canvas print by aka Chad Cottle
Archie for the amazing artwork
Maia for the cake
The Helicopter Line for the flight voucher
Carey @ Scenic Hotel group for accommo & dinner gift voucher & box of wine
Cliff Goodwin Wood Sculptor for the beautiful carving
Mak for the carpet cleaning voucher
Glacier Valley Eco Tours for the drink bottle & cake

21 rats, 2 mice & 1 stoat caught last month 🐦

07/01/2025

Checking traps at the lake - not a bad workplace for the afternoon!

🦜

30/11/2024

Beautiful trapping and bird count day at Lake Matheson, with an amazing lunch from 🦜🙏

04/09/2024

18/09/2023

37 rats and 1 stoat caught on our monthy trap checks in September 🙌🙌 huge thanks as always to all our volunteers and the amazing crew at Matheson Cafe for fueling our trappers afterwards - seriously the best food in the whole of Glacier Country ❤️

05/07/2023

We caught a record 36 rats & 3 mice on our trapping day in the weekend (out of 120 traps) 🐀🐁
Thanks as always to our wonderful volunteers 🙋‍♂️ 🙋‍♀️ and the amazing food that provide for us 🙌 . Legends! We meet on the first Sunday of every month so let us know if you would like to come along & volunteer too 🩶.

28/02/2023

Project Early Bird will be checking their community trap lines at Lake Matheson this Sunday 5th March.
Meet at 10 am outside matheson cafe/carpark area. For more info phone Tash 021 880 458 or email [email protected]

12/02/2023

We caught a whopping 35 rats, 6 stoats & 2 mice in the last 6 weeks!

🐦