Introduction

Heard of owls? Listen for ruru around the Wellington region and let's find out how well they are doing in the Wellington region.

Welcome to Citizen Ruru – where participating is as simple as it gets, all you have to do is lend us your ears and provide a bit of information about your ruru encounters.
Where did you hear them? When was it? And, oh, how many of these mesmerizing rurus did you hear?

By joining us in this project, you're becoming an invaluable part of a greater cause.
Our ultimate goal? To piece together a comprehensive map revealing the favourite hangouts of ruru across Wellington City, and how well ruru are distributed around Wellington.

Are you ready? Let's listen, observe, and uncover the nocturnal secrets of our beautiful feathered friends.

Initially this project is running from December 2023 until the end of February 2024, but you will still be able to report observations on iNaturalist outside these times.

Before you start

Only perform the ruru listening on a night with good weather (no rain, low wind -- below 20kmph).
Make sure you dress appropriately: stay warm -- it can get cold standing still, even on warm nights! and wear sturdy shoes if you are leaving your garden.
Choose a place where you are comfortable to stand/sit for 1 hour and that you know well.

This could be your garden, no need to travel too far 🙂
If you do head for a park or reserve, stay on the track, and close to the exit.

Ruru can easily be heard from the forest fringes.

And don't go alone. Two people make a better listening team that one.
If you feel unsafe, leave. You can contact the Wellington City Council Contact Centre on 04 499 4444, or the Police on 111.
Make sure you have a light -- at least your phone torch -- to get back safely in the dark.

To listen

Start at 9:00PM. You will hear the dusk chorus at first, and then the night shift will slowly take over.
The ruru call your hear most often is the classic more-pork. But there are others: click here for ruru call examples.
If you hear a ruru, make a note, either on paper or directly into iNaturalist or webform (see instructions below).
Ignore other animals calling.
Finish after 1 hour (so 10pm).
Ideally you will repeat this process on 3-5 nights (during the period December 2023 -- February 2024, not necessarily consecutively) but even once is helpful.

To tell us about it

Of course, we hope you heard ruru calls. But if you did not, make sure you let us know about your hard work using this form.

If you did hear ruru, let us know using one of these options:

using the i-Naturalist app on your phone
1. Install iNaturalist using the Apple Store or Google Play Store as appropriate.
2. Make an account for iNaturalist and sign in.
3. Click on this link to join the project, or search for "Citizen Ruru".
4. Add observations (see instructions below).
5. For each observation, record "What did you see", date, time and under Projects, select "Citizen Ruru".
6. Once the project is selected, it is optional if you want to record "Ruru call type", "Direction to call", and "Repeat observation (animal)".
using this webform (no log-in required)
1. Fill in this Google form