WHERE I’D RATHER BE ...
KIWI AND KEA AND KĀKĀ, OH MY
Ornithophobics, look away. You live in a nation of twitchers. Every New Zealander has their favourite, our national identity hinges on a surprisingly aggressive flightless one, and we host an annual favourites competition that’s taken so seriously, it makes the international news.
Anyway, our feathered friends are very special to us in New Zealand, because we have such special feathered friends.
But these shy creatures (I’m not talking to you, pūkeko) are actually easier to spot from the comfort of home than the great outdoors. Here’s how.
ZEALANDIA, WELLINGTON
This week, Wellington’s wonderful Zealandia launched a new virtual project — a Google Earth tour of Zealandia’s 225ha site. Visitors can “walk” the site, and click markers to explore in more details. Learn about the success of the kākā (these beautiful parrots, once extinct in the area, are now common sights in Wellington), the rākau rangatira/ chiefly trees throughout the site, and the rare species that live safe within the site’s 8.5km predator-proof fence (bit.ly/2VOXP5s).
PŪKAHA MOUNT BRUCE NATIONAL WILDLIFE CENTRE, MASTERTON
Pūkaha Mount Bruce National Wildlife Centre
(pukaha.org.nz) near Masterton is a captive breeding centre for some of our most threatened birds. It’s home to Manukura, the famous white kiwi, as well as takahē, kākā, kōkako and more. Just this week the centre announced it has successfully bred kākāriki karaka for the first time. There are just 300 of these precious birds left, so the four recent fledglings are a huge win. The centre also has several great social feeds — recent Facebook updates include the fact that takahē produce about 7m of poo a day (best bird fact ever), and the Instagram feed is full of rare parrots eating fruit salads and kiwi spooning each other (@pukahanz).
OROKONUI ECOSANCTUARY, DUNEDIN
Orokonui Ecosanctuary is an island wildlife reserve in the Orokonui Valley. During lockdown, the staff are out come rain or shine, exploring the sanctuary and uploading videos of the daily feeds, what’s roaming through the streams and other charming snippets of this little slice of Dunedin wildlife paradise (facebook.com/OrokonuiEcosanctuary).
ROYAL ALBATROSS CENTRE, OTAGO
The Royal Cam at the Royal Albatross Centre has long been a favourite and currently has a young albatross stretching its wings, in between feeds. You can follow the commentary on Twitter at @royalbatrosscam.
This time of year is when the young kārearea (the New Zealand falcon) start to stretch their wings too, and sightings during lockdown are on the up. As the weather gets colder, kārearea often visit urban areas, searching for food. The vast majority of their diet is made up of introduced species — pigeons, mynahs, starlings, mice and rats — so they’re doing their bit for pest control. Keep an eye on the skies, and do your bit for citizen science by reporting any sightings (wingspan.org.nz).
And to do your own bit for pest control, Rotorua Canopy Tours has some good information on what you can do in your own backyard — from ensuring there’s nothing for them to eat around your house, to constructing traps and tracking tunnels (blog.canopytours.co.nz).
If you want to study up, DoC’s online training course will teach you to identify the more common native birds
(doc.govt.nz/globalassets/system/training-courses/
bird-id), and New Zealand Birds Online’s identification programme (nzbirdsonline.org.nz) can explain what you just saw fly through your garden.
TE PAPA, WELLINGTON
Te Papa is an excellent online resource — see if you know the difference between a hihi and a huia with their online quiz (tepapa.govt.nz/quiz-how-well-do-youknow-your-new-zealand-birds), and learn about how a perfumer recreated the distinctive odour of some of our native species for its Te Taiao (Nature) zone. Be warned: there’s a lot of dead bird sniffing in this video.
If extinct birds are of interest, the making of the museum’s Haast eagle is a good watch — watch as model-maker and self-declared bird geek Jake Yocum lovingly gives a pedicure to the eagle’s claws — it’s really rather touching (see both videos at tepapa.govt.nz/visit/ exhibitions/te-taiao-nature/behind-scenes-te-taiaonature).
OAMARU BLUE PENGUIN COLONY, WAITAKI
Deep in Waitaki, you can watch videos filmed at the Oamaru blue penguin colony almost daily. These are the smallest penguins in the world, and each evening, you can watch their arrival back at their harbour after a day’s ocean fishing (the centre has set up a camera feed so you can watch them coming in). The centre is closed to visitors right now, which seems to have encouraged the local fur seals to come ashore — their regular group has expanded from around 20 to nearly 50 visitors a day. The penguins remain unbothered (facebook.com/pg/OamaruBluePenguinColony).