WASTREL WEKA

Joanne Black’s championing of weka ( Back to Black, October 20) made me laugh. Doesn’t she know that weka are the baddest birds of all? They cause so much garden mayhem that many West Coasters train their dogs to kill them.

One year, a weka family decided spuds were a valuable commodity, and they dug up and stole every one from beneath the growing tops in our potato patch. We were late discovering the burglary, and by then had to buy potatoes.

We came home one day soon after our purchase and were puzzled by a trail of potatoes on the kitchen floor. The weka had come into the house via the cat door, past the dogs, and slashed open the bag of spuds in the pantry, making off with the goods one by one.

Like Black, I voted for the weka as bird of the year – because they are bad and because my favourite, roroa, or great spotted kiwi, wasn’t on the list.

Jo Halley (Dobson)