Endangered New Zealand wader lacks ‘charisma’
The wrybill is in the same threat category as the whio (blue duck) and great spotted kiwi, but its plight is far less known. Ged Cann looks at why the little wader has slipped off New Zealanders’ radars.
The wrybill is the only bird on the planet with a beak which curves sideways.
Always curving to the right, the beak is perfect for sniffing out prey from below rocks on the dried riverbeds where it lives.
However, despite being deemed to be ‘‘in serious trouble’’ in a recent report from the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment and having a population of about 2000 nationwide, Kiwis don’t seem too bothered about the state of this one-of-a-kind native.
The wrybill is not alone in this respect.
According to research from Lincoln University, 70 per cent of the public felt the the state of the country’s native plants, animals and fish was adequate or doing well last year, despite more than 900 native species approaching extinction and another 2800 declining or at risk.
Research co-author Ross Cullen said the misconception likely boiled down to a focus on a dozen or so ‘‘charismatic species’’ – the ka¯ka¯po¯ and kiwi of the world.
By comparison, you would probably miss the wrybill if you were stood in front of it, because its plumage is the exact grey of the greywacke shale littering the riverbanks where it lives.
Edith Smith, of Forest & Bird, said the bird was even easier to miss because it froze when it saw movement.
‘‘They know, even from leaving their nest, that if they hear a sound or something moves, they stand stock still and freeze.’’
The wrybill spends its winters around Miranda [at the Firth of Thames], and Smith said locals would be familiar with the bird, because colonies would initially arrive, stand on one leg, and all stare in the same direction.
The wrybill return to large braided rivers of Canterbury such as the Rangitata and Rakaia as well as the smaller Ashley Rakahuri river to nest.
The bird came first for having the cutest chick, Smith said.
‘‘They are just little balls of fluff with these dark little bills.’’