Welcome to the Midnight Collective Broadsheet 28
Actively supporting NZ’s endangered wetland birds
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| Parera/Mallard with 4 chicks June 24 |
Back
here in Kapiti we were a little surprised to find our mallard/parera mother,
was still in residence in the wetland. Her original brood had been reduced to four
yet they were obviously putting on weight and looked a feisty bunch. Sadly however,
none had survived by the weekend.
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| 3 orphans |
The
pukeko had returned, and taken up residence around the duck and her offspring, and
though she still seemed more than a match for them, within two days, she had abandoned
her charges, leaving three orphans on the island, none of whom, survived the
night.
We’ll
never know exactly what happened,
though the finger of suspicion initially pointed up two possible suspects -the
pukeko were number one, until a domestic black cat was seen loitering beside
the island the day of their disappearance. The cat is a regular, but seldom
ventures out this far into what has now become a fetid marsh, so it may have
been on the look out for the ducklings.
But rats also live around the water, and then we have seen stoats not so far away,
beside the nearby Andrews Pond.
However,
in what seemed a giveaway two kahu (harrier hawks) came swinging by the island, over
the lake on Friday morning. It remains supposition, but they circled the pond
area a number of times, and then one came back for a second look, about 20
minutes later. They generally don’t come in this low to the blackberry which
may indicate they’ve found food here recently. Then again, in our experience it
is very rare for a mother to leave her chicks. We’ve seen it only once before,
when a female left a sole surviving youngster, after being pestered by a persistent
male. She obviously had mixed emotions because she kept returning to the duckling
before finally leaving. Yet even this adolescent didn’t survive the night
without her.
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| Kahu over dune lake |
So
was the mother forced to save herself, when discovered by predators who could
have made a meal of both her, and her young?
We have better news from the kotare who continues to haunt the area of wasteland at the back of the airport. We presume it's the male from the yellow tinge on the lower breast and because this is his perch – though if it is, then he’s
lost a lot of colour since the last time we saw him. And no sign of the female
for a while now. Though given the kotare's predatory reputation, (this one looks pretty well fed for the depths of winter), he would be well up to taking a stray duckling or two!!
Track we were listening to
while posting this
Dave Van Ronk –See That My
Grave Is Kept Clean.
Stolen from the Master -Blind Lemon Jefferson- then used by
Dylan on his first album – but this is better! Though what were two 21 year
olds hoping to achieve by trying themselves out against the Mountain? It’s like a graduate actor trying themselves out onKing Lear.
Well, my heart stopped beating and my hands turned cold
And, my heart stopped beating and my hands turned cold
Well, my heart stopped beating and my hands turned cold
Now I believe what the bible told
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