Welcome to the Midnight Collective Broadsheet 51
Actively supporting NZ’s endangered wetland birds
It is time we had a good news story and here it is – the rapidly growing dabchick down at the Waikanae Lagoon. This is the closest we’ve managed to get to these little grebes so far – and as seems to be typical – the chick was being fostered by the father, while mum was out in the centre of the lagoon feeding.
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| Dabchick male with adolescent chick |
This teenager is proving a handful. While it was difficult filming the two of them through the reeds, still we managed to get new footage. Where two weeks ago the father would not have left the youngster and ‘she’ was most often perched on his back, now he is occasionally diving and bringing back breakfast (or brunch – it was around 10am). The chick hasn’t yet started to dive, but seems nearly ready to try... She dipped her head underwater but then latched onto her father’s coat tails. This seems a real pain to him as he can’t readily shake her off. Then perhaps also, its an attempt to hoist herself back on top. She’s getting rather too large for that so finally he loses patience and heads back out to join his mate.
Dabchicks are listed as nationally threatened, and this is the third chick we have seen raised here in the past 12 months. They tend to live in isolated pairs, though we haven’t seen dabchicks at other wetlands in the area since one turned up at the dune lake at this time last year.
Finally we’d like to note the bizarre weather we’ve been getting here. This is the view from Raumati Beach out into the Tararua’s.
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| Tararua snow - Nov 14 2014 |
As you can see we’ve had a thick fall of snow in this back country with only two weeks to go to summer. It is rare to get this much snow in winter so this is unprecedented. Yet we are still not getting enough rain. Here is a shot of the dune lake onto which a new squadron of ducklings has just emerged.
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| Mallard with ducklings |
Yet the lake is nearly dry on 14 November which is also unprecedented. Last year it dried up in early February. We have had rain, but not the drenching we usually get through spring. We suspect there are further nests under the blackberry. This mother will probably take her offspring down into the Wharemauku if we don't get a good drenching soon.
Track we were listening to while posting this the 15 year old (well he looks it)- Rick Nelson - Hello Marylou.
I saw your lips I heard your voice
Believe me I just had no choice
Wild horses couldn't make me stay away
I thought about a moonlit night
My arms about you good an' tight
That's all I had to see for me to stay
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