Welcome to the Midnight Collective Broadsheet 59
Actively supporting NZ’s endangered wetland birds
We
now have a rough copy of our new short film on our resident pied shags, though its
too long (sigh) so we’re cutting it in half; then with our preferred commentator coming down with a very unseasonable lurgy, we have been reduced to a crawl.
Not that we are complaining for we are in the middle of an endless summer, and gave ourselves a break yesterday to take in MR TURNER at Petone’s Lighthouse; two and a half hours of Mike Leigh’s
deliriously, needling perfection.
So
if you are fed up with hedging about in the snow in the US and elsewhere, we
are thinking of you, while lounging around nevertheless in our equally delirious
sea, which is mostly deserted,
even at this time of the year.
This is one of the reason why it's so rich in birdlife and the stately and
rare Pied Shag- Kāruhiruhi, in particular.
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| Pied Shag at Raumati Beach January 2015 |
The frustrations of filming wild animals are many, and much multiplied when they happen to be diving waterbirds.
These were illustrated yesterday as, waist deep in the Tasman Sea, a pied shag suddenly surfaced not 20 feet away. Despite the reference to The Godfather
in our headline however, there is nothing so entrancing as getting this close
to wildlife even when they are quite oblivious to your pain at not being camera
ready. Nevertheless we made the best of it and took extensive notes, then managed
to get a shot away from up in the car park, shortly before she took off.
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| NZ Sand flounder -courtesy Forest and Bird |
She stayed under water for around 20 seconds at a time which seems about average for these birds (the little
diving scaup goes down for about 12 seconds; while dabchicks can hold their
breath a little longer and disappear for 15-18s before coming up to breathe). The third time she went down however, she came up with a small grey flounder-paatiki in her beak.
It was
around three inches across and seemed way too large for her to swallow, but she
just shook it back and forward though it hadn't appeared to be moving, then lifted her beak and
down it went. Now she did have trouble, as the fish began to stall. You
could see it going down, helped along by a vigorous shaking of the neck and constant gulping; then at the last minute she lifted herself up on the surface
of the water and flapped out her wings. We thought that might
be a meal enough for the day – but no, back she went for more. So perhaps she
is still has youngsters that she’s feeding back at the Waikanae estuary.
The
delay meant we had time to get back out and fire off a couple of shots.
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| Pied Shag Raumati Beach |
What was curious to see, was a bird this size feeding so close in to the breakers where the water was only
ankle deep. It also signalled how fecund these waters have
become since a Marine
Reserve was declared between this coast and Kapiti Island. It has been around four years since
this Pied Shag colony began roosting on a large macrocarpa here at Raumati Beach and this year we have had more than ever; up to 18 birds bunched up on the tree at a time. It marks the sweetest reversal of New Zealand’s appalling history of trying to exterminate
these birds.
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| Pied Shag in breakers - Raumati Beach |
Meanwhile
here is something completely different, our native flower of the week – now in full blossom. It is a hibiscus with seed pods to the left. It was brought to these shores by Maori
around 800 years ago, though no-one knows from quite where. The consensus seems to be the
Cook Islands.
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| Native hibiscus |
Track
we were listening to while posting this Eddie Cochrane -Aint no cure for the summertime blues.
Oh yes there is!
I'm gonna take my problem to the United Nations
Well I called my congressman and he said quote:
"I'd like to help you son but you're too young to vote"
Sometimes I wonder what I'm a gonna do
But there ain't no cure for the summertime blues
