Welcome to the Midnight Collective Broadsheet 26
Actively supporting NZ’s endangered wetland birds
We
now have a ‘situation’ down at the dune lake with our winter’s nest of duckling
chicks having survived their first week out in the open in very arduous
conditions. For this, the credit is all down to the experience and canny
instincts of their mother, who has been under virtual siege the entire time
with the pukeko’s moving back into her terrain. Yet the lake is also providing
her with much better camouflage at this time of the year.
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| 2 oblivious pukeko with frozen watchful female duck -chicks underneath |
Pukeko’s
are usually vegetarian but will take any young chicks they can, and put some thought into their raiding parties. We’ve seen them taking
ducklings, pied stilt youngsters and even black swan cygnets, though to give
them their due the adults divvy up
the proceeds between their own chicks. (We have also seen a very hungry kahu-harrier hawk trying to lift a fully grown pukeko out of the swamp. It didn't have much of a show as the pukeko went beserk, but still, they too, can come under attack.)
They can co-ordinate
their attacks, raiding a nest from the front and rear simultaneously, and an inexperienced or dithering parent makes an easy
target. This is why it is so useful to have a pair of paradise ducks around during the breeding season,
because they are vigilant and fierce and keep the pukekos at a wary distance.
This
is not this mother’s first brood because she obviously has experience with
pukeko. She is ever on the watch for them and freezes her brood under her
whenever they are around – which is most of the time. And yet contrary to our
previous assertion, that we didn’t think there was a great deal of food around yet,
for the ducks, they do seem to be finding plenty of sustenance in the growing
lake.
We
have tried to be cautious in publicising the locality of this dune lake. Even
experienced local conservationists are not aware of it, and the wisdom of this was brought home
when three youngsters intercepted us while we were filming.
The next thing the
boys were over the fence and into the lake in their gumboots to try and get a
closer look. They meant no harm to the animals, but scattered them in a panic nevertheless.
Yet it was instructive watching the birds reaction to this intrusion. The
pukekos immediately lit out for the WBY (wild blue yonder) which relieved the
pressure on the mother duck, who remained motionless until the boys passed inside her comfort zone. She then took her charges into the water, waiting again to see
if the danger would pass and when it didn’t, disappeared into the
blackberry.
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| Female duck with brood |
Keeping tabs on these wild lives, in the centre of a town like this,
can be a harrowing business. You never know from one visit to the next, how
these birds have fared and every trip is marked with a growing sense of
trepidation over their fate, especially as we monitor this seasonal nesting aberration.
Nevertheless
– so far so good.
Track we were listening to while posting this
Lennon and McCartney -Your Mother Should Know
Lift up your hearts and sing me a song
That was a hit before your mother was born
Though she was born a long long time ago
Your mother should know
Your mother should know
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