Signs of an early Spring at a Kapiti dunelake in New Zealand

Welcome to the Midnight Collective Broadsheet 142

Actively supporting NZ’s endangered wetland birds 

We have been away for a midwinter break and here is the evidence

 

A little hard to identify this but believe it or not it's snow in the car park at the North Egmont visitor centre on Mt Taranaki.

The winter drought finally broke and we have had two or three southerly storms through, but not before these youngsters emerged on the Wharemauku stream back here at Raumati Beach.

This is way too early and Mum showed her anxiety by hiding them in this culvert for a good 5 minutes when she knew we were hanging around. 

Hardly room enough for them, leave alone the larger bird but they eventually emerged and took off down stream.

Here are some more youngsters, cygnets this time

These were spotted at the Ratanui wetland, 4km due north. Once again, Mum was very wary and herded them pretty quickly out of sight. Given that she would have been on the nest for nearly a month these birds seem to have mistimed badly, because the bad weather hit just as they were hatching.

And this has brought widespread flooding back to the wharemauku

wetland which supports the idea, floated in our previous post that this area has now become a flood plain. While we now have a larger area of wetland, the 5-7 hectare dune lake has effectively disappeared. We still don’t know what the longer term effect on wildlife will be. On our last visit we counted 30 mallards a good sign, then for the first time spotted a parera-cross pair. (Parera are NZ native ducks that are seriously endangered through interbreeding with introduced mallards)

The male very aggressively confronted a squadron of green headed mallards which gives some weight to the idea that even while they have mallard genes in their veins, they still ‘see’ themselves as parera. We’ll be keeping a close eye on them to see if the small colony that used to be at the dune lake are still around.

In the meantime here are some other residents of the area

Courting Putangitangi

This Welcome Swallow was busy feeding during a storm. Unlike most birds they don’t seem to be too bothered by bad weather.

The kotare or NZ kingfisher is still up on his perch overlooking the wetland though you have to be up early to catch him.

Theoretically we still have a month of winter to go, but conditions are already spring-like some days so we will be looking out for signs of nesting from now on.

Meanwhile it’s been a sensational few days as the Labour Party changes leadership 7 weeks out from a General Election. It sounds like political suicide but the whole country has been hoisted from its torpor, at the sight of a feisty new generation and Jacindamania on the rise. Watch this space!!! 

Jacinda Adern fills the TV screen

Track we were listening to this week well, there was really only one song in it...

It well recalls the triumphs past

It gives the hope of peace at last

The banner bright the symbol plain

Of human right and human gain

Then raise the scarlet standard high

Beneath it's folds we'll live and die

Though cowards flinch and traitors sneer

We'll keep the red flag flying here

Environmental artist Jill Studd’s blog 
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