Kapiti Island - Rare film of kokako feeding

Welcome to the Midnight Collective Broadsheet 110

Actively supporting NZ’s endangered wetland birds

 

Kapiti Island from Raumati Beach

We have been lucky enough to find ourselves back on Kapiti Island for a few days. This is New Zealand’s premier conservation reserve and once again we’ll post a few observations from our stay, this time at the other end of the season in mid autumn. The breeding season has now passed though the weather continues unseasonably warm and clear… (Hottest global temps recorded this March should you still think the globe aint warming!!).

The birds are less visible this time of year though the forest isn’t any quieter and is full of fruit, so all the animals were looking rather well fed. 

Kohekohe -the fruit grows out of the trunk - Three orange seeds inside these green pods 

It was good to catch up with birds we hadn’t seen last time including pipit and kotare and then ones we had, keruru, korimako and kaka, then this variable oyster catcher pair who were busy nesting in November. They were never together but here they are, fossicking through the flotsam on the shoreline their youngsters having well fledged.

Variable oystercatcher pair fossicking along  Rangatira beach

One bird we got closer to than we wanted was a male kakariki that plummeted into our northern window at the Red House.  The glass on the house is taped up against bird strike but sadly it still happens. We left him to revive on the grass as they sometimes do, but had to bag him into the freezer when he hadn’t moved by noon. They are getting more of these strikes on Kapiti as the population of this endangered native parrot continues to rise.

Male kakariki - this one alive and well

The jewel in the crown of our visit however was our encounter with this kokako, spotted feeding close to the (human) inhabited area around the flat at Rangitira. 

Kokako   Kapiti Island April 2016

We have included a very short clip taken at the start of the Wilkinson Track quite close to where we were holed up in the Red House.

We have been to the island near 30 times now, with three extended stopovers and though we have heard these birds singing (also an unforgettable experience) this is our first look at them in the wild. They are very endangered and a sighting shows why. They are large birds but flightless and lope around through the trees on elegant long legs.  

Kokako - Kapiti Island April 2016 

There can be few more graceful animals on the planet and like many of our flightless birds they seem closer to a mammal like a monkey, than a bird in movement and behaviour. This one dropped down right in front of us and proceeded to feed but no sooner had we focussed the camera than it was off again. They move with great surety and grace, winding their way up into the forest canopy. 

A recent count at the southern end of the island put their numbers at 20 pairs so it has been a very slow increase in population since the mid-1990's when the first five pairs were released. At that time there was devastation following the jubilant discovery of a first nest because the chicks were taken out by a kahu (harrier hawk) – Kokako nest in the top of the forest canopy. They now find a safe sanctuary  within this refuge.

Meanwhile keep a lookout for our next post which will give an inside view of the trials and tribulations experienced by the DoC staff in the attempt to establish a population of the even more endangered  Takahe, on this island in the late 1990’s. 

         

Track we were listening to while posting this was again set by the redoubtable but increasingly mysterious Susie Niews. 

Beyond the horizon, the night winds blow 

The theme of a melody from many moons ago 

The bells of St. Mary, how sweetly they chime 

Beyond the horizon I found you just in time 

She knows, as you all should, that this is Bob Dylan singing his rejigged version of  -Red Sails in the Sunset-  Beyond The Horizon from Modern Times … though does that get you any closer to knowing her or her whereabouts; let alone the whereabouts of her birth place? Only you will know… which should be enough of a clue to keep you going until the next post…

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The Mackays to Peka Peka Expressway - an update on the destruction of a New Zealand wetland

Welcome to the Midnight Collective Broadsheet 109

Actively supporting NZ’s endangered wetland birds

It has been a while since we caught up with progress at the dune lake and as autumn now starts to get a grip on our local terrain here are some updated images. 

Bridge through Raumati Beach dune lake

This is the bridge now starting to take shape over the Wharemauku track in Raumati Beach (the creek has been diverted). It gives an idea of the magnitude of the project. This was configured to rise 20 feet above the walkway, but the finished height with traffic above can now be seen to be considerably higher.  This view looks east while the one below looks south and shows how the area has been remade through the expressway excavations.

E-way excavations looking south

The vews below were taken before construction began, from near the same spot. 

Raumati Beach dune lake before destruction

Royal Spoonbill at Raumati Beach dune lake

The great variety of native bird life that used to frequent this area has now disappeared, though a lot of effort has gone into presenting all this  as an  environmentally acceptable addition to the local area. Much of this is summarised on this chart displayed at the site.

Let’s make a couple of points about the factual quality of this spun blurb. The dune lake was 5-7 hectares in size, so the NZTA would need to be remaking 25-35 hectares, on this claim, to account for this wetland alone. Such obvious self-aggrandizement, throws a cloud over the rest of their claims.  Of course it is good to see wetlands being re-established in this area, but none bear comparison to the richness and diversity of the one that has been destroyed. These are gentrified, landscaped ponds constructed for human visual pleasure and not to sustain wild animal lives.   

The planting programme is a big plus for this area but, as we pointed out in a previous post, this is part of a highway beautification programme. It is not a sustained long term commitment to reestablishing the diversity of our native flora and fauna. Once the NZTA have left the district it will not be further managed, and as can be seen from previous plantings at Mackay’s Crossing, the results ten years down the track, have proved a very mixed blessing.          

One of the more interesting results of the destruction of this dune lake, has been a subsequent increase of native wetland birds at the Queen Elizabeth Park Reserve about five kms south of Raumati Beach. Perhaps this may be the real beneficiary of areas in Kapiti where our native wetland birds have been harassed out of the area by the Expressway. 

Our guest blogger this week, Ms Susie Niews, has decided on the Beatles as our backing track. And good on her for that. It's 8 Days a Week... with that wonderfully lilting way in which they reversed into this song... That must be Liverpudlian...And Susie knows all the words

Love you everyday girl

Always on my mind

One thing I can say girl

Love you all the time

So is she Liverpudlian too...? Answer in the next post.

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Kapiti Island New Zealand's native Bird reserve 8 -The return of the Korimako/bellbird and the dawn chorus

Welcome to the Midnight Collective Broadsheet 108

Actively supporting NZ’s endangered wetland birds

One of the most noticeable changes on Kapiti Island after 10 years has been the increase in korimako –or bellbird. As esteemed over here as the nightingale is in Europe, the dawn chorus of this bird was famously praised by Joseph Banks when Cook was holed up in Queen Charlotte Sound (Marlborough) on his first tour out here in 1770 'The most melodious wild music I have ever heard' Banks enthused.

Korimako startled grazing Kapiti Island

The most probable cause of this increase is the feeding of the Hihi which bellbirds take full advantage of. They are degrees more feisty and  burglarise their feeders. Over here on the mainland the remaining  korimako live close to the bush line though they are occasionally seen down on the flats just to the north, in Waikanae.  Unlike the tui which is a step higher in the pecking order, they don’t appear to be migrating between here and the island – at least not yet.

Korimako -Kapiti Island

On our third day on Kapiti a storm blew up from early morning. It was short and sharp and had blown itself out by three in the afternoon. A walk through the forested track shortly after however had brought all the bellbirds out into celebratory song. Birds are as enthusiastic about nasty weather as we are, especially when accompanied by high winds so there was quite a celebration of music reverberating through the trees. 

Korimako -Kapiti Island

We sought to capture this, though with only marginal success because the wind was still up and the sea roaring, but thought we would post it anyway, along with images of one of these canny beautiful birds, foraging on the ground. 

Stan and Amy Wilkinson, rangers on the island in the 1920’s and 30’s kept a close investigative eye on korimako. They didn’t have sophisticated recording equipment but in October 1931 Stan wrote an account of a springtime down chorus where they recorded the difference between a dawn chorus and daytime korimako song. It is important here to note that the korimako’s song and the chorus that goes with it varies from region to region.

This is taken from Stan and Amy’s book -Kapiti Bird Sanctuary    

Morning chorus  15 October 1931

 4.50am  A tui starts singing in nearby karaka Almost immediately a robin joins in. and the two sing loudly. Each trying to outdo the other. A note or two coming from a bellbird high on the hillside. No chiming yet.

5.00am Both tui and robin singing their loudest. And a few bellbirds starting to chime. As if to set the key. A few moments later chiming bursts out all along the hillside. Bells were pealing in every tree, the whole place ringing with sound, almost drowning out the tui and robin even though they are only a chain from us.

5.14am Chiming of bellbirds in full volume.

5.18am Chiming gradually subsiding; some of the bellbirds in front of the house singing their ordinary song.

5.22am Chiming finished except that coming from a bird or two in the distance; most of the others singing their staccato notes.

5.24am A kaka flew screeching by the house. Bellbirds still singing.

5.47am Sun appeared over hills of Mainland. Only an odd korimako singing now.

This music has now disappeared from the New Zealand forest, though given the orchestral performance we chanced upon, perhaps there’s a chance that it is coming back again on Kapiti Island.

Track we were listening to while posting this -Over here we're all keeping a startled eye on Republican chaos in the US at the moment, so putting up Franklin D's theme song might help sooth your  way to your booths (and ours).

Happy days are here again

The skies above are clear again

So let's sing a song of cheer again

Happy days are here again

Altogether shout it now

There's no one

Who can doubt it now

So let's tell the world about it now

Happy days are here again

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Kapiti Island - New Zealand's native bird reserve 7 - The Kaitiaki Trip

Welcome to the Midnight Collective Broadsheet 107

Actively supporting NZ’s endangered wetland birds

This late summer has caught us by surprise. It’s been very hot, -the temperatures up in the high 20’s tipping over into the 30’s (that’s 85-90 in New York) for four weeks now. But there has also been rain – the widely predicted El Nino drought conditions have not materialised. And now the cyclone season is underway in earnest with Fiji bearing the brunt of Cyclone Winston over the last 3 days while we watch to see if its going to scome our way next.         

Healthy Harbours Porirua 

We have been caught up on a number of projects one of which has been to put a video together for  Healthy Harbours - Porirua. This follows a trip before Christmas of seven youngsters from that region over to Kapiti Island.

Rachel, Te Arepa, Rohan, Rose, Soteria, Hope and E.J. at the Wilkinson Track hihi feeding station.

This is part of their Kaitiaki programme and here is the completed video.

Just to apologize - we are having trouble loading this but you can view it on this link at youtube

A note on kaitiaki will help our overseas  visitors. It is generally translated from Te Reo (the Maori Language) as guardian and that is the intention of the programme – to   promote guardianship of our local environment especially around wetland areas. Rose - The final interviewee in the video gives an impressive account of it. 

But kaitiaki also has a much wider and more personal range of reference to Maori and this includes experiences that aren’t generally considered acceptable in Western cultural eyes. A kaitiaki may attach itself to you in the form of an animal – perhaps a spider, and this is seen as a protective presence. We think of these as supernatural doings and view them with a level-headed skepticism; but it is a perfectly normal part of everyday experience for Maori.

Next post we will get back to the Island but locally its been pleasant to locate this nest – which is just up the wharemauku creek and empty now.

It is a riroriro nest – the grey warbler. These native birds are one of our tiniest and very rare now in this area though we photographed two here last year, so perhaps we have a breeding couple. Both local species of cuckoo will lay an egg in their nest. And one of the most poignant sights in the forest is two see two of these parents diligently trying to feed a long tailed cuckoo fledgling– which is around 10x the size of the ‘foster’ parent.       

 

From the 1959 Forest and Bird publication - New Zealand Forest Inhabiting Birds

Then just as a final point the riroriro is also called the NZ Rainbird…If it is about to rain its song will change. Which is something else we generally retain a skepitical view of – until we hear the evidence…

Track we were listening to while posting this - We have been busy recording  local bee populations over the last month so here is a song to go with all that from Arthur Askey and The Bee Song  

Oh, what a wonderful thing to be, 

A healthy grown up busy busy bee; 

Whiling away all the passing hours

Pinching all the pollen from the cauliflowers.

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Kapiti Island -New Zealand native bird reserve - sojourn 6 - Parera and the gathering of the clans

Welcome to the Midnight Collective Broadsheet 106

Actively supporting NZ’s endangered wetland birds

It is around  this time of the year, in late summer, that you begin to see waterbirds flocking. And we’ve seen two species at it so far, both at the Waikanae Estuary, where 15 or so paradise duck had gathered. These appeared to be youngsters because they were just getting their adult plumage. 

Mallard youngsters at Waikanae estuary

Here also large flock of newby ducks were convening. We counted 60 or so, all mallards, all youngsters, with the males yet to develop their distinctive green heads. 

And still more...

Then we found them again, down  at the Ratanui wetland, where they had converged into a group. They were very nervous in this enclosed space, and took off together soon after we arrived. It is  the first time we had seen two species flocking like this and then flying together.

Middle distance - mallard and paradise duck (30 odd barely discernible)

Taking flight ...

Amy and Stan on Kapiti Island

One indispensable record of Kapiti Island, was penned by early conservators Stan and Amy Wilkinson. Kapiti Diary and Kapiti Bird Sanctuary record their observations from the establishment of the Iisland as a reserve in 1923, through to the 1940’s. 

It was in the 1920’s, before mallards were introduced into this country that they recorded our native duck, Parera, flocking in the strait between the island and the mainland. 

Rare native parera pair  at  Raumati Beach dune lake (now destroyed)

This is an extraordinary record, but a troubling one because this flocking in May was linked to the shooting season.

“On May 2 1926 coming back from the mainland we passed within easy distance of a huge flock about a mile from the beach, and another mob of about equal numbers in the middle of the channel. Although astonished at the numbers an even bigger surprise was in store; for when we had nearly reached the island we passed another flock that made these two look small.  There were thousands and thousands of them in that flock the like of which we have never seen since, nor are likely to. Although the grey duck –parera comes over every shooting season in great numbers these numbers are certainly diminishing. In some years we may see a few hundred sitting on the sea but more often this bird is conspicuous by its absence.”

View from the top of Kapiti Island looking East -foto Ridgway Lythgoe 

The birds were trying to avoid the shotguns of the hunters,  but were failing year by year to do so. So rapacious was the onslaught that by the end of the 1930’s the Government gave in to intense pressure and allowed the restocking of New Zealand with mallard eggs from the US. History has been defined as 'the view of our past as compiled  by the victors', and the history of extinction in this country is no exception. The blame is usually placed on introduced pests, the necessary draining of wetlands, not the rapacious human appetite in killing for sport. And it is this sport that continues to carry the prime responsibility for the annihilation of our native duck.

This has been and continues to be a worldwide phenomena over many many species; though if more account were taken of this kind of delightful observation, made by Amy Wilkinson on Kapiti Island, perhaps they’d be a little less quick on the trigger.

One morning we were endeavouring to get a photograph of a family that were resting in the garden after a meal. The female was standing on a stone keeping guard. We were using a half plate camera and the ducklings paid no attention while the necessary arrangements were made. Turning our eyes to adjust the aperture we were ready but where were the ducklings. They had vanished! During that fraction of time a warning had apparently been conveyed to them in some mysterious manner. We never heard a sound yet here were the little fellows all crouching under the different rock plants and the old duck with her head cocked to one side, watching a harrier sailing lazily overhead. It was really wonderful how those ducklings had hidden themselves so completely, and so quickly, for the plants didn’t provide much effective cover.       

Track we were listening to while posting this…

We had been prevaricating for some time between  Patti Smith  and Van Morrison on this track, but eventually went with Them and  Gloria…

Wanna tell about my baby

Lord, you know she comes around

About five feet four

From her head to the ground

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On Kapiti Island 5- New Zealand's premier conservation reserve Hihi - Stitchbird

Welcome to the Midnight Collective Broadsheet 105

Actively supporting NZ’s endangered wetland birds

Hihi male en-song - courtesy DoC

The hihi or stitchbird is one of our most  delightful birds but also one of our most endangered. Originally found throughout the North Island, including on Kapiti Island, they dramatically reduced with the arrival of Europeans in 1840, until by 1885 only a small remnant population was surviving on Little Barrier Island-Te Hauturu-o-Toi. Little Barrier was our first protected wildlife sanctuary (1897) and from here both saddlebacks and hihi have been re-released to Kapiti.

Kapiti Island - male hihi

A number of re-introductions of hihi to Kapiti Island have been sanctioned because they have a chequered history of survival. An original 200 were introduced but there numbers fell rapidly. There were limited nectar and fruit producing plants on the island and the hihi face stiff competition from honey-eating rivals, tui and bellbirds, so feeders were set up to supplement their diet. These grew the population, though in early 2000 a decision was taken to discontinue feeding which led to a catastrophic fall in numbers to 7 breeding pairs. With the feeding programme reinstated, numbers have climbed back up to around 120.

Hihi feeder - Wikinson Track  Kapiti Island

They are very difficult to photograph and film because they are constantly on the move, while lighting in forest is marginal at best. It is the male who carries the colour and we only caught one rare glimpse of a female, though this is a good sign because they must have been nest sitting. You will see her towards the end of this collage of footage.

 

Though honeyeaters, hihi, like tui and bellbirds, also eat fruit and insects. (We’ve seen a bellbird doing the rounds of the plums in a plum tree. She moved from plum to plum, plunging her beak into the ripe fruit and sucking out the juice.) The feeding programme has led to an unexpected explosion in the bellbird population on the island because, while the feeders keep  tui at bay, the bellbirds have the run of the roost because hihi maintain a wary distance from both.    

Caught in the act - a bellbird in the hihi feeder 

One of the long time rangers on the island Pete Daniels, had a way with animals and knew these birds well. In his day (1980 and 90’s) a feeder was installed out on the red house verandah, The hihi could never get a look in because the kaka, tui and bellbird would keep them out. He set up an alternative food source on his kitchen table and they would come through the open window to feed; then fly off to bathe in the nearby creek. One good news story that came at the end of our trip was the first sighting of hihi up at the northern Iwi end of the island.   

These birds are in good hands with the current ranger Gena and partner Nick, who makes the laborious treks up the Trig and Wilkinson tracks each day to renew the nectar supply.

Bit of a shock to wake this morning and find David Bowie so sudddenly having left the planet....so we were back some time ago with  Rebel Rebel while posting this...  

Rebel Rebel, you've torn your dress

Rebel Rebel, your face is a mess

Rebel Rebel, how could they know?

Hot tramp, I love you so!

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