New Year birdwatching

My Sunday evening is cool and wet with gale force winds and I've decided it's a much better idea to write a blog instead of checking my rat traps. Not sure where the summer has disappeared to but I hope the tourists are donning raincoats and leggings and enjoying their island holiday.

Jen left on Monday and had an early check-in for her flight so we left home at 5.30am and walked the tracks in the hope of seeing a kiwi. We walked down to the Bay accompanied by a melodic dawn chorus; no need for a torch as it was light enough to see. We walked the Fuchsia, Golden Bay and Petersen Hill tracks and heard lots of birds and as we rounded a corner a two-legged ground bird was there on the track in front of us - not a kiwi but we were entertained by a weka who continued walking towards us and then called before veering off into the bush.

Rakiura wasn't letting go of Jen easily; her plane couldn't land due to low cloud and had to head back to Invercargill. Stewart Island Flights got her the last seat on the 9.30am ferry and she made her NP flight connections at Invercargill Airport with 30 minutes to spare. Not easy managing travel to this wee island - they had over 100 people booked to fly to the island that day and the low cloud didn't lift until after lunch.

Jen's ferry leaving

The Tui vs All Other Birds contest continues to amuse; the tui is an aggressive bird and has a heightened sense of ownership of its food sources; it will take on kereru and kaka and I'm sure the korimako (bellbird) teases it just for fun.
Update 6 Jan: As I walked to work, a kereru perched on the power lines suddenly lifted its wings and swooped silently down to a nearby tree. A rattle of leaves, a surprised squawk and a tui hightailed away from the tree with the kereru flapping not far behind. Ha ha, chalk one up to the kereru!!

A kereru responds to a tui attack by waving its wing

Mr Tui getting ready for another bombing run

Game on

I got up early again this morning and was on the road at 5am - it was already too light to need a torch, even in the bush. I walked the Ryans Creek Track, a 3-4 hour tramp that circles the airstrip. Initially I was disappointed with the lack of native birdsong (there's far more at my place) but great views of Paterson Inlet made up for it. Just 5 minutes after telling myself that it was too light to see kiwi, I struck gold with a young bird breaking cover 5m in front of me and running off down the track, giving me just enough time to snap a photo of its fast-disappearing rump. Fantastic - and well worth losing some sleep.

That blob on the track is a kiwi!!

A large dollop of bird poo on the deck by the doormat greeted me on New Year's Day; I'd love to think that a kiwi had paid a visit overnight but will put it up on NatureWatch under the 'Whose poo' project (opens in new window). Will let you know what the experts think but I'm sure it's a good luck omen for a great 2014.

Definitely big enough to be kiwi poo

Close-up

One for the birds

Daylight saving has given me a second chance to listen to the dawn chorus when I get up at 6.30am for work. It's not easy to capture surround-sound with a wee camera but with help from Audacity to amplify the audio and Movie Maker to create a movie, I hope I can share the experience with you. Korimako (bellbird, Anthornis melanura) make up most of the sound; Captain Cook described its song as "it seemed to be like small bells most exquisitely tuned". Here's 90 seconds of the dawn chorus on 9 October 2013 (974Kb):

 

There are several riroriro (grey warbler, Gerygone igata) territories around and their warbling song is very loud for such a small bird. They will be busy rearing clutches before the long-tail cuckoo arrives and lays eggs in the riroriro nests. I couldn't see the riroriro but here's the audio (15 secs, 329Kb) and there's a lovely picture of one at http://nzbirdsonline.org.nz/species/grey-warbler



As I walked home this morning I heard a putangitangi (Paradise shelduck, Tadorna variegate) female calling to her mate. Her shrill cries remind me of a nagging woman and the male's deep honk sounds like he's saying 'yes, dear'. They are only found in New Zealand and they mate for life. You can just make out the female on the left (with the white head) and the dark-coloured drake just to the right and walking towards her. More info can be found at http://www.nzbirds.com/birds/putangi.html (25 seconds, 414Kb).



I didn't have my camera out last Friday at midnight when the noisy rustling out from the deck turned into a kiwi. Carla and I were standing on the deck and we both saw it; exactly what I came down to the island to see. Monday 14 October is the start of 'Save the Kiwi' Week and with your help maybe future generations will be able to see kiwi in the wild too. Check out http://www.trademe.co.nz/stores/kiwis-for-kiwi for special kiwi deals, or maybe pop a donation in the collection bucket at DOC.