‘Dedicated Naturalist’: The Hoiho in happier times

14 Wednesday Dec 2016

Posted by sconzani in 'Dedicated Naturalist' Project, nature

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Dr Mary Gillham, Hoiho, Mary Gillham Archive Project, New Zealand birds, New Zealand Forest & Bird, Yellow-eyed penguin

A snippet from my volunteer work on the ‘Dedicated Naturalist’ Project, helping to decipher and digitise, record and publicise the life’s work of naturalist extraordinaire, Dr Mary Gillham.

Today’s lunchtime reading was my newly arrived issue of the New Zealand Forest & Bird magazine. (I am a long-time supporter of this conservation charity; you can read more about them on their website.) Reading the depressing news that the Hoiho, the Yellow-eyed penguin, is on the verge of extinction reminded me that Mary had enjoyed many sightings of these noisy little birds (Hoiho means ‘noise shouter’ in Maori, a reference to the birds’ trumpet-like territorial call). Here’s an entry from one of Mary’s New Zealand diaries:

Monday 14 January 1957

A very strenuous but enjoyable day today starting with sunshine and finishing with rain. Ella and I set off after breakfast on the Peninsula bus to Portobello again, setting off from there on foot … to Little Papanui Bay …

Weary though I was and in spite of time and thirst, I had to delay lunch when I spotted a yearling yellow-eyed penguin silhouetted against the skyline on a steep grassy knoll. I stalked it successfully for a close up photo (in colour, hoping to show the large pink feet and bill) but the next one I stalked from the landward side scuttled back into the sea and was away at startling speed. … I returned to Ella to dry out and eat lunch and we sat and watched penguins (only a few) on beach and water. Was delighted to see a penguin walking up the beach unsuspecting (or not?) bowled over by a wave approaching from behind, turn a complete backward somersault and be swept several dozen yards up the beach before regaining its feet.

After lunch we explored up penguin gully where the birds were nesting in a steep-sided rift filled with a strip of evergreen native bush which made a dark splash down the adjacent slopes of English pasture grasses. I spotted something and slithered down thro’ a patch of the ferocious native nettle to find a large fluffy chick standing as high as the yearling (the yellow-eyed is one of the larger penguins) and much wider due to the copious grey fluff. The flippers and white breast were feathered. After photography, in spite of the gloom, I hauled myself up the other side, hailed Ella and we proceeded on up the gully to slither down at intervals to observe more where the patches of guano guided us.

Mary Gillham’s drawings of adult and young Hoiho

For the full story about the Mary Gillham Archive Project, check out our website, and follow our progress on Facebook and on Twitter.

World wildlife Wednesday: Black swan

03 Wednesday Aug 2016

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature

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Australian birds, birding, birdwatching, Black swan, Cygnus atratus, New Zealand birds, swan

The Black swan (Cygnus atratus) is not common in Britain, where white Mute swans predominate, but they can still be seen here. Like peacocks, they were introduced to join the collections of exotic birds adorning the parks and estates of the wealthy, and some have since escaped those boundaries.

swan black (1)

Many people think of the Black swan as an Australian bird – it is, after all, both are the state symbol and the state emblem of Western Australia. However, scientists have discovered that the Black swan was present in New Zealand at the time of first human settlement, but had been hunted to extinction by the time Europeans first arrived in the early 1800s. In the 1860s, they were deliberately reintroduced from Australia and, judging by how quickly the local population grew, they may, at the same time, also have re-colonised New Zealand naturally – flown or been blown across the Tasman Sea from Australia.

The Black swan’s Latin name atratus means ‘to be clothed in black for mourning’. Perhaps that’s why some people believe it to be a harbinger of bad luck. Personally, I think the swan dressed all in black is a very stylish and elegant-looking bird (except, perhaps, when it’s doing its morning exercises 😉 ).

swan black (6) swan black (7)

The real teal

01 Wednesday Jun 2016

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature

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Anas chlorotis, birding, birdwatching, Brown teal, endangered species, New Zealand birds, pateke

Earlier this week, we had The real peel; today we have The real teal, a look at another unique bird from my New Zealand homeland. The brown teal (Anas chlorotis) (known to the indigenous Maori people as pāteke) is listed ‘at risk’ so I consider myself very lucky to have seen this little beauty. Once widespread throughout New Zealand, the brown teal is now mostly confined to the northern parts of the North Island due to predation by introduced species like rats and stoats, and also to the loss of their preferred wetland habitat. The bird’s population is now estimated to be as low as 2000-2500, though conservation efforts to save the bird from extinction are underway and have thus far proven successful. (You can read more about efforts to conserve these pretty little creatures here.)

160530 brown teal (1)

If you get the opportunity, it’s an easy bird to identify – it’s slightly smaller than a mallard and predominantly dark brown. At breeding time, the male has a distinctive iridescent green sheen on the back of his head, as you can see in my photo below left.

New Zealand’s parson bird

18 Wednesday May 2016

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature, nature photography

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birding, birdwatching, New Zealand birds, parson bird, Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae, tui

For world wildlife Wednesday this week, I thought I’d go back to my roots and show you one of my favourite New Zealand birds.

160518 tui (1)

Called the parson bird by the early European immigrants to New Zealand, presumably because the white tufts of feathers at the front of its neck resemble a priest’s clerical collar, the Tui (Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae) is anything but pious. In fact, it has a habit of imbibing so much nectar from blossoming trees that it becomes quite intoxicated and sings uproariously. Its song is one of its most endearing qualities, highly variable, pleasingly melodic but also including a comprehensive vocabulary of clicks, creaks, cackles and groans.

Beautifully plumaged in shades ranging from iridescent greens and blues through dark browns to an inky black, the Tui has quite a distinctive flight pattern, with louder flapping than most other birds due to its relatively short wide wings. Chances are, then, that if you visit New Zealand, you’ll hear the tui before you see it.

When is a magpie not a magpie?

07 Saturday May 2016

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature

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Australian magpie, birding, birdwatching, British birds, European magpie, Gymnorhina tibicen, Magpie, New Zealand birds, New Zealand magpie, Pica pica

What I grew up in New Zealand thinking of as a magpie is nothing like the magpies I see here in Wales, which is not really surprising as they are totally different species and the New Zealand bird is actually Australian. Confused?

The bird that lives in Britain is the European magpie (Pica pica) (pictured above) and is a member of the corvid family, a relative of crows, rooks and jackdaws. The bird that lives in New Zealand is Gymnorhina tibicen, one of the nine species of Australian magpie (there were thought to be two Australian species in New Zealand but this is now in doubt).

The Australian birds are called magpies because of their physical resemblance to the European birds – it was quite common for British settlers to name birds, animals and plants after similar ones ‘at home’. Australian birds from Tasmania and Victoria were introduced into several areas of New Zealand in the 1860s and 1870s by local Acclimatisation Societies to control pasture pests like grass grubs, and their supposed importance to New Zealand agriculture was the reason they were afforded legal protection till 1951.

The magpies in New Zealand can be very aggressive birds, occasionally attacking both animals and humans that stray too close to their nests during the breeding season, though their nests are usually built high up in tall trees so their attacks are, in fact, unwarranted.

The moorhen, the gallinule and the pukeko

31 Sunday Jan 2016

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature, nature photography

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birding, birds, birdwatching, British birds, New Zealand birds, Peruvian birds, Pukeko, Purple Gallinule

The British moorhen (Gallinula chloropus) looks very familiar to me as we have a similar bird in my native New Zealand, and I remember also being surprised during a visit to the Amazon jungle when I lived in Peru to see a bird I recognised from home – their purple gallinule (Porphyrio martinicus) looks remarkably like the New Zealand pukeko (Porphyrio melanotus melanotus). All three birds make the same high-pitched squeak and have that same cheeky strut, continuously flashing their white undertail as they sashay along, though there are some colour differences. The beaks of each are different, and the plumage of the moorhen seems much less vibrant to my eye.

New Zealand pukeko (above) & purple gallinule, from the Peruvian Amazon (below)

160130 Purple gallinule Manu

The moorhen (below) is widespread throughout Britain, second only to the mallard in the extent of its habitable range. Prior to 1954, when nest predation was made illegal, eggs were regularly taken for food – apparently they go well with bacon! The bird itself can be shot and eaten during the season, though I’m not sure how palatable their strong dark meat would be, and I really can’t imagine how anyone would want to kill or eat a bird that is so pretty and so highly entertaining.

160130 moorhen