New Zealand Kiwi - I want some! - Page 2

Lol! I totally ride that! It's amazing how rediculously large those things were.

Aargh... Maybe I will move to New Zealand! The University of Vermont, where I want to go, has a program in which the top 5% of their pre-vet students get to go to Massey University in New Zealand to study for a doctorate! Too tempting!

For my World Religions final project I want to study Maori religion. Unfortunately I don't think there's enough there. But I want to do some sort of project with New Zealand!

Edited by Mykee - 1/27/13 at 6:01pm

I need to vacation there someday! That program sounds awesome! The Maori culture is very interesting, what is known about it. To know more, you'd probably have to talk to one though. I am so tempted to immigrate now!

I'd go for it, if I were you! That would be incredible!




And, for your viewing pleasure, again from Wikipedia:



At around the size of a domestic chicken, kiwi are by far the smallest living ratites and lay the largest egg in relation to their body size of any species of bird in the world.


(I was amused by the size comparison. )







The Takahē or South Island Takahē (Porphyrio hochstetteri) is a flightless bird indigenous to New Zealand and belonging to the rail family. It was thought to be extinct after the last four known specimens were taken in 1898. However, after a carefully planned search effort the bird was rediscovered by Geoffrey Orbell near Lake Te Anau in the Murchison Mountains, South Island, on 20 November 1948. The specific scientific name commemorates the Austrian geologist Ferdinand von Hochstetter.







The Kōkako (Callaeas cinereus) is a forest bird which is endemic to New Zealand. It is slate-grey with wattles and a black mask. It is one of three species of New Zealand Wattlebird, the other two being the endangered Tieke (saddleback) and the extinct Huia. Previously widespread, Kōkako populations throughout New Zealand have been decimated by the predations of mammalian invasive species such as possums, stoats, cats and rats and their range has contracted significantly. There were formerly two sub-species of Kōkako, North Island and South Island, although the South Island subspecies may now be extinct. In the past this bird was called the New Zealand Crow even though it is not a crow at all, but looks like one from a distance.



If you're curious, here's the Tieke, otherwise known as the Saddleback:



The Saddleback traditionally held a strong place in Maori superstitious belief; its cries were viewed as good omens when they came from the right, and bad omens when they came from the left. Its cheeky nature is reflected in the Maori legend that tells of how the bird acquired its distinctive chestnut saddle of colour. Fresh from his battle to ensnare the sun, a thirsty Maui (a virtual demi-god in Maori folklore) asked the Tieke to bring him some water. The bird rudely pretended not to hear his request, at which Maui, becoming angry, seized it with his still fiery hand, leaving a brown scorch mark across its back.




And here is an artist's depiction of the Huia; male in front and female in back:



Although sexual dimorphism in bill shape is found in other birds, such as the riflebirds, sicklebills and other wood-excavating birds including some species of woodpecker, it was most pronounced in the Huia. The beak of the male was short at approximately 60 mm (2.3 in) and slightly arched downwards and robust, very similar to that of the closely related Saddleback (Tieke), while the female's beak was finer, longer at around 104 mm (4 in), and decurved (curved downward) like that of a hummingbird or honeyeater.



I love this stuff, so please let me know if I'm posting too much.

Amazing birds! How about these?

 

 

The Kea

 

The Kereru

 

Parekareka

 

White Kiwi

 

Tui

Royal Spoonbill

 

Kakapo

An omnivorous parrot and the world's only parrot that lives in an alpine climate. Its current status is vulnerable because of its tendency to eat carrion, including dead sheep. Farmers believed that the Kea was hunting and killing sheep and many were killed for bounty as a result. Granted, they will dig into the burrows of seagulls and kill the chicks within, it would seem to me at least like this little parrot is too small to kill a sheep.



I know little to nothing about these guys (except the kiwi ) so I'll have to do some research when I get home from school this afternoon. The spoonbill is magnificent, though!


Kakapo. Me likey. The world's only flightless parrot and also the world's heaviest parrot, likely as a result of adapting to a flightless lifestyle. Another adaptation is its fluffy face. The feathers on its face are called vibrissae, and they allow the kakapo to feel around as it navigates across the forest floor.



Last I checked, there were only about 126 of these guys left. The Kakapo Recovery Programme has them all individually named. (For instance, the picture above that shows the vibrissae is a picture of Felix.)

It's a shame how so many of NZ's most beautiful birds are either endangered or extinct.

I agree completely. It's mainly as a result of the introduction of predators by the settlers, whether they be escaped dogs and cats or stowaway rats from ships, and the settlers themselves, as was the case for the Moa. The bird species in New Zealand were so removed from mammalian predators that many of them would (and still do) let humans approach them, which also made them an easy meal for human settlers. The good news is that as a result of conservation efforts, the Kakapo (and some other species) are at least improving a bit in number of individuals. The Kakapo is at 126 individuals, up from around 25 known (if I'm remembering correctly) at its lowest. There is hope, but because of how small the population got, there won't be a lot of genetic diversity and that may cause weakness in future generations.

The Kakapo is one of my personal favorites. It's my dream to one day get the chance to go to New Zealand and volunteer for the Kakapo Recovery Programme, or at least go to one of the predator-free islands that they moved the birds to and just see one.





Something I didn't know about the Kea, from Wikipedia:



The controversy about whether the Kea preys on sheep is long-running. Sheep suffering from unusual wounds on their sides or loins were noticed by the mid-1860s, within a decade of sheep farmers moving into the high country. Although some supposed the cause was a new disease, suspicion soon fell on the Kea. James MacDonald, head shepherd at Wanaka Station, witnessed a Kea attacking a sheep in 1868, and similar accounts were widespread. Prominent members of the scientific community accepted that Kea attacked sheep, with Alfred Wallace citing this as an example of behavioural change in his 1889 book Darwinism. Despite substantial anecdotal evidence of these attacks; however, others remained unconvinced, especially in later years. For instance, in 1962, animal specialist J.R. Jackson concluded, while the bird may attack sick or injured sheep, especially if it mistook them for dead, it was not a significant predator. In 1993, however, its nocturnal assaults were captured on video, proving that at least some Kea will attack and feed on healthy sheep. The video confirmed what many scientists had long suspected, that the Kea uses its powerful, curved beak and claws to rip through the layer of wool and eat the fat from the back of the animal. Though the bird does not directly kill the sheep, death can result from infections or accidents suffered by animals when trying to escape.







From the Yellow-Eyed Penguin Trust ( yellow-eyedpenguin.org.nz ) :

In the 1980s, research on the Otago Peninsula showed that the yellow-eyed penguin population had declined drastically due to severe predation and loss of habitat, and the yellow-eyed penguin was now considered to be an endangered species. This unique penguin is found only along the eastern coast of the South Island, as far north as Banks Peninsula and as far south as Stewart Island and beyond to the subantarctic Auckland and Campbell Islands.

Yellow-eyed penguins, as solitary breeders, are the least social of all penguins. They maintain the largest territory size of any penguin, sometimes up to one nest per hectare in forested areas.

There are about 4000 Yellow-Eyed Penguins left.


I thought I had read a while back where they were training livestock guardian dogs to help protect these guys, but maybe that was another species of New Zealand penguin. Couldn't find any sources that said so for the Yellow-Eyed Penguin.


(And now I have to run out to my hennies. )

I'm finding some interesting things about the Tui.



Tui are considered to be very intelligent, much like parrots. They also resemble parrots in their ability to clearly imitate human speech, and were trained by Māori to replicate complex speech. Tui are also known for their noisy, unusual call, different for each individual, that combine bellbird-like notes with clicks, cackles, timber-like creaks and groans, and wheezing sounds. Song birds have two voiceboxes and this is what enables them to perform such a myriad of vocalisations.

Nectar is the normal diet but fruit and insects are frequently eaten, and pollen and seeds more occasionally. Particularly popular is the New Zealand flax, whose nectar sometimes ferments, resulting in the tui flying in a fashion that suggests that they might be drunk.







New Zealand pigeon or Kererū (Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae) feeds on the small white seeds of a cabbage tree (Cordyline australis), Dunedin, New Zealand, August 2009. The bird is approx. 25 cm long, (chest to tail). Before it became relatively rare, the kererū was the major disperser of cabbage tree seeds.

The New Zealand Pigeon or kererū (Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae) is a bird endemic to New Zealand. Māori call it Kererū in most of the country but kūkupa and kūkū in some parts of the North Island, particularly in Northland.

The New Zealand Pigeons make occasional soft coo sounds (hence the onomatopoeic names), and their wings make a very distinctive "whooshing" sound as they fly.

Breeding generally depends on the availability of ripe fruit, which varies seasonally, annually (good years and bad years), and by location.




Breeding by availability of fruit seems to be a common thing in New Zealand birds. The Kakapo only breeds in 'good years', as well.







(Look at those spots! )

The Spotted Shag or Parekareka (Phalacrocorax punctatus) is a species of cormorant endemic to New Zealand.

Spotted Shags nest in colonies of 10-700 pairs, these colonies are generally found on the ledges of coastal cliffs or on rocky islets. In Wellington Harbour there is a large colony on a rocky outcrop known as "Shag Rock" just off the south-west end of Matiu/Somes Island.








(Picture via flagstaffotos.com.au )

The Royal Spoonbill (Platalea regia) also known as the Black-billed Spoonbill, occurs in intertidal flats and shallows of fresh and saltwater wetlands in Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands. It has also been recorded as a vagrant in New Caledonia.

During breeding season, long white plumes grow from the back of their heads and coloured patches appear on the face.



Still looking into the LGD thing with the penguins. I'll post here with what I find.