The end of February is often regarded as the end of summer in New Zealand, so today’s pic is a weka running on the summer-dry grass of a Golden Bay campground, because no summer camping holiday is complete without a weka. The subspecies found in the Tasman District is the western weka (Gallirallus australis australis), and it’s the only weka subspecies that isn’t threatened. The buff weka (Gallirallus australis hectori), for instance, was once common in the east of the South Island, but is now extinct on the mainland. They’ve been reintroduced to a couple of lake islands in Central Otago, but reintroductions into Canterbury have failed. Weka are a difficult species conservation-wise because they eat such a wide range of foods, including eggs and chicks of other bird species. Another aspect of their wide-ranging diet is that when you’re camping where weka live, nothing is safe. Two-minute noodles seem like ideal camping food, until your multi-pack is being dragged into the bush and savagely attacked by a family of bush chickens.
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