After Tuesday’s cold snap blew through, we woke Wednesday morning to the Wharepapa/Arthur Range looking like this. The pyramid-looking mountain in the foreground that doesn’t have snow on it is Sugar Loaf. Sugar Loaf is 1081 metres high and lies between the Pearse and Graham Rivers, which feed the Motueka River. Mountains called “sugar loaf” are named [...]
Kahurangi National Park
Pukeone/Mt Campbell is at the northern end of the Wharepapa/Arthur Range that dominates the skyline in Motueka. Mt Campbell is 1330 metres high and hosts the local TV and radio transmitter. Yesterday (the 10th of April), it also hosted the first snowfall of the year.
The rifleman (Acanthisitta chloris) is one of New Zealand’s smallest birds. Weight-wise, it’s about the same as the grey warbler (6-7 grams), but lengthwise it’s definitely the smallest, at 8 cm compared to the grey warbler’s 11 cm. So… the rifleman packs as much weight into its 8 cm frame as the grey warbler does [...]
The scientific name of this little guy is Petroica macrocephala, and tomtits do indeed have big heads (macro = big + cephala = head) attached to their tiny bodies. Tomtits feed on insects in native and exotic forests and subspecies are found throughout the country. This is a South Island tomtit (Petroica macrocephala macrocephala), photographed stalking [...]
This photo taken from the outskirts of Motueka shows the late day sun picking out the foothills of the Arthur/Wharepapa Range, which dominates the skyline west of Motueka. Great spotted kiwi/roroa (Apteryx haastii) live in those mountains, due to the efforts of the Department of Conservation and the Friends of Flora. Predator control has been [...]
This tarn is just a short walk from Fenella Hut, near Xenicus Peak in the Cobb Valley, west of Takaka. It’s your typical mountain tarn, with no regular inflowing or outflowing stream. The tarn relies on rainwater to fill it and seepage through the rocks below and evaporation to keep the water level balanced. Incidentally, Xenicus is [...]
If ever you’re in the South Island bush and you feel like you’re being watched, it’s likely one of these quiet but friendly little guys. South Island robins (Petroica australis) feed on invertebrates and like to have a dig around disturbed earth. So when you’re walking in the bush, they like to follow along and [...]
