The spur-winged plover (Vanellus miles) is an Australian species that used to visit New Zealand only occasionally. They started breeding in Southland in the 1930s and since then have spread throughout New Zealand. Because it brought itself here, it’s considered a native species, but unlike most native bird species, the spur-winged plover has no legal [...]
Motueka
The yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella) was introduced to New Zealand in the late 1800s and has spread throughout the country. They feed on seeds and are especially fond of grass seeds, so they like open country where grass seeds abound: paddocks and low scrub. Because grass seeds are their preferred diet, they don’t appear to compete [...]
Hop plants (Humulus lupulus) can be seen throughout the Motueka area in spring and summer, strung onto overhead wires. The hop bines are encouraged to grow along the wires and in late summer, the flowers of the female plants are harvested. No, that “bine” isn’t a typo, the term is used for vines that sends [...]
The white-fronted tern (Sterna striata) is often seen in large flocks along the New Zealand coastline. Their relationship with fish is complicated: the white-fronted tern is also known as the kahawai bird, from its habit of flocking over shoals of kawahai. It’s not the kahawai, they’re interested in, though, because terns are after the smaller [...]
White-faced herons (Egretta novaehollandiae) are common in the Tasman region. They’ve arrived in New Zealand in the last hundred years and like it here so much that they’ve spread throughout the country. Coastlines are their thing, especially mudflats, where they systematically scour the shore for signs of dinner. They eat invertebrates (crabs, worms, insects, spiders), [...]
The tangled hump of vines is old man’s beard (Clematis vitalba), and anyone who was watching New Zealand television in the late-1980s will remember David Bellamy’s “Old man’s beard must go!” ad. Old man’s beard grows vigorously, strangles its host plant, shades out other plants and stops the seeds of other species from germinating: Bad [...]
Sometimes all you’ll see of a kingfisher (Todiramphus sanctus) is a flash of green-blue iridescence. The flash of colour shows up well on the browns and… browns of the Motueka estuary, but kingfisher can be harder to spot in foliage. They don’t like people approaching too closely.
Pied stilts (Himantopus himantopus leucocephalus) have very long legs. Not flamingo long, but longer than the legs of most wading birds with a body of comparable size found on New Zealand’s coasts and wetlands. Himantopus himantopus is found in warmer parts of the world and is called the black-winged stilt outside of New Zealand. New Zealand’s pied [...]
The top of the South Island is one of the main apple growing regions in New Zealand, and it’s hard to drive around Motueka without coming across an apple orchard. When harvested, apples are picked in passes, with only the most mature fruit picked at each pass. These apples, photographed in February, weren’t ready for [...]
The town of Motueka is on the floodplain between the Motueka and Moutere rivers. The Motueka River empties into Tasman Bay north of the township in a classic delta/estuary system. Further south, the Moutere River forms a tidal estuary west of Jackett Island and empties into Tasman Bay near the Talley’s factory. Together, the Mouteka and [...]
