Apparently the pied shag (Phalacrocorax varius varius) used to be known as the “yellow faced cormorant”. I don’t understand why some of these names are chosen. Sure, the pied shag has a fleshy yellow patch in front of its eyes, but it stretches it a bit to say it’s the bird’s whole face that’s yellow. [...]
Places
There are different techniques for harvesting hops. This harvester cuts the bines off at the bottom, traps the ends of the bines and pulls on the bines until the suspension string they grew up snaps, releasing the bines into the trailer being towed behind the harvester. Another technique cuts the stems off near the ground and [...]
Over the summer months, hop bines (not a typo) grow heavier and heavier on their wires until the autumn, when they’re ready to be harvested. In this photo, we see two stages of the harvest process. In the background, the bines and their flowers fill the spaces between supports, while in the foreground, a worker [...]
The common name of New Zealand’s smallest bird (Acanthisitta chloris) comes from an apparent resemblance of the male bird’s green plumage to the uniform of a colonial rifleman. Whether there is or isn’t a resemblance, there is one pressing question: What is the plural of rifleman? For birds with English names, it’s usually pretty clear: [...]
We had a cold snap early in April that saw Wharepapa/Mt Arthur sporting snow for a couple of days, but it quickly went back to being clear of snow. In the last few days, the snow is back and the temperature’s down in a way that suggests the snow is there to stay for the [...]
There are only about 150-200 white heron/kōtuku (Ardea alba modesta) in New Zealand, and there’s at least one who is a regular visitor to the Motueka estuary. It’s been named “Eric” by the proprietor of Samaritas By The Sea, a food and coffee caravan at the marina. There’s only one breeding colony in New Zealand, [...]
Kiwifruit orchards are common in the Tasman District. The kiwifruit in the photo are the more well-known green kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa), but gold kiwifruit (Actinidia chinensis) are also common. Gold kiwifruit have a smooth (not fuzzy) skin, its flesh is pale yellow and it isn’t as sharp as the green kiwifruit. Experimental varieties are also [...]
“House sparrow” is the common name of Passer domesticus, which occurs almost everywhere people occur. In New Zealand, they’re found everywhere except high up in the mountains. Sparrows were brought here by the English in the 1860s, and since then, they’ve spread to our offshore islands and across the Pacific as far as Hawaii. The [...]
One thing the Tasman District isn’t short of is estuaries, and the largest of these is the Waimea Inlet. This photo was taken at Grossi Point, which is a small peninsula on the northern side of the Waimea Inlet, near the town of Mapua. Grossi Point has views across the inlet and over to Rabbit [...]
Southern rata (Metrosideros umbellata) flower over the summer months, colouring hillsides throughout the South Island red. Southern rata is a member of the myrtle family and is vulnerable to myrtle rust, an invasive fungal disease that was first detected in New Zealand in 2017. Myrtle rust is windborne and when it was first detected, MPI’s [...]
