Tasman Every Day

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.​

Kōtuku-ngutupapa is the Maori name for the royal spoonbill (Platalea regia), which is a fairly recent arrival to New Zealand. Spoonbills were first recorded in the North Island in the 1860s, and they started breeding at Okarito on the West Coast in the late 1940s. Today, spoonbills can often be seen feeding on the mudflats around Motueka. They feed in shallow water, sweeping their bills back and forth looking for invertebrates and fish. Their rhythmic sweeping motion and brilliant white feathers makes them easily recognisable at a distance.

This is a male shoveler (Anas rhynchotis), although from a distance, you could mistake it for a mallard/grey duck. In fact, the female shoveler looks an awful lot like a grey duck, but with a bigger, wider bill. They’re filter feeders, sucking water through the very fine comb-like fringes on the edges of their bills.

These robins (Petroica australis) flew across the track from the Flora carpark to the Flora hut, yelling at each other, harassing each other, oblivious to the people walking said track. Obviously someone was intruding on someone else’s territory, and that someone else was determined that they should not pass.

This black-fronted tern/tara pirohe (Chlidonias albostriatus) was one of a flock swooping around the Motueka River bridge feeding on flying insects. Black-fronted terns are regarded as primarily a species of the eastern and southern coasts of the South Island, breeding on braided rivers, then moving to the coast outside of the breeding season. The Motueka and Buller River populations are regarded as outliers.

The white heron/kōtuku (Ardea alba modesta) is rare in New Zealand and looks likely to stay that way. The New Zealand Encyclopedia of 1966 states there were about 20 pairs nesting on the West Coast of the South Island, and nzbirdsonline.org.nz says that there are now about 30 pairs nesting each breeding season. That’s an increase of 10 breeding pairs in the last 50 years, so not really a recipe for becoming common throughout the country. The permanent population is about 150-200 birds, so obviously not all birds breed. And they’ve never been found breeding anywhere in New Zealand other than at Okarito. In fact, they’re pretty much breeding in the same place today as they were breeding at in 1865, when the site was first discovered. The site is a nature reserve and predators are trapped to ensure the birds breeding there have the best chance of surviving.

The Baton Valley is remote, covered in native New Zealand bush, and the road up to it is shingle. So this guy is a bit overdressed for the environment. Peafowl (Pavo cristatus) in New Zealand are usually escapees from farms or lifestyle blocks, although there are some isolated feral populations. The male is all showmanship when it comes to breeding; he has no part at all in the rearing of the chicks.

The name matuku moana most often refers to the white-faced heron, Ardea novaehollandiae, which are common on paddocks and coastlines around the country. The reef heron, Egretta sacra, is less common but is also referred to as matuku moana. The reef heron is found in tropical parts of eastern Asia, Australia and the Pacific Islands. Because it prefers the tropics, members of the New Zealand population of 300-500 birds is more often seen in the north of the North Island, although they do venture down south. There are two morphs of the reef heron, a dark morph like this one photographed at Motuareronui / Adele Island in the Abel Tasman National Park, and a light morph that is completely white. The New Zealand population is made up of dark morphs, and there is only one recorded sighting of a light morph in New Zealand, from the Avon-Heathcote Estuary in Christchurch, back in 1987. Reef herons are slightly smaller than white-faced herons.

The Mapua channel is the western-most entry point to the Waimea Inlet. This boat was moored just along the coast from Grossi Point, a popular picnic and BBQ spot that sticks out into the channel.