Tasman Every Day

The eye stripe on this duck is an indication of grey duck (Anas superciliosa) heritage, but the iridescent speculum on the wing is blue, a mallard duck (Anas platyrhynchos) trait. So is it a grey duck or a mallard? It’s impossible to tell by plumage as mallard characteristics are dominant, meaning you can have a really mallard-looking duck that’s hiding a lot of grey duck DNA. Mallard drakes transition into breeding condition earlier than grey drakes, plus they’re slightly larger than greys, so mallards tend to dominate in the dating game, and it’s a reasonable guess that there’s more mallard DNA in our mallard/grey duck hybrid population than there is grey duck DNA. My rule of thumb is that if there’s a strong eye stripe, I call it a grey duck, but if it simply looks like it didn’t remove its eyeliner properly the night before, I call it a mallard.

I’m struck by the contrast of the pale, uniform underside of this fungus against its dull brown-grey dorsal surface. This is a bracket fungus, which are also called shelf fungi, and the white underbelly is where it forms fruiting bodies. Bracket fungi such as this one are an important part of forest ecosystems, as they recycle nutrients back into the system.

Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) drakes in other countries tend to have more vivid colours, the ones we see in New Zealand are a bit toned done due to the pervasive interbreeding with the native grey ducks (Anas superciliosa).

This tūī (Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae) in silhouette shows off several gaps in its wings. The outermost feathers on its wings are the primaries and they’re labelled from the centre of its body outward. The 8th primary feather of the tūī (the third from the outer edge) has a gap, while primaries 7 to 4 each have a bulge, which you can also see in this photo. The notch in the 8th primary is responsible for the whirring noise you often hear when a tūī flies overhead, especially when there’s more than one engaged in a tūī dogfight.

We tend to call it by its scientific name, Pinus radiata, or just radiata pine, but it also has a more romantic sounding name, the Monterey pine, which gives away its coastal California origins. Pinus radiata is the cornerstone species of New Zealand’s exotic forest industry: 90 percent of exotic forest plantations are Pinus radiata and Pinus radiata plantations cover nearly 6% of our land. Escaped Pinus radiata trees are among the tree species known as wilding pines, they’re considered invasive and a threat to biodiversity, and millions of dollars are spent each year trying to eradicate them. Contrast that with the fact that the original Monterey pine’s natural range is pretty limited and the species is regarded as endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. That doesn’t mean New Zealand has a vast reservoir of a species endangered elsewhere in the world: modern, forested radiata pine trees are the result of selective breeding favouring our growing conditions and the needs of the forestry industry. Cultivated Pinus radiata is quite different from what’s found in isolated pockets along the Pacific coast of North America.

The white-faced heron (Egretta novaehollandiae novaehollandiae) is called matuku moana in Māori. The long strappy feathers on its back are much more pronounced in the breeding season. Both males and females have these nuptial plumes and use them in courtship displays. They also have short pinky brown plumes on their chest in the breeding season, almost like they’ve been shot through the heart and can’t wash the blood out of their feathers.

This is a young thrush (Turdus philomelos), which you can tell from the pale marks on its wings. While I was sitting at my desk, it came in through an open ranch slider, flew over my shoulder and crashed into the window in front of the desk. Startling for both of us, and the bird ended up seriously dazed. I took it outside, where it seemed to have broken a wing or a leg (oh no!), but it became apparent pretty quickly that it was fine, it was just dizzy and having trouble staying upright. We put it on a patch of ground across the road where I could keep an eye on it, and eventually it flew away.

Southern black-backed gulls (Larus dominicanus dominicanus) are found all around New Zealand’s coast, up rivers and around farmland. They’re also notorious scavengers and predators of native wildlife. And, to top all that off, they’re an aviation hazard, which is why they’re one of two native bird species that have no legal protection in New Zealand. Still, they do look pretty amazing in flight, soaring across the sky, the dark outer edges of their wings shading towards grey and then the pure white of the underbelly, with landing gear tucked up under the tail.

Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris vulgaris) are common around towns and cities, but you can also see them at the beach. This one, on the Motueka estuary, is using its beak to hold up a stone and see what’s underneath it.