Tasman Every Day

This handsome fella was hanging out with the orange and black rooster I posted earlier in the week. There are hundreds of different breeds of the domestic chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) and I have no idea which one this is. But he is gorgeous, in his grey/blue cape with its touch of tan, his silvery belly and bum feathers and his pale grey legs. I tried to see if I could narrow down the breed by the comb shape. This is a standard single comb… and that’s as far as I got.

I saw a peacock at Willowbank once, it was just walking around looking elgantly gorgeous, its tail draped down the length of its back, flowing along behind him. As I was walking away, I heard a shushing sound, like a light, localised downpour. The peacock was fanning its tail, and it was incredible to see in real life, to hear the sound of it as the peacock moved around, trying to keeping looking elegant while keeping aloft all those cumbersome feathers. Peafowl (Pavo cristatus) were first brought to New Zealand in the 1840s as, of course, ornamental birds. They’ve escaped and established feral populations in parts of the country that a Landcare Research report refers to as having “a Mediterranean climate”. This male was photographed in the Baton River Valley, near Motueka.

The yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella) was introduced to New Zealand in the late 1800s to combat insect pests of settlers’ crops. Spotted the major flaw in this plan? Yellowhammers are primarily seed eaters, not insect eaters, although this was not well known at the time the yellowhammer was selected for acclimatisation. They liked New Zealand’s cereal crops, a fact that so alarmed farmers that the final shipment of yellowhammers was stopped from disembarking and instead sent on to Australia. Despite subsequent poisoning, egg stealing and shooting efforts, yellowhammers have spread throughout New Zealand.

Animal introductions in the 18th century were mainly about ensuring continuity of food supply (pigs, sheep, chickens), but in the 19th century, once Europeans had established settlements, settlers wanted to see some familiar animals, and so began a series of bird introductions. The house sparrow, Passer domesticus, was one of these introductions. They were brought here in the 1860s and now they’re found everywhere people are, except high up in the mountains. I love the way these relatively plain little birds show how much beauty can be achieved with a palette of browns.

The domestic chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) is New Zealand’s preferred protein, according to the Foodstuffs supermarket chain. Oblivious to the acclaim, this rooster runs free near the Baton River Road ford. Gallus, the genus name, is Latin for rooster. Gallus contains four species of junglefowl, and the red junglefowl, Gallus gallus, is the wild version of our ordinary, everyday chicken. Captain Cook gave chickens to Maori in both the North and the South Island during his 1773-1774 voyage. Up until around the 1940s, chicken were kept mainly for eggs rather than for meat, and chicken was only eaten if a bird had aged out of the egg-laying business.

This western weka (Gallirallus australis australis) has caught itself a juicy earthworm! Weka eat just about anything: insects, slugs, spiders, small birds, mammals, lizards and frogs, eggs, carrion, fruit, leaves, grasses, seeds. They’re all fair game. Stewart Island weka (another subspecies) are known to prey on sooty shearwater chicks, and weka have been known to kill stoats and rats.

This is the parent of the weka baby posted yesterday, on the road up to the carpark for the Ellis River track. The chick had brown legs and a nearly black bill, but as the chick matures, these will change colour, becoming more like the orange/pink of this adult.

Look at the feet on this weka chick! Western weka (Gallirallus australis australis) breed from August to February and will lay up to four clutches of 2-4 eggs. This was the only chick with the parents, so it could be it’s the only egg that survived the incubation period, or maybe the only chick that hasn’t been predated. Weka nest on the ground, with the male and female sharing incubation. Once the chicks are hatched, they stay with the parents for a couple of months and will typically start breeding in the following breeding season.

Captain James Cook first introduced the domestic sheep (Ovis aries) to New Zealand in the 1770s, and it was about a hundred years later that sheep farming really took off. By the early 1980s, New Zealand’s sheep numbers were up to 70 million, which put the sheep:human ratio at about 23:1. These days, sheep numbers are down considerably, to about 30 million, and the ratio is now 6:1. This time of year, the hills around Motueka come alive with the bleating of lambs, especially as a lot of ewes have twins, or even triplets.