As I hoped (and halfway expected), reader Stephen Barnard from Idaho, though on a fishing trip to New Zealand, couldn’t resist taking photos of non-fishy beasts. That is, moar birds. Today we’re the benefits of this largesse. His first set of photos shows a bird (a form of rail) that I didn’t even know existed. (Read the Wikipedia article (link below) to see how precarious its existence is. Stephen’s comments are indented:
This is a very rare flightless New Zealand bird, the buff weka (Gallirallus australis hectori). They’ve been nearly wiped out by introduced mammalian predators. I was fortunate to gain access to the Motatapu Station where they are being bred in captivity.
Another bird that’s not common in New Zealand. It has an alternate common name: the “great crested grebe”:
This is a very rare New Zealand bird, the southern crested grebe (Podiceps cristatus). They’re nesting in the Wanaka marina where a retired scientist has established floating nest platforms that they prefer.
Isn’t it pretty?
Information about this marina is in the second photo below:
And, finally, a threatened and endemic gull:
The black-billed gull (Chroicocephalus bulleri)—the most threatened gulls in the world. Wanaka, New Zealand.
Now, is it too much to hope for pictures of a kea—or even a kakapo?
Lovely photos. Stephen, which lens/lenses did you take with you?
Wekas are actually fairly well known birds in computer science circles because the University of Waikato stole the name for a nice open source machine learning software suite:
http://www.cs.waikato.ac.nz/ml/weka/
When you’re running it, a little weka icon dances back and forth to show that it’s thinking. It’s pretty entertaining.
Endangered gulls! The ones we have in California are so ubiquitous and adaptable – and smart! – it’s hard to imagine that could be a thing.
Black-billed gulls are ground nesters so their reproductive success has been obliterated due to the introduction of mammalian predators. Very sad. Our NA gulls usually nest on very small islands or other isolated, elevated locations that are relatively safe from harm.
They’re very like the Australian Silver Gull (C. novaehollandiae) which is about as far from being endangered as it’s possible to get. Subtle differences in behaviour and reproductive parameters can make all the difference between raucous abundance and terminal decline (Darwin figured that out).
Or, if we’re taking requests, how ’bout a kokopa? But you probably don’t need to bother with the Apple-branded kea, the iKea….
b&
I don’t know what a kokopa is, or have I missed a joke? Is it some American thing?
A kokopa is a kakapo after a vowel transformation, and is completely unrelated to the kokopelli.
b&
Wonderful pics. It’s really nice to see some of our NZ birds. Thank you Stephen, and Jerry for reproducing them. (Loved the trout too.)
Wonderful pictures, and these are especially significant owing to the rarity of the subjects. Congratulations, Stephen.
Nice, as always, Stephen.
Beautiful photos. That’s a very cool nesting platform idea. Someone needs to come up with something like that for the Black-billed Gulls!
As always, your keen eye and bird-magnetism are apparent. How’s the fly fishing going? I hope you have good luck!
Diana, I used a Canon 100-400mm with a 1.4x extender. I’m off to North Island tomorrow for some fishing out of Taupo.
You’ll be about an hour’s drive from me. 🙂
Isn’t everything on the North Island an hour from something? 🙂 My family always justified where they lived because it was “handy”.
The only place I can really think of that doesn’t fit the bill is Murupara, and that’s between two largeish forests.
Wonderful photos again, Stephen.
Good grief, I managed to get the bird as a grebe before reading the text. That’s impressive by my birding standards, which normally struggles to manage a 4-stage classification (fossilised and therefore identifiable ; underdone ; about right ; burned).
Actually, it’s been a bit of a birdy day – I spotted a raptor of the “bigger than normal” genus while we were driving out for our walk, but we didn’t finish the walk in time to go to the falconry centre. No hands free for the camera though.
IIRC, the Buff weka was considered extinct until not so long ago. Gorgeous pictures, anyway!
Oh, birds & Stephen–my favorite combination! Just fascinating, Stephen! Love all the ancillary info too.