Comments on: A Hard Act to Swallow

By: Bob

Bob — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 19:42:15 +0000

Hi Mandy,
Auckland, Blockhouse Bay.
Our welcome swallows are gone, so I presume it is the end of summer.
When they arrive I know it is beginning of spring.
This year they had 12 of springs as far as I could see.

By: Mandy

Mandy — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 20:41:31 +0000

Hi Bob,

Where do you live? Welcome swallows do migrate to different parts of New Zealand. Some have even been found to gather in Norfolk island for the winter. People have seen groups of them fly from farewell spit to warmer climes up north. There seems to be no particular pattern to their movement though, some migrate south too!

Hope that answers your question…..

By: BOB

BOB — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 10:04:00 +0000

Hi,
I m just wondering about welcome swallows that arrive on the beginning of the spring, have
of springs (couple of the nests on our property) and they disappear on the end of the summer.
This has been ongoing process for the last six years we have been living at particular property.
Where do they go? Do they stay in NZ or???

By: Robert Curtis

Robert Curtis — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 02:42:36 +0000

Gerry McSweeney

The basic idea is that the black swan was made extinct, then reintroduced. Authorities sight absence of records between 1769 and 1864 as justification.

Radio carbon dating does not help us here, the spread at 1769 being 300 years, so cannot use this method to place live swans here during that time.

Do you know were the DNA tests were done, by whom? I would love to know. Please email me at rac32@waiakto.ac.nz

Robert Curtis BSc

By: Simon Fordham

Simon Fordham — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 09:41:56 +0000

All are endemic except Fantail and 10) Pukeko

By: anne

anne — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 23:50:12 +0000

It’d probably be a more popular native than, say, spur-winged plover (sorry spur-wing fans…)..8-)
Goodness, at this rate, eligibility for Bird of the Year might have to be based on endemism. Suits us fernbird-fanatics, of course!!
Actually, most of the birds in the Top Ten are endemic aren’t they?

By: Gerry McSweeney

Gerry McSweeney — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 09:51:12 +0000

What about the Black Swan?

I understand that DNA tests of the extinct NZ Swan show that it was genetically identical to the Australian Black Swan.

I also understand that black swan were deliberately introduced by humans to NZ from Australia in the mid 1800s (although there is some suggestion that they may also have flown over here and re-established themselves).

1. Is the Black Swan then a human re-introduced “native species”
2. Should we be celebrating the re-establishment of this extinct NZ species instead of shooting them?
3. As a re-introduced (by humans) but native species would it be eligible for F&B’s Bird of the Year competition?

By: Simon Fordham

Simon Fordham — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 00:40:42 +0000

Yes - the Welcome Swallow is a native (Heather & Robertson Field Guide). A native is a bird that is self introduced and breeding in NZ. Although much more recent, than most, it is as much a native as pukeko and fantail, both of which are arrivals from Australia. Even the harrier is a native. Difficulties can arrive when birds are introduced as well as naturally arriving (eg Sulphur-crested Cockatoo) or when mode or transport is indeterminate (did they fly here or come by ship?).

By: anne

anne — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 02:07:13 +0000

Hey, I’ve just flicked to the entry on this blog about spur-winged plover; and how it can be considered “as much a native as welcome swallow….”. Enough said, really….

By: anne

anne — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 02:04:00 +0000

Oh well, I suppose to be fair, if some birds that arrived from other shores and have survived here for years are eligible to be considered natives, who are we to ignore the welcome swallow?
This might be too hard a pill to swallow for some people though…., but it does bring up interesting thoughts about what’s native and what’s endemic, and all those things….