Weblog
Wed, 05 Aug 2009 10:40 am – Posted by Guest | 4 Comments
Irresistible to men since 1889. Actually for yonks. As far back as we’ve got records, we’ve got beer. And funnily enough, it was invented beside a river.
Which brings us to the owners who control the legendary Tui Brewery. The same owners who daily pollute your river. Yep, 120 years on and Tui is still pumping pollution into the Manawatu River system.
And that stinks.
Tue, 28 Jul 2009 11:48 am – Posted by Guest | 1 Comment
Prior to heading out the next day, I checked the weather report and the forecast said ‘clear blue skies for the next few days’. After reading this I committed the ultimate sin in any trampers opinion, I left my raincoat behind in a further attempt to lighten my pack. By now I was down to the bare essentials; all I had in my pack was kea catching and banding gear, and food. This decision was one I would live to regret very soon into this leg of the survey.
Kea, Photo: C Rudge
That afternoon we made our way to our next survey point and again I headed to my spot alone. I found a comfortable position to wait and look for birds; I saw a mob fly past, back and forth a few times. They weren’t interested in me at all and so I caught up on my reading. After about an hour sitting there, dark spots started appearing on the pages in my book, looking up there was some very ominous clouds lurking about. I hoped that the Met Service’s weather prediction would prevail but the chance of that happening was looking very slim at this stage.
The rain started and was quite bearable for a time, but that didn’t last too long. I was out in the open and all I had to sleep in was a bivy bag. I rummaged through the sparse contents in my bag for something to protect me from the weather and found myself a rubbish bag, a good old ‘blak sak’. I made a head and some arm holes and wore that rubbish bag with style. I proceeded to make my way to Kirsty who was at the neighbouring survey point – which just so happened to be a hut with shelter and comfortable beds!
Fri, 24 Jul 2009 2:32 pm – Posted by Guest | 3 Comments
For those of us lucky enough to live in the Waitakere Ranges with its awe-inspiring forests and thunderous coasts, communing with nature tends to be part of our everyday lives.
The many ways in which we do relate to the natural world and its other inhabitants has always been a source of fascination for me.
As a film-maker one often finds the best stories are on one’s own doorstep, in this case the activities of of local inhabitants, human and otherwise in our well loved local park, the Cascades Kauri Park in the Bethells valley.
Mon, 13 Jul 2009 10:44 am – Posted by Guest | 1 Comment
Armed with a net gun and a fishing rod fashioned into a kea-catching device, I headed into the hills around lake Rotoiti earlier this year to count & band kea as part of a 3 year population survey. Here’s the second installment of my diary …..
Kea, Photo: Creative Commons, Leiwandnz
After sitting on the rock for an hour or so the drizzle started to turn into rain, so I gathered my things and headed for my tent. Time passes slowly when you are sitting in a tent with three bland walls to stare at, waiting for the weather to improve. Eventually it did though and I repositioned myself back on top of the rock. There wasn’t much kea activity but there were plenty of other things to watch that provided amusement. One was a fellow member of the survey team who had positioned themselves on a point below where I was; it was interesting to see them going through their processes of setting up their own vantage point. Maybe it seemed more interesting than it really was because of the lack of human interaction I had had during the day.
Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:31 am – Posted by Guest | 1 Comment
Just after New Year this year there was a kea population survey conducted throughout the South Island. Conducted by DOC and the Kea Conservation Trust, the aim of the three year survey is to get a snapshot of the total kea population across the country. As a kea–enthusiast & devoted kea conservationist, I made sure that I was there. There were three sites where people were going into the mountains to do a tree line survey; lake Rotoiti in the Nelson Lakes area; Arthur Pass; and Fiordland.
Wed, 24 Jun 2009 1:43 pm – Posted by Guest | 4 Comments
Guest blogger: Central North Island Field Officer Al Fleming
Hochstetters frog, Photo: G Shirley
New Zealand is home to four varieties of frog, most of whom are earless, voiceless, and exist in damp habitats, however there is one such species that enjoys watery climes: the miniscule Hochstetter’s frog, which is listed as vulnerable on the ICUN’s red list.
So when I heard that a large slip had occurred at Te Puke Stone Enterprises my heart sank. The question that kept reappearing in my mind was did the slip enter the Rarapahoe stream, the last known haven of the genetically distinct Oropi Forest Hochsetters frog?
Read more »
Mon, 15 Jun 2009 11:33 am – Posted by Guest | 2 Comments
Not just a pretty face, Photo: Margaret Wong
During my first trip to Mt Cook I met a man named Jussey from Austria who was studying Kea’s intelligence. He had done many studies on a captive population in Vienna and was now in New Zealand to repeat the same experiments with a wild population. After some in depth conversations about Kea I showed him some of the photos I had taken of the lovable parrot and he suggested we keep in touch. A few weeks after I returned home I got an email from him offering me a permanent job based down in Mt Cook taking over the Kea intelligence studies. My second trip to Mt Cook was my induction to the new job.
Fri, 05 Jun 2009 3:45 pm – Posted by Guest | 1 Comment
Arctic tern, Canterbury, photo: Tom Marshall
A few weeks ago I blogged on New Zealand’s famous bar-tailed godwits and their annual migration from our estuaries to their breeding grounds further north, however a recent unexpected encounter reminded me of a record-breaking bird that makes the godwit’s journey look like a stroll to the local dairy.
Now we’ve all had that sinking feeling when you’re late for a first date; the car won’t start, the bus doesn’t arrive, or you get three blocks down the street and think ‘did I leave the stove on?’, but whatever the reason, the Arctic Tern I saw at the Ashley River recently will be disappointing his date big time.
Wed, 03 Jun 2009 9:28 am – Posted by Guest | 2 Comments
Guest blogger: Builder-cum-kea enthusiast Corey Mosen
Kea, Tom Marshall
Due to being such a terrific ‘pack horse’ on the first trip I was lucky enough to be offered another chance to help Clio again, this time at Mt Cook and this time with my expenses paid. Here we had the same objective; to catch, band, blood test and observe as many kea as possible.
Fri, 22 May 2009 11:36 am – Posted by Guest | 8 Comments
Guest blogger: Builder-cum-kea enthusiast Corey Mosen
Corey makes friends
This is the story of how I went from carting wheel barrow loads of sand down steep hills, attempting to build houses, to spending my time in the Mountains of Mt Aspiring National Park looking for, observing, and catching Kea.
First things first, I had to convince my boss that it was a good idea to let me take time off work, this wasn’t easy because it was the middle of summer when it is ideal weather and therefore more opportunities to work outside building, getting the most work done possible in the long day light hours. But I eventually persuaded him that it was a good idea and that it would eventually benefit his business in the long run because I’d work harder when I returned. I then went south for 10 days.