Weblog
Tue, 01 Nov 2011 3:07 pm – Posted by Mandy | No Comments
Blogger: Campaign team for the little spotted kiwi, Huapai District School, Rodney, Auckland
Please note: unlike the kiwi, this video is a little quiet, so please turn up the volume!
Tue, 01 Nov 2011 9:54 am – Posted by Mandy | No Comments
I encourage you to vote for one of our most energetic and friendly native birds – the fantail (piwakawaka). It is one of our most common and widely distributed native birds on the New Zealand mainland, adapting so well to an environment greatly altered by humans.
Our flirty flighty fantail. Photo: Craig Mckenzie
The fantail is one of our most recognisable native birds having a long tail which opens into a fan. It has a small head and bill and has two colour forms – pied (yellow-brown with white and black chest bands) and melanistic or black.
They are amazing fliers – they use their broad tails to change direction quickly when hunting for insects. They sometimes hop around upside-down amongst tree ferns and foliage to pick insects from the underside of leaves. Fantails love to eat moths, flies, spiders, wasps and beetles.
Tue, 01 Nov 2011 9:27 am – Posted by Mandy | 3 Comments
Blogger: Reporter for TV3 and Campaign Manager for the kea, Rachel Smalley
Kea get a bad rap. It’s true they can be vandals and thieves and their call is certainly shrill enough to burst an eardrum at 30 paces. But villians? Never. Kea, if anything, are just a little misunderstood.
Like many parrot species, kea are very social. In fact in recent studies, they've shown to have great social intelligence and they perform very well in co-operative tests. Photo: Tom Marshall.
They love company and they love a challenge. In the alpine regions of the Southern Alps, Kea will quickly befriend a tourist – and then steal their lunchbox. They’re smart. In fact, they’re super smart. Kea are considered among the most intelligent birds on the planet so if you enter their habitat, this gregarious and fearless parrot will want to say hello.
Much like the people who populate this country, Kea are chancers. They’re up for the challenge, no hurdle is too high, no task too daunting. They’re smart, nosey and slightly cunning and that’s possibly why they’ve survived for millennia.
Mon, 31 Oct 2011 3:07 pm – Posted by Mandy | No Comments
Blogger: Campaign Manager for the Emperor Penguin and Wellington Zoo Vet Lisa Argilla.
While not widely recognised as native birds to New Zealand, the occasional appearance of Emperor penguins on our shores as well as New Zealand’s stakehold in Antarctica means that these guys should definitely be considered honorary citizens of New Zealand.
Me and Happy Feet.
The largest of the 18 species of penguins and endemic to Antarctica, Emperors are well known for tolerating some incredible extremes which makes them most worthy of your vote for Bird of the Year.
Males in particular show some amazing tolerance and stamina as they stand for more than 2 months on the ice during the Antarctic winter and incubate their egg. By the time they return to sea after incubation they usually haven’t eaten for 115 days.
They head out to an open sea about 100km away from the colony and spend time here hunting for food. Both males and females can travel up to 1454 km per individual per trip while foraging for food to feed the chick, usually straying only 500km away from the colony.
Fri, 28 Oct 2011 11:10 am – Posted by Mandy | 1 Comment
Blogger: Campaign Manager for the Little Blue Penguin and Dominion Post environment reporter, Kiran Chug
The little blue might be the world’s smallest penguin, but what it lacks in size it certainly makes up for in character. Feisty, and not afraid to let handlers know about it, little blues pack enough charisma into their 25cm high frame to warrant your vote for Bird of the Year.
Little Blue Penguin - twenty five centimetres of attitude
With cute factor to spare, these seabirds are found the length of the country, and their choice of habitats prove they’re also quite smart.
They are after prime coastal real estate. They hunt out the best spots close to the ocean, and make those home.
Yet while they are found up and down our shores, spotting these penguins is not always an easy task.
They spend the day out at sea feeding, coming into shore at dusk. Grabbing a glimpse of them before they waddle into their bush covered nests takes a keen eye.
Thu, 27 Oct 2011 7:58 am – Posted by Phil Bilbrough | 1 Comment
Blogger: Campaign Manager for the whio and Forest & Bird’s Marketing and Promotions Project Manager, Phil Bilbrough
The whio (or Blue Duck) is a seriously cool bird. It lives in white water. It is a torrent duck, and how cool is that? If kayaking is a cool whitewater sport but it is just a sport, then the whio who make white water their home, well… they must be ice cool.
Blue Duck, Photo: Craig McKenzie
It is a truly beautiful bird. Its grey feathers with flecks of brown is subtle, textured and stunning. There is something Yves Saint Laurent about its palette - these colours aren’t usually seen together but combine beautifully. It evokes both the rocks and wildness of a mountain river and serenity of nature.
Tue, 25 Oct 2011 1:52 pm – Posted by Mandy | 1 Comment
Blogger: Campaign Manager for the Black Robin & Actress, Lisa Chapell.
Dear Mum and Dad,
I need your help. Cousin Bob just ran off with the love of my life – Cousin Sarah and I’m desperate to get her back. Can you talk to God for me? I thought since you were in heaven, it might be quicker?
Great grandma Old Blue, Photo: Don Merton
It’s so hard these days to even get a date, not like in Great Grandfather Yellow’s day, he was super lucky, he had zero competition and Dad you only had Uncle Sam and Uncle Tom, me I’ve got over a hundred cousins to contend with now. Not that I’m complaining, I know how hard it was for the family when the two legged giants came and the big burnings happened. And the horror of their ferocious attack cats. I still wake up from nightmares of Great Uncle Pete being devoured by a cat. I know there’s no cats anymore, but there could be, it just takes one of the two legged giants to come over to our island and bring the beasts with them. But I know what you’re saying Mum, I worry too much.
Tue, 25 Oct 2011 1:04 pm – Posted by Mandy | 1 Comment
Blogger: Campaign Manager for the Yellow-eyed penguin, Seabird advocate and former All Black, Anton Oliver
Hoiho (yellow-eyed penguins) are the noisy penguins. Their name in Maori means ‘noise shouter’; their piercing calls can be heard over the crashing waves.
Yellow-eyed penguin, Photo: Craig Mckenzie
For me there’s something really special about being on a beach at dawn and hearing the shout as they bid farewell and head off to sea for the day. As the sun rises they awaken for the days foraging to gather fish for themselves or for their chicks. These trips can see them swim as far as 50km off shore and then dive as much as 200 times each day to depths of 160m to catch the small fish on the bottom of our ocean floors. No wonder their scientific name also has significance, Megadyptes antipodes meaning large southern diver. Read more »
Thu, 20 Oct 2011 8:43 am – Posted by Phil Bilbrough | No Comments
Blogger: Campaign Manager for the Tui and Co-leader of the Green Party, Russel Norman.
To vote in our Bird of the Year competition, please go here . Polls close on November 25th.
Thu, 20 Oct 2011 8:26 am – Posted by Phil Bilbrough | 4 Comments
Blogger: Campaign Managers for the kākā: ZEALANDIA ecosanctuary and Forest & Bird’s Conservation Advocate Nic Vallance.
Kākā are making a comeback and the world is a better place for it. You just can’t stay grumpy when you’re watching a bunch of them playing in the trees. Go on, try it.
Good looking, smart, great sense of humour, enjoys a boisterous time but also very gentle and affectionate too. Kākā even weed out the non-native plant species from exotic gardens – what more could you ask for?