Ode to the grey warbler: a singer of songs
Mon, 20 Oct 2008 11:25 am – Posted by GraemeHill | 13 Comments
Guest Blogger: Graeme Hill, Secretary, Campaign for the Grey Warbler 2008 (and Radio Live Host)
2007 was a landmark year for Gerygone igata, or the grey warbler, or the riroriro, or the Bird Of The Year, or the Coolest Bird in New Zealand. At long, long last the underbird got the recognition it deserved, and if you read on I will put the case why it deserves to win this year as well.
But first, an apology:
Towards the end of a long and hard campaign last year some regrettable things were said by the Grey Warbler campaign about other birds. I was tired, I was emotional and I broke. I’m sorry.
However, Mr Stephen Braunias, the self proclaimed “Birdman” (read bird-brain) is fair game. You should be aware that his campaign for the white-faced heron (not endemic!) is merely a Trojan horse for his secret favourites, those invasive harpies the magpies and galahs. [Sunday Magazine Oct 5 2008, p50] He is traitor and a charlatan. The Lord Haw-Haw of bird-dom.
Deep breath.
I’m often asked why I support such a common bird, a bird that inhabits cities and gardens and forests alike. They’re everywhere. Common as muck.
So, they’re common huh? But have you ever SEEN ONE? Positively identified no confusion couldn’t be anything else SEEN ONE? Hmmm. I thought so. Common as muck eh? That sort of elusiveness is akin to magic.
Common in this sense is merely a pejorative term for resilience. There is no other endemic bird that has coped so admirably with our intrusion and other invading species. None come even close. Grey warbler ….1st place, and they’ve done all that while raising shining cuckoos 10 times their size by the thousands every year without a tweet of complaint.
The humble grey warbler may be elusive to the eye, but it is the most evocative of all our birds to the ear. It is the backing track to all our childhoods and all our lives in New Zealand. A mystical magical sound, it is at once lament and elation. As far as I know, only Johnny Cash has ever pulled that off before. While the theme of the warbler song is consistent, every single Warbler lilt is utterly unique. The grey warbler sings your very own neighbourhood anthem. Everybody lives near some. Know your warbler. Better than a post code.
Here’s one. Yours will sound different. http://www.mtbruce.org.nz/Greywarblerinfo.htm
I said this last year but it deserves repeating. Travel away from New Zealand for any stretch of time and then hear a recording of a grey warbler. Memories of sun drenched sandy summer days will flow into your mind. I have noticed recently that Shortland Street has added a grey warbler song on occasions where somebody opens a door to a sunny day just to add that New Zealand flavour. Nothing else would do this so clearly and subtly. I certainly hope they all vote Warbler 2008.
This humble passerine has also evoked some of the most beautiful bird-based writing ever.
Consider these lines.
“Presently, from some manuka thicket, a sombre plumaged little bird will emerge, light on some topmost twig, and pour forth to three-quarters of the globe - for in his ecstasy he nearly sings a circle - this faint sweet trill that heralds fuller spring.”
Herbert Guthrie-Smith, 1910.
“The ghost of a kitten’s mew - the echo of dwarf violins played on the moon”
Allan Bell, Kaitaia 1911.
Are other birds more worthy?
Others are certainly in vastly more plight, and they deserve an all-hands-on-deck approach to preserving them and their habitat. Please join and help Forest & Bird.
However, if we can just recognise and appreciate the little, common and uniquely New Zealand things for their own beauty then appreciation of the others will surely follow. The kiwi, The kakapo, the kokako… they can all benefit from the sterling job the grey warbler does every day on the front line of bird awareness just by being right outside, singing the song of our conscience. A herald reminding us all of their avian brethren and the battles they are facing. A call to arms.
The grey warbler is a patriot. A battler. A get-on-with-the-job stiff-upper-lip never ask for help all round great bird with enough goodwill to spare that it will gladly adopt the needy and feed them. You, reader, almost certainly have a tiny pair, both just the size of your thumb snuggling together for warmth in a tree near you tonight. They will be unthought of, and perhaps unvoted for, yet tomorrow they will gleefully colour the air with THE sound of New Zealand. Surely those that do such good yet never ask for thanks should be given some.
Don’t let this battler for goodness be thrown into the ferret-mouth of indifference ever, ever again.
I’m enjoying reading about NZ birds - I’m in the UK and missing them very much, especially the tui call. Over here the birds are just about all pigeons, although I have seen a robin.
I’m loving the debate and especially the emotionally tugging via your post Graeme, but oh - the kereru. What about the unmistakeably swwoooosh as it swoops down to feast on the trees up the back garden. It’s big, fat, strong body .. it’s shyness … my vote, kereru the whole way.
I don’t think you need to worry about Mr Braunias and his white-faced heron. So far it has only got 2 votes (perhaps from Steve and his Mum?)
And any magpie votes are automatically disqualified as non-natives. And nobody has voted for the galah.
I love new zealand birds but nothing is AS GORGEOUS as the takahe. I met them first on Kapiti island, intrigued by what seemed like a stout blue fat hen, that appeared to wander aimlessly round the houses completely at home. When I spoke to a few of the locals a couple licked their chops as they looked at the bird. Fortunately they are protected, so none of them are likely to end up in the pot.
Jan, Erin, Helen and Robyn. Steve Braunias has been ordered to appear in Warbler Court this Saturday at about 11:15 on Radio Live to explain himself, and the great Grey Warbler herself, Kiri Te Kanawa will be extolling the virtues of the Kereru. Given the relative ease that one could skewer the woodpigeon it’s pleasantly surprising that there are any left at all. We once had a native flightless goose…. no prizes for guessing what happenned to it.
A limited run of Grey Warbler 2008 T-shirts will be available shortly as well.
Also, is there some underground Kakapo campaign happening? It has raced away big-time even with the Kokako making the news this week. Rather odd.
It looks like a tough job from here for the Warbler to make top spot again, but a fortnight is a long time in politics.
I will be posting more Warbler News throughout the campaign.
More Grey Warbler poetry unearthed!
Many thanks to Lelie Jonkers, Grey Warbler supporter.
Tangi e te riroriro
Te tohu o te raumati
Tua rua tonu mai;
Tikina mai tirohia,
Tenei ano ahau
Te au reti mai nei,
O te kawe mai
A puna-roimata,
Te aroha whitiora,
Kia ora te kaupapa i au.
Sweetly sings the riroriro,
Chant of summer days;
Sing it over again to me;
Come forth that I may see thee.
My ears ensnare thy melody
The chant that brings the gushing tears
Of joy and love,
The song that cheers
The very heart of me.
- Legends of the Maori, Sir Maui Pomare
Free offer!
If anybody would like a recording of the Grey Warbler for their phone, or to send to friends overseas and make them cry, or any reason at all, feel free to e-mail me at ghill@radiolive.co.nz and I will send you an MP3, 25 seconds long. I recorded it in my back-yard.
Pukekos!!! Wahda mean “Once seen as a pest”. I suppose that was before computer graphics for TV ads in Ponsonby villas. They are about as “beloved for their mischievious character” as your average South Auckland gang of thugs. We don’t have dairies hereabouts but they can plunder the veggie garden in half a minute flat and make off with the last of the cherries and nashis on the day before we decide to start picking a few for ourselves. Yep, they have no trouble with trees. I’ve seen them slowly savouring each fledgling from a songbird’s nest while the distraught parents flapped around their heads. They have picked off the last in the line of mallard ducklings for years. But last year a couple of the gang distracted the paradise duck parents while another murdered the zebra-stripped ducklings – carrying them flapping into the bushes to have their entrails just pecked out. Some got a quicker end with a beak through the skull. Yep, they are really cute. We did try family planning by hard boiling their eggs and putting them back but there are cute enough to work that one out. Anybody got any good recipes for Pukeko – and I don’t mean the old one about the stone in the pot.
My Grandmother used to eat Pukeko (swamp hen) quite regularly. Not very good eating according to my Dad. No recipes sorry.
Oh how I love the beautiful fantail, especially when I am in the garden - they are so delicate and quick in their movement, such
a happy bird to watch and so industrious and pretty with their twittering chatter - so innocent - unlike the old Pukeko as mentioned above - however I do enjoy watching the Pukeko grazing alongside the northern motorway in Ak - a real survivor! But my absolutely favourite bird is not a native - dare I mention the elegant ‘thrush’ and its most delightful early morning song.
I don’t suppose the fantail is considered “innocent” from the persepctive of say a sandfly that gets eaten by a fantail …
Humans can hardly point the finger at the poor old pukeko either for eating things (including vegetables!) - you do eat, don’t you Keith?
You can’t beat the Wally the Weka in my mind. I can recall many family holidays where Wally the Weka helped himself to our silver forks! They are so sneaky you need to have your eye of them at all times, especially if you have a long drop. At a young age, I ventured to our long drop outside our rustic bach in the dark, I have a vivid memory of Wally the Weka watching me in the dark and helping himself to my silver mug of water.
On behalf of the Grey Warbler community we pass sincere condolences to the Kakapo team on their terrible loss. Lee was a tremendous Strigops and I hear from the Warbler group at Codfish Island that he will be sorely missed. How cruel, but what a great life having been one of the few survivors of his kind.
Tomorrow, all Grey Warbler calls shall lilt a little more darkly for his passing.
He Manu
He Manu
He Manu