Birding On My Own - Australia and New Zealand 2002 Emmalee Tarry Comments | Table of Contents Tiritiri Matangi - An Island Sanctuary Page 5 / 5 Takahe - Endemic Bird On The Brink of Extinction The Takahe is a large member of the family Rallidae closely related to the Purple Gallinule. It is flightless and before the arrival of introduced predators it was widespread over both the north and south islands. It was thought to be extinct until about 250 birds were found on the south island in the mountains above Lake Te Anau. This area is now a nature sanctuary which can only be visited with permission from the Department of Conservation. I went to the Glow Worm Cave at the base of the mountain sanctuary during my stay at Te Anau , but did not see the Takahe. On arrival at the lighthouse I found several pairs of Takahe browsing on the lawn around the picnic tables. When I returned to the island during the breeding season the Takahe were more wary of visitors. The Takahe lives in tussock-land where it feeds on grass shoots. It is slow moving and slow breeding. Both characteristics contributed to its demise after introduction of predators like dogs and foxes. The birds on Tiritiri were introduced from captive breeding stock and seem to be very tame, allowing visitors to approach. It is important that visitors refrain from feeding them. I noticed that in the summer they were drinking from water near the picnic tables. There are now 17 adults and 2 chicks on the island. Boat Dock You need to plan to be at the boat dock for the return trip well before 3:30 PM as you do not want to miss the only return ferry. On both trips I started the return trip from the lighthouse about 1 PM and worked my way slowly down the Wattle Trail. There is very good birding in the vicinity of the boat dock. On my summer trip to the island I spent some time sitting near the little pond where the Brown Teal had been released on my winter trip Here I was able to see and photograph Spotless Crake, Brown Quail, Welcome Swallow, European Goldfinch, Myna, Whitehead, Yellowhammer, Chaffinch, Silvereye, Fantail, Gray Warbler, Stitchbird, Bellbird, Red-crowned Parakeet. On reaching the beach you can walk toward the toilets and look in the artificial penguin burrows. They were empty on the winter trip, but in December one contained an adult Blue Penguin . This is not the best way to enjoy this bird and you will see it other places as it parades after dark to the burrow. There are usually Variable Oystercatchers at the dock and on the summer trip an Australasian Harrier was seen soaring over the island. Tiritiri Matangi was a wonderful start to my trip and I left looking forward to many more days just like this one. I envy the people who live near Auckland and can participate in this marvelous conservation effort. Any birder with a free weekend in New Zealand should visit Tiritiri. It would certainly brighten a business trip to Auckland at any time of the year. E-Mail From Stephen Hale- Night on Tiri Tiri Matangi Date: 4/15/03 11:25:04 AM Eastern Daylight Time From: srhale@garnet.sr.unh.edu (Stephen R. Hale) Emmalee, I enjoyed looking through your travel book. Thanks for sharing it. It brought back a lot of memories from 2 years ago, when I was in NZ for 5 months. My family was fortunate to arrange an overnight stay on Tiri Tiri Matangi (after an overnight stay on Kapiti Island was cancelled due to high seas). It is really special being there at night. We walked down to the boat dock and there were Little Blue Penguins everywhere around our feet. We had to be careful not to step on them. We could hear kiwis in the night. At that time, I don't think there were any Brown Kiwi on the island, only Little Spotted. We walked some trails heading up away from the water, with our flashlights (red cellophane over the light is required to protect the eyes of nocturnal animals). For literally less than 1/2 second, my wife and I saw a Little Spotted Kiwi leave the trail into the bush. It was very exciting, even though it was so short a time. The silhouette was unmistakeable. Then we walked around, a bit and I was trying to see the Grey-faced Petrel (or Grey Petrel, I confuse the two; one nests in the Hauraki Gulf, and the other I think is more associated with the South Island; I don't have my book with me here at work). We could here them coming in through the trees by it was too dark. So we started walking back, working our way through the penguins. We had our flashlights off, so as not to disturb them. We stopped at a strange silhouette on the ground. It looked like a football at first. It was LITERALLY 6 inches from my feet. Not moving, not afraid, just sitting there. I turned a flashlight on and it was one of the Grey-faced Petrels that had come in from sea. We missed Blue Duck and Rock Wren, and I looked pretty hard for them. We picked up most of the other landbirds, but had some misses in the shorebird department. I wasn't there when the two migratory cuckoos are there. We lived in Hamilton, so I was able to make some trips to Miranda to see wrybills etc. Near the end of my stay I picked up 7 Royal Spoonbills which come up from the South Island. End of Chapter Tiritiri Matangi - An Open Island Sanctuary Tiritiri Matangi Next Chapter - Kaikoura Pelagic Trips Back       Table of Contents