A Secretive Onlooker While tramping in the Kaweka & Kaimanawa Forest Parks, New Zealand, (see our previous blog post on that adventure here) we came across a curious sound emanating from some scrub within the wetland we were walking through. In between calls, the foliage would shake gently as it made its way to a new vantage…
Category: New Zealand
Tramping in the Kaweka & Kaimanawa Forest Parks, New Zealand
I recently accompanied Emma’s father (Stewart), his friend (David), and David’s avian aversion certified Labrador (Sika) on a four day/three night tramp (AKA ‘hike’ for those not familiar with the New Zealand lingo). Click on any of the photos in this post to get a closer look. Note: Only registered, avian aversion certified hunting dogs, Guide…
Lake of the Blag Shags: A Few Faces From Whanganui’s Virginia Lake
If you are ever in Whanganui (North Island, New Zealand), make sure you take a wander around Virginia Lake. We headed out there for a walk a few weeks ago and took some snaps of the birdlife we saw. We’ll share those photos with you in today’s post along with a few key facts. The…
The Ducks Who Surf Rapids: New Zealand’s Endangered Whio
A Caravanning Trip in the Rain Despite the weather forecast promising us a very rainy weekend, nothing was going to deter us from heading out. Mum and Dad’s caravan was stocked with the essentials, mine and Tom’s cameras were packed, we all had our raincoats and gumboots, so off we set up the windy Parapara…
New Zealand’s Largest & Heaviest Native Moth
Click to zoom in There are many names for the largest native moth in New Zealand, and much can be gleaned from a name… The Pūriri Moth (Aenetus virescens) One of the grub’s main host trees is the pūriri tree (Vitex lucens) hence a common name being the pūriri moth. The Ghost Moth Ngāti Kahungunu (the Māori iwi…
A New Zealand Summer Migrant: The Elusive Shining Cuckoo
A Familiar Noise Most, if not all of those that have spent time outdoors in New Zealand’s summer, will recognise this noise: Weep weep weep weep weep woooooop (click to listen). Few of these people, however, will have actually seen the creature that belts out this long, repetitive whistling tune. The reason for this is perhaps down…
A New Zealand Category I Threatened Species: The Flightless Spiny Longhorn Beetle
A Night at Bushy Park Sanctuary Tom and I joined our friend and natural history curator of the Whanganui Regional Museum, Mike Dickison, and fellow naturalist, Lisa, for a night out at Bushy Park light-trapping for insects. Whilst waiting for the trap to draw in the local residents, we took a stroll along one of…
A New Zealand Tūī Feeding on Flax Nectar
Click to zoom in New Zealand’s Endemic Tūī Tūī (Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae) are an endemic New Zealand bird found across almost all of New Zealand. They range from the subtropical Kermadec Islands to the sub-Antarctic Auckland Islands. Tūī are noticeably absent from the Canterbury region although they were found there historically. With native planting, predator control,…
Nice to Bee back in New Zealand: Hive Audits
Beeing Employed Click to zoom in Within a week of being back in the country, we had somehow landed a short-term contract working with honey bees. Emma and I had put on bee suits before and photographed a friends bees but that was the extent of our experience. For this work, we essentially drove around…
Zoomology Turns One Today
A year ago today, Tom and I wrote our first blog post on Zoomology. It has been a very rewarding journey. We have learnt so much with each post we have written, not only about the species and places we have covered, but also about our own ‘voice’. Here are all of our blog posts…
Plague Skinks (Lampropholis delicata) at Gordon Park Scenic Reserve, Whanganui, NZ
This Tuesday, Tom and I joined a team of volunteers to tackle some of the invasive plant species at Gordon Park Scenic Reserve, Whanganui. Whilst we were there, we came across a clutch of skink eggs and a number of skinks basking in the sun in a newly-planted area. Gordon Park Scenic Reserve Gordon Park…
Takahē: The World’s Largest Living Rail
The takahē’s story is quite amazing. Between 1849 and 1898, only four individuals were ever sighted… By the early 1900’s takahē were considered to be extinct.