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Published: February 25th 2008
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anticipatory duck at Nga Manu
but if its not smart enough to sit on a hand then its not smart enough to eat To the northwest of Wellington is the Kapiti Coast, named after big old Kapiti Island which lies just offshore. The island covers 1965 hectares and was once a stronghold for naughty Maori warrior Te Rauparaha. There was also farming on there by the pakeha, which is somewhat difficult to believe when clambering half a kilometre up the steep mountain that covers most of the island. Anyway, Kapiti became a nature reserve way back in 1897 and a number of rare native birds were released there over the years. Huia were discussed but nothing happened about it due to political bickering and this species is now extinct (although back then the island was still full of pests like cats and rats and possums that they didn't have the ability to exterminate from such a large area of land, so the huia may not have survived even if they had been relocated there). Antipodes Island parakeets were introduced but failed to establish; kakapo were introduced but they were all males. Both South Island and North Island brown kiwi were introduced and may have interbred, although genetics suggest most of the birds there today are South Island ones (there are also little spotted kiwi
on Kapiti, also introduced). Two different types of weka were also released, from Stewart Island and the North Island, and the population on Kapiti today are all hybrids. In more recent times all the introduced mammals have been eliminated apart for a few sheep left near the summit to keep the grass down to reduce fire risk.
We were really looking forward to visiting Kapiti but in the morning when I rang the ferry company that takes people across they said that there was a load of bad weather coming in later in the day so the trip was cancelled. I rang the Department of Conservation and rearranged our permit for the next day, hoping the weather would have cleared, and then we decided to head up to the Nga Manu Nature Reserve just up the road.
Nga Manu is a native bird collection built in a remnant patch of kahikatea forest. Its only $10 entry. There aren't actually many birds there, only nine aviaries and a nocturnal house, but it is very nice. The nocturnal house is better than most in New Zealand in as much as rather than just having a single kiwi enclosure it also
the same smart duck, being even smarter
but its probably still wondering what its doing in the Matrix... has seperate enclosures for moreporks, possums, a cute wee weasel, and tanks for native fish. Robyn liked Nga Manu best because there were ducks to feed. Armed with bags of food she set off into the ravenous flocks. The sign outside the entrance building said not to feed the ducks in that spot, but the ducks didn't seem to mind. One plucky duck in particular allowed itself to be picked up while she fed it. It was probably the smartest duck there because it got all the food while the less obliging ducks had to squabble beneath like French peasants for the crumbs it dropped. Also we were there while the eels were being fed. These are wild eels living in one of the ponds but they come into a small trough-like area at the side at feeding time and are dished out bits of meat and chicken. They're not very large eels by New Zealand standards but watching them writhing up to get their food is very entertaining.
Just along the road in Waikanae we stopped at the estuary and a couple of lagoons to see what we could see in the way of birds. Really I was
mainly looking for dabchicks, which are little grebes (to non-birdy folk, they look kind of like little ducks). The New Zealand dabchick isn't found in the South Island any more and because I don't go to the North Island much I'd never seen one. But I found a pair and looked at them, as you do. They were very cute.
The next day the weather was all good (in fact the day before the weather was all good too, despite what the weather reports had said). So we made what was attempted to be a hurried drive from Upper Hutt where we were staying with my sister, back over to Raumati where the Kapiti boat left from. Unfortunately we hit the morning traffic and had to join the queue of people trying to get down the motorway into Wellington for work. From the distance and time we travelled I calculated we were moving at just four times walking pace. Once at the turn-off and free of the motorway though we made good time and arrived at the boat club right on leaving time. On the trip across the strait we saw a little blue penguin. And seagulls.
Kapiti
was fantastic, easily the top pick of the places we went on this Wellington trip. There were so many birds in the forests that the birdsong at times was almost deafening. Although not even close to what it would have been like when humans first reached our shores the sound was still amazing. Its like nothing that can be heard on the mainland anymore. There is a limit of just fifty people allowed on the island per day, but unfortunately almost everybody lands at Rangatira (there's only two allowable landing areas on Kapiti) and there are only two tracks, up to the summit and back down again, so it can feel crowded at times. Upon arrival a DoC person gives a talk on the history of the island, the birds, and the tracks. Make sure you don't feed the birds is the main thing. The kaka and weka are the two birds that will try to steal your lunch so watch out. Good advice as it turns out because no sooner had I taken some food out of my bag then a kaka crashed down on my shoulder with a heavy thud and tried to snatch its prize, much to
the amusement of those tourists who were still around. It then circled me on the ground, waiting till I took my eyes off it so it could have another go. I like kaka.
The main bird we were looking for on Kapiti was the takahe, a giant flightless rail looking like an oversized pukeko that's had a new coat of paint. They are found naturally in one valley in Fiordland where they were rediscovered in 1948 after having been thought to be extinct. A few island populations have been established to get the numbers up, and some of these birds are on Kapiti. The DoC person had said that there was still one around the bottom of the tracks on the flats that morning, but all the others in this area had moved up to the summit. We scouted round the flats but no takahe, only pukeko. So we headed up the mountain, spotting other rare birds all over the show. The bit of the summit where the track ended turned out to be a tiny clearing in a mess of thick scrub with a viewing tower above so the tourists could look at the horizon. No chance of
seeing takahe there, especially with all the other people congregating there too. From the height of the tower it could be seen that further away along the mountain's spine there were some areas of grass interspersed with low scrub which looked like perfect takahe habitat but there was no way to get over there (bush-bashing in a nature reserve is to be frowned upon of course). There was also limited time on the island because we needed to be back at the landing site to catch the boat back again at 3pm. So we made our way back down the mountain, fortuitously seeing a long-tailed cuckoo on the way and hearing what may have been a kokako but was probably a tui imitating a kokako, and down on the flats again we found the takahe. What a mind-blowing bird the takahe is. Bright royal purple-blue plumage, a massive red bill that looks like it could hammer open a meat-locker, glaring orange eyes, and giant feet on which it plods around like a plump feathery tyrannosaurus. We were both very impressed.
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