Golden Bay fernbirds
Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2016 11:28 am
Not sure if others around the country are noticing the same thing, and this is a totally unscientific count, but I'm seeing a significant increase in the number of fernbirds around Golden Bay. Fernbirds have always been around here in reasonably good numbers, but in the last 2-3 years, more and more are showing up in more and more places, including locations where I've not previously seen them- the local golf course margins here in Pohara for instance. I've not noticed that the normal background level of predator control has increased, nor the trapping areas widened, so I'm not sure what's driving the fernbird numbers. Parallel to the fernbird increase has been the local weka increase, and over the same period of time. When I first moved to Golden Bay 7 years ago, you had to take a 2 hour drive up the Cobb Valley to see weka, now we have them in our backyard and we hear them calling locally every day. One weka family has taken to incessantly tapping on a neighbour's ranchslider doors at all hours here in suburban Pohara.....