Rock Wren in Okarito

[Michael Szabo]

Reported on the beach in Okarito by Chad Cottle with photos:
https://ebird.org/checklist/S130495991? ... S5b-hlv548

[andrewcrossland]

this is a well known site for Rock Wren. Uniquely in Okarito Forest they occur through the bush down to sea level. There a number of previous records of Rock Wren on beaches around Okarito. Makes you hope there might be some Bush Wren somewhere eh......

[Oscar Thomas]

‘Well known site’ is a bit generous, no eBird records nor any mention on NZ Birds Online of them occurring below 900m... a bit of digging turned this up in HANZAB though: “Once seen in a bouldery stream, 250 m asl; and once on driftwood and rocks on beach at Okarito (Child 1970; CSN 32).”

[andrewcrossland]

Young Jedi, thats the problem with eBird and the reliance of online searches. There's a whole lot of ornithological knowledge that's not recorded in there.

Its obviously super rare and unusual for Rock Wren to turn up on a beach anywhere, but every time it happens it seems to be close to Okarito.

Stewart Lauder (former OSNZ Regional Rep knew of 2 or 3 records) and over the last 40 years at least, there's been the occasional, but rare, report of Rock Wren down to sea level in this area. I'm sure Ron Nilsson had a sighting too. Ron ofcourse was one of the few people in modern times to see and catch Bush Wren so Okarito Rock Wren were of of great interest to him. He was one of the key players in the Big South Cape rescue efforts and always had a deep professional and personal interest in NZ's "lost" birds, most well known for his work on SI Kokako. Anyway, Ron told me in several conversations over the years that he believed that Bush Wren were probably overlooked, but annual visitors to the area around Okarito. He noted that there's something weird about Okarito - its not just Rock Wren that come down to low level - its also Chamois! And ofcourse Kea.

A number of people suggested to Ron that he write a book of his adventures and discoveries as he had a fantastically interesting career with New Zealand's rarest birds, but sadly he passed away before he could. I guess thats the risk with waiting till the end of your career to write a book about all you know. That would have been a great book and I'm sure would have contained a few pages discussing Rock Wrens at Okarito.

[Oscar Thomas]

You saw the work as it was published I suppose, but we don’t have 40 years free to go through it all cheers Andrew

[andrewcrossland]

One great great thing about ornithology is its a life long opportunity to explore and acquire knowledge, both from lived experience, and from back-reading the history or learning from interactions with people who saw the past and who knew the generations now gone. That's traditionally been the journey of many young ornithologists - starting with NZ Bird notes and reading each issue of Notornis from the 1940s to present; reading Trans & Proc. of the NZ Inst; looking through the mass of information in newspapers (once viewed in Museum archives) but now instantly available on Papers Past, acquiring the knowledge and carrying it forward. Thats where the life of NZ's ornithological story is. Ebird is just a series of dots on a map with no soul.
Seeing the work as it was published is one thing; rediscovering it on dusty shelves in the University basement or second-hand book shops is something far better....

[Jim_j]

There is also a major PFNZ Project with ZIP going on in this area...

Cheers
Jim

[bradley_birdsnz]

Facinating information Andrew, thanks for sharing.

I often wondered about bush wren while wandering around the South Okarito forest during my time with ZIP, good to hear that they were there. The habitat in there is truly extraordinary and filled with robins, kakariki and rifleman in the absence of large rat, stoat and possum numbers.

With the continuing increase of native species in the area hopefully rock wren start to get picked up by ZIP trail cameras.

Cheers Bradley.

[bdarlow]

An interesting discussion. To ask the obvious "silly" question; what are the distinguishing features that make this bird a certain Rock Wren and not a Bush Wren (ignoring that the latter is suposedly extinct)? Illustrations and descriptions make the two sound similar and both have/had a bobbing motion. A starting point to seperate them would be location/habitat - at least one point to Bush Wren on that basis. Thanks for clarifying. Brian Darlow

[Ian Southey]

Brian

The first thing to look for is the breast colour, which should be an even grey, not greenish yellowish. Juvenile Riflemen have mottled grey beasts are smaller and don't bob. I spoke to a few people who had seen them and was told that I'd know them at once... I think I'd start there and start taking down a description if I ever though I saw one there are details that would help make a record convincing.

I wouldn't rely too much on habitat to separate them. There are Rock Wrens in Fiordland that live without rocks, up in the stunted silver beech near bushline and they made their home in the big gnarly root bases. The last reports of Bush Wrens I was aware of were from quite high forest with small trees and scrub, a number up until the late 1960s, even from the Milford Road. Easy to miss. I never really looked for them though, my interests when I was there were in the valley swamps and forest. THE site for Bush Wren records in the 70s and 80s was Moss Pass between the Durville and Sabine Rivers in Nelson Lakes. I wouldn't know if claims are still being made from there or not.

I too was told about the Okarito wrens in the 1980s but have never really spent time there and haven't heard of them since so quite pleased by this record. I now wonder how many there are and how safe they'd be. Good to hear about the pest control but hoping someone will have a look and see how many are left.

Also, I am surprised about Andrew's nostalgia for the past when there was so little literature about and it was hard to find but I did all those things too and it was worth it. What I miss is the people we had in OSNZ then. Oscar's obviously not getting the stories we used to get from the older folks and that's a bit sad because the oral histories are much more extensive than what has been written down.

Ian