Wellington City biodiversity

[ledzep]

Flock of at least 12 Kaka feeding on the corner at the Chinese church opposite the main botanic garden entrance on Glenmore St around 5 pm Friday night. They may be feeding them (there was a lady at the centre taking photos of the noisy bunch) - hopefully not nuts. It was quite a site.

[Jan]

Do you hope the lady isn't nuts, or that she's not feeding nuts???

[Colin Miskelly]

Three bellbirds heard in Gilberd Bush Reserve and adjacent Waihinahina Reserve, Newlands, Wellington, on 15 April. This is on top of the scarp overlooking Hutt motorway (SH2) where it runs along the harbour edge, just south of Horokiwi quarry

Ngā mihi
Colin

[Colin Miskelly]

Black fantail (with full tail, no white ear tuft), Prince of Wales Park, Mt Cook, Wellington, 17 April

Ngā mihi
Colin & Kate

[ledzep]

Falcon wheeling around in the air above the Middleton Road roundabout in Johnsonville Sat around 3 pm.

[ledzep]

I didn't find the Black Fantail in Prince of Wales park today (several ordinary fantails) but I did come across a very friendly Kaka on the Bell Road to Dorking Road track. Was very inquisitive, following me and sitting on a branch to within 1 metre. Lots of Kaka calling in the area.

[Colin Miskelly]

Bellbirds near Wellington

Caribbean Ave Reserve runs from near the top of Horokiwi Rd down to Caribbean Drive (Grenada North industrial area, near SH1). The second-growth scrub/forest in the catchment forms a corridor from the Korokoro catchment on the east side of Horokiwi ridge down to the leafy suburbs of Tawa and Johnsonville, which connect to the town belt at Khandallah Park. The track through Caribbean Ave Reserve is not signposted at either end, and is easily missed, despite having (old) walkway bollards marking the track - i.e. it was either promoted as a walking track in the past, or that was the council's intention. It took me about 2 hours to walk the one-way track in both directions.

Bellbirds, whiteheads and tomtits are in the Korokoro catchment (Belmont Regional Park), and I was pleased to find bellbirds quite common in Caribbean Ave Reserve today, with 1 seen and 5 heard on the way down, and several heard on the way back (I only record eBird/Atlas counts in one direction whenever I retrace my footsteps).

Bellbirds were also present in Horokiwi Reserve, which is accessed from Horokiwi Road 0.5 km south-west of Caribbean Ave Reserve (Horokiwi Reserve is signposted). Two bellbirds were seen and two heard today. This scrubby gully leads down to Grenada Drive (via Grenada Grindertron mountain bike track), then joins Seton Nossiter Park in the heart of Newlands, providing another corridor for bush birds to reach the city.

Ngā mihi
Colin

[Colin Miskelly]

Falcon and harriers over central city

I had just arrived home from my Horokiwi walks when I heard a falcon calling over our house in Mt Cook. That is not unusual (we see or hear falcons 3-4 times a month), but by the time Kate joined me outside I had located it high overhead, diving at two harriers - which are a much rarer sight over the central city (one every 2-3 years from our property, and never more than one at a time before).

Given the time of year, how high they were, and the direction they were heading, I suspect the harriers had just crossed Cook Strait. And no doubt were unimpressed to be beaten up by a kārearea on arrival over the North Island.

Ngā mihi
Colin & Kate

[Michael Szabo]

That's interesting. I saw five dark brown harriers flying over the coast yesterday morning. One on its own, two flying together, and another two together further out to sea.

[Colin Miskelly]

Whiteheads in west branch Korokoro catchment

We walked the Horokiwi Bridleway today (to Belmont trig, then down the Ridge track to Baked Beans Bend, and back up the stream). It was perfect conditions for hearing birds, with the highlight being four flocks of whiteheads - including a flock of 8 in a large miro in the upper catchment. This is probably the closest population of whiteheads to Wellington city, other than those in Zealandia, which are rarely seen more than 200 m outside the fence. The Korokoro whiteheads have likely recolonised from the Tararua and Akatarawa ranges, and so will be battle-hardened after surviving 150 years of ship rat and stoat predation. In contrast, the predator-naive Zealandia birds (sourced from Kāpiti Island) only had experience with kiore and Norway rats (before both were eradicated from Kāpiti in 1996, 5 years before whiteheads were introduced to Zealandia).

Other good birds in the west branch of the Korokoro stream were two tomtits and 40 bellbirds in about 3 hours of Atlas checklists.

For those unfamiliar with these place names, the west branch of Korokoro Stream is part of Belmont Regional Park, and is about 7 km northeast of the SH1/SH2 interchange at the bottom of Ngauranga Gorge.

Ngā mihi
Colin & Kate