Stewart Island.

A little over 45 years ago I found out that New Zeland's third island was called Stewart Island.  It seemed a good name to me, and much better than the geographically accurate, but rather prosaic, North and South Island that named the other major islands. 

Well, after 45 years I visited it.

And what a great place it is.  Stewart Islands sits about 35 km offshore from the southern tip of South Island.  It can be reached by air and sea, and I took the hours long ferry journey from Bluff.  Arriving in near darkness I was soon settled into my small room at the South Sea Hotel, Oban and not much later I had found the bar, bought a remarkably good roast dinner, a beer, and had joined a Pub Quiz team. It turned into a rather splendid, if unexpected, Sunday evening. 

Stewart Island - or Rakiura to give it its Māori name - is a roughly triangular island with a total land area of 1,746 km2, 80% of which is National Park owned by the government.  Oban is the only real centre of population on the island, and just over 400 people call it home.

As to be expected, I spend a few days exploring - although I never got very far from Oban.  Maybe next time.

Ferry Terminal and Oban CBD

Dogs in the back of a Ute.

Bullers Albatross from the shore

Fishing Boat and Companion

Ulva Island

Community Congratulations outside the supermarket - it was updated daily 

Little / Blue Penguin Tracks, Ulva Island

I can highly recommend a visit.

SM

Wild Bird Wednesday 626 - Southern Brown Kiwi

The Southern Brown Kiwi (Apteryx australis) is one of New Zealand's largest Kiwis. Like all other Kiwi, this species is flightless and largely nocturnal. They are part of the group of birds known as ratites, which includes ostrich, emu, cassowary and rhea.  Kiwi are the smallest members of this group of birds.

The Southern Brown Kiwi is endemic to New Zealand - as are all other species of Kiwi - and is only found in a few areas.  One of these areas is Stewart Island, which is off the southern end of New Zealand's South Island.

I was lucky enough to visit Stewart Island recently and encountered this Kiwi on a night tour.  As you can imagine photography is not easy in the dark!  We watched this bird with the use of red-light and then I converted the (all red) images to black and white.  I really like the image of the bird with the worm. There is estimated to be a population of abut 15,000 on Stewart Island. 

This bird is a female and would have been about knee high to me, and females can weigh over 3 kg.  The males are considerably smaller.

Even in these pictures you can see that the feathers of Kiwi are loose and fluffy, presumably to provide better insulation as they do not fly. 

Kiwi lay huge eggs, and just prior to laying the egg may account for up to 30% of the body weight of the female!

Note the worm hanging from the Kiwi's beak

The nostrils of the Kiwi are right at the very end of its beak - and they often seem to get blocked with dirt or debris as the Kiwi is probing about.  This causes the Kiwi to sneeze or cough regularly, and this behaviour is often associated with a violent head shake.  I found this rather comical, but I'm not sure the Kiwi agree!

As ever, to join in with WBW click the link below.  SM

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Mammal on Monday 7 - The Tasmanian Devil

The Tasmanian Devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) is a carnivorous marsupial only found today in Tasmania. It was once present over much of Australia, but by colonisation it was restricted to Tasmanian. 

I suspect that the fictional cartoon character, Taz is better known that the actual animal, but biologically the depiction of the Devil in the Looney Tunes cartoon series is rather way off the mark!

The TasmanianDevil is under threat of extinction because of a facial cancer that is spread between individual animals when they fight over food.  Populations of the Devil have fallen by 80% in many areas - and although this rapid decline is not continuing, a slow continued fall in population is now being seen.  Considerable efforts are being made to find a cure for the cancer and to establish disease free 'refuge' colonies.  This may even involve (eventually) the establishment of semi-wild populations on the main land. 

Although very bad for the animals, the cancer has a fascinating story.  Tasmanian Devils are very, very genetically similar to each other. When any fragment of a facial tumour is transferred between individual Devils it is not recognised as 'foreign' by the immune system of the second Devil.  This means that no 'defence' is mounted by the immune system and the tumour fragment can graft into the tissue of the second  Devil.  In many ways this is the same process as occurs when a person has a skin graft to repair damaged tissue.

All of the animals shown here are captive, from a sanctuary near Cradle Mountain.  I have seen Devils in the wild, but that was in the dim and distant past - ie when we still used film! And more recently I heard them calling and squabbling while on a multi day walk in The Walls of Jerusalem National Park in Tasmania.

One of the interesting things you can see here are the Devils red ears - they are supposed to get redder when the animal is agitated.  

The animal reclining on its back is not dead - it's resting. But you can see the entrance to the pouch and two of the four nipples that the young Devils use to feed.  Adult Devils are about the size of a small dog - but that still makes them the world's largest living marsupial predator.  The best way to describe them is stocky!  When they are born the young Devils weigh in at about 20 grams - and they have upwards of 20 siblings.  Only four of these manage to attach to a nipple in the pouch - and they stay that way for about 100 days.  The young leave the pouch at about 105 days, and then stay in the den rather than the pouch for another three months.

There is much research underway to find a cure for the cancer - but at present the most successful approach has been to form disease free population in places that remain isolated from other populations.  Research is also underway on a vaccine. 

It would be good if these approaches were successful.   SM

Wild Bird Wednesday 625 - Brambling

The Brambling (Fringilla montifringilla) is a winter visitor to the UK, and depending on the severity of the weather elsewhere the winter population in the UK can vary between 45,000 and 1.8 million.  In its breeding range there may be as many as 22 million pairs of this very attractive finch.

In the UK this bird seems to be extending its winter range, but this may be as a result of garden feeding and shortages of food elsewhere.

This finch is about 14 cm long, with a wingspan of 26 cm and a weight of about 24 g. 

These birds were photographed under a feeding station at RSPB Titchwell in Norfolk.

AS is often the case with birds, the male is more brightly coloured than the female.  However, they are both distinctive enough to make identification reasonably straight forward.  In breeding plumage the males would have a solid black head, and they must look magnificent. 

As ever, to join in with WBW click the link below.  Cheers  SM

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Mammals on Monday 6 - Swamp Wallaby

The Swamp Wallaby (Wallabia bicolor) is a common Wallaby down the entire east coast of Australia and around to southwestern Victoria.  These animals were photographed at Wilsons Promontory National Park in Victoria.

The Swamp Wallaby has an average length is 76 cm for males, and 70 cm for females (excluding the tail). The tail in both sexes is approximately equal in length to the rest of the body. Average weight for males is 17 kg,  with females averaging 13 kg.

Although not a difficult animal to see, I did observe one individual chewing on bones - a leg bone of some form and a rib - and this does not seem to be a widely recorded behaviour in marsupials.  Technically this is called osteophagia and has been observed in a range of herbivorous species, but I cant find reference to it happening in herbivorous marsupials. 

Osteophagia is thought to act as a kind of 'vitamin supplement' where an animals diet is lacking in minerals - normally calcium and phosphorus.  Given that the vegetation in the area that the pictures were taken is basically growing in very sandy soil, I see no reason why this explanation should not apply to this individual.

The biologist in me is fascinated by these pictures, and the comedian in me thinks it looks like the Wallaby is playing a flute, brushing it teeth or on the phone!  You can identify with which ever aspect of my personality you choose!

If you have a close look at the images you can see the serious looking claws on this animal, and that the wallaby in the third and forth images has lost a chunk of its ear.  I suspect these two observations may be in some way connected!

Cheers SM