Wild Bird Wednesday 647 - New Zealand Fantail / Pīwakawaka

The New Zealand Fantail or Pīwakawaka (Rhipidura fuliginosa) is a small, active bird found throughout much of New Zealand.

It has a distinctive fanned tail and loud song, and often approaches within a metre or two of people. Its wide distribution and habitat preferences, including frequenting well-treed urban parks and gardens, means that most people encounter fantails occasionally. 

There are two colour forms or ‘morphs’ of fantail, with the more common pied morph occurring throughout its range, and the black morph comprising up to 5% of the South Island population, and occasionally occurring in the North Island.

This bird - which was feeding on the insects attracted to seaweed thrown up on to the strand line of a beach on Stewart Island - is the common pied morph. 

This bird was feeding very actively on the beach are rarely stayed in one place for more than a few seconds. 

As ever, to join in with WBW click on the blue button below.  Cheers and best wishes, SM

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Wild Bird Wednesday 646 - Silvereye

The Silvereye (Zosterops lateralis) is a common small bird in the eastern and souther parts of Australia, all of New Zealand and some South Pacific islands.

We get them in our garden, and my attention is often caught by their high pitched calls.

Silvereyes are between  11 to 13 cm in length and around 10 g in weight, and they have conspicuous ring of white feathers around its eye.  There small size does not prevent them from migrating internally in Australia, including flying across Bass Straight from Tasmania to the mainland of Australia.

These birds were photographed on Stewart Island in New Zealand.  The Maori name for this species is Tauhou.  This means "stranger" or "new arrival", and this name related to its relatively recent arrival in New Zealand. The Silvereye was first recorded in New Zealand in 1832. It then arrived in greater numbers in 1856, and it is assumed that a migrating flock was swept eastwards from Australia by a storm. 

These pictures were taken on Stewart Island, in the main settlement - Oban. I saw this little flock of birds as the sun was setting, and the bushes were just outside the hotel I was staying in, and I may or may not have been having a pint when I first saw them!  In my opinion, anyone planning a trip to NZ should consider a trip to Stewart Island.

Hope all is well.  As ever, to join in with WBW click on the link below.  SM

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Wild Bird Wednesday 645 - South Island Robin

The South Island Robin (Petroica australis) or Kakaruwai is an endemic bird of South and Stewart Islands in New Zealand.  The South Island Robin is a small passerine, 10–18 cm in length and weighing around 35 g.

The North Island Robin (Petroica longipes) is closely related to the South Island species, and was in fact considered the same species at one time.  The birds in these pictures - South Island Robins - show the clearly divided dark grey upper chest, and pale yellow-white lower chest that separates them from the North Island Species.

These robins are both closely related to the Robins of Australia - and are not that closely related to the European or North American birds with which they share a common name.

The South Island Robin is a remarkably inquisitive bird, and it will willing investigate soil that has been scuffed with the toe of a boot or scratched with a stick.  Once the soil has been disturbed, the birds will come within a few meters of humans.

Like many birds in NZ (and elsewhere for that matter) their range and abundance have been reduced by habitat damage and the introduction of non-native predators.

These pictures were taken on Stewart Island.

As ever, to join in with WBW click on the link below.  Hope all is well.  SM

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Halls Gap

Just back from a a four day, 50 km walk in the Grampians - in Western Victoria.

The walk was great - if a little hard on the feet, and we were 'blessed' with weather that was just a bit hotter than normal for this time of year.  Pictures from the walk to come soon.

Halls Gap (where the walk ended) seems to have a few amusing signs - which I of course noticed.

It would seem that playing dice with kookaburras is forbidden

When in doubt, advertise the sale of your business on a paper bag!

It's probably best not to write an important word in ink that fades in the sun!

And this is just wrong!

Hope all is well.   SM

Wild Bird Wednesday 644 - Red-Crowned Parakeet

The Red-Crowned Parakeet (Cyanoramphus novaezelandiae) is a locally common New Zealand endemic species. This species is also known as Red-fronted parakeet and by its Māori name of Kākāriki.

These pictures were taken on Stewart Island, and on the predator-free sanctuary island of Tiritiri Matangi, which is an hours boat ride from central Auckland.  (If you ever visit NZ, I can recommend a trip to Tiritiri Matangi.)

This species often feeds low down in trees or on the ground.  The bird on the ground in these pictures was feeding on a bank by the side of a path, so we had excellent views.

These birds are between 25-28 cm long and weigh no more than 80 grams.

As ever, to join in with WBW click on the link below.  Cheers and I hope all is well.  SM

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Wild Bird Wednesday 643

The New Zealand Kākā (Nestor meridionalis) or just Kākā is large forest dwelling parrot that is endemic to New Zealand.  It can be found on North, South and Stewart Island, where it lives in native forests, predator free islands and a number of newly established predator-free sanctuaries.

An example of the predator-free sanctuaries is Zealandia in Wellington.  This sanctuary is based around an old reservoir that once provided drinking water to the city of Wellington.  It is now ring-fenced with a predator-proof fence and the area inside the fence is being regenerated as native forest.  The Kākā in this sanctuary are free flying - and are in fact colonising the surrounding areas outside of the sanctuary.

Most of the pictures here are actually of fully wild birds from South and Stewart Island. 

The Kākā is about 45 cm (18 in) in length and weighs between 390 to 560 g (14 to 20 oz).  The Kākā nests from October to June in cavities in hollow trees, and produces 4 eggs, which normally leads to the fledging of just two young parrots.

Like most (maybe all?) parrots this species is intelligent, and great fun to watch. 

As ever, to join in with WBW click on the link below.  Hope all is well.  SM

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Wild Bird Wednesday 642 - Snowy Albatross / Wandering Albatross

More from my recent trips out to sea from Tasmania this week,

There are a group of Albatross species that are broadly known as The Great Albatrosses. The Great Albatrosses are divided into two species complexes, the 'Wandering and Amsterdam Albatrosses', and the 'Royal Albatrosses'. The splitting of the great albatrosses into six or seven species has been accepted by most, though not all, authorities.

I have to say that the ability of some people to be able to split these species in the field is nothing short of remarkable - although it has to said that readily available images on the back of a camera are of great help.

This week's WBW bird is a Diomedea exulans - which is also know as the Snowy Albatross, the White-Winged Albatross and the Wandering Albatross.

The Snowy Albatross has the longest wingspan of any living bird, reaching upwards of 3.5 m (11 ft), and adults can weigh from 5.9 to 12.7 kg (13 to 28 lb).  They are by any standard a large and impressive bird.  And as they glide in towards the boat - and occasionally settle on the water near it - they are an utter joy to watch.

These birds breed on a small number of sub-antarctic islands, but they can be seen anywhere in the southern oceans that surround Antartica.  By any stretch of the imagination that's a lot water to call home.

I may have said it before and I'll probably say it again, but if you get the chance to see any albatross - take it.

To join in with WBW click on the link below. Hope all is well, SM

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Wild Bird Wednesday 641 - Salvin's Albatross

I was lucky enough to go out on another couple of pelagic birding trips a week ago.  As per usual for me, these went out from Eaglehawk Neck in Tasmania.

This is a Salvin's Albatross (Thalassarche salvini) that we saw in the first trip of the weekend.  This species is part of the Shy Albatross group of birds.  It can be separated from Shy Albatross (Thalassarche cauta) by its pale grey head with a white forehead, its white underwings and the pale or olive-grey bit with a dark tip.

In the field (or on the ocean in this case) the grey head was very noticeable and this was the feature that first alerted us to the birds presence as it flew past.  Somewhat unusually (so I am told) the bird stayed around the boat for a while, rather than just doing a fly past.

This is a Southern Ocean species that breeds on some of New Zealand sub-antarctic islands. 

In some of these picture you can see the bird interacting with a Shy Albatross. 

As ever, to join on with WBW click on the link below.  Hope all is well.  SM

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter