Thursday 13th November 2008

A Selection of New Zealand Birds
We’ve seen a good variety of birds since we arrived, but not been able to photograph or recognise all of them. We do need to buy a book for identification of the more common types though. Incidentally, there are several English favourites, like the sparrow, thrush and blackbird, so we feel “at home”, especially as we eat our breakfast outside and see them hop around on the lawn.

The first is the Indian Myna, apparently introduced about a century ago and the book describes its distribution as common throughout the northern half of North Island. We’ll confirm that! They’re everywhere, including pecking at carrion in the road, where they play “First one to fly off is a coward”! I thought they were related to starlings as they have that bully-boy swagger.


We spotted several Californian Quails in the Quarry Gardens at Whangarei, where they all displayed a mincing run for cover when approached, and also the “feather in the cap”, or what the book describes as a distinct plume.


The Variable Oystercatcher has the beak to do a good job with the shellfish meal. I saw a pair at Urupukapuka Island on the Bay of Islands cruise, the female sitting on the nest while the male faffed around. The ones at Oakura were bashing a few shells on the rocks.
Jean