March 26 – 30, 2013
One of the great things about Great Barrier Island is its birds. Unfortunately the introduction of possums, rats, and weasels has led to the endangerment of many of New Zealand’s native birds. New Zealand is fighting back, trapping and working hard to remove the vermin as best they can from their national parks and forests.
Of course it’s much easier to do this on an island than the mainland; thus many native birds can only be found on offshore islands. Some islands have been completely cleared of vermin and are now bird sanctuaries. A few islands (such as nearby Little Barrier Island) don’t even allow people. Great Barrier Island isn’t completely clear, but it’s clear enough that many endangered birds thrive here.
It was a joy to see flocks of kakas (brown parrots) and kakarikis (green parrots) flying through the tree canopy above us. We also spotted our first New Zealand pigeon (aka wood pigeon), and banded rail (flightless birds the size of a small chicken). The biggest surprise were the regular visits from the brown teals, a beautiful and highly-endangered brown duck. There are less than 1000 of them left, and all of those live on offshore islands. They seem to do well on Great Barrier Island and will happily swim out to boats anchored in Port Fitzroy looking for (and usually getting) treats.
Unfortunately I didn’t get a good snapshot of the kakas or kakarikis, but the wood pigeon, banded rail, and brown teal were friendly and didn’t mind posing for a few snapshots. Our friend Chris on Lady Bug did get some good kaka pictures; so I’ll drop in a link to those. –Cyndi
