Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Among the most musical is the bellbird, common in both native and exotic forests
everywhere except Northland, though like many birds it is more likely to be heard than
seen. Its call is a series of liquid bell notes, most often sounded at dawn or dusk.
The tui, another nectar eater and the country's most beautiful songbird, is a great mim-
ic, with an inventive repertoire that includes clicks, grunts and chuckles. Notable for the
white throat feathers that stand out against its dark plumage, the tui often feeds on flax
flowers in suburban gardens but is most at home in densely tangled forest ('bush' to New
Zealanders).
Fantails are commonly encountered on forest trails, swooping and jinking to catch in-
sects stirred up by passing trampers, while pukeko, elegant swamp-hens with blue
plumage and bright-red beaks, are readily seen along wetland margins and even on the
sides of roads nearby - be warned, they have little road sense.
If you spend any time in the South Island high country, you are likely to come up
against the fearless and inquisitive kea - an uncharacteristically drab green parrot with
bright-red underwings. Kea are common in the car parks of the Fox and Franz Josef Gla-
ciers, where they hang out for food scraps or tear rubber from car windscreens.
Then there is the takahe, a rare flightless bird thought extinct until a small colony was
discovered in 1948, and the equally flightless kiwi, NZ's national emblem and the nick-
name for New Zealanders themselves.
The kiwi has a round body covered in coarse feathers, strong legs and a long, distinct-
ive bill with nostrils at the tip for sniffing out food. It is not easy to find them in the wild,
but they can be seen in simulated environments at excellent nocturnal houses. One of the
best is the Otorohanga Kiwi House, which also has other birds, including native falcons,
moreporks (owls) and weka.
To get a feel for what the bush used to be like, take a trip to Tiritiri Matangi island. This
regenerating island is an open sanctuary and one of the country's most successful exer-
cises in community-assisted conservation.
