Geology | Flora | Fauna | Birds | Marine Mammals

Geology

Gondwana
Southern beech trees (Nothofagus), which also occur in Australia, New Caledonia and South America (and used to be in Antartica), are quite different from the northen hemisphere beeches. The distribution of the southern beeches was a major piece of evidence supporting the concept of continental drift. Beech seeds do not survive in the ocean, are too heavy to spread by wind, and are not carried by birds, so could not have spread between continents. Therefore beech must have spread when the southern continents were joined together as Gondwanaland, 80 million years ago.

Karst landscape
The tablelands of the north-west South Island are a remnant of once extensive sea-level plain which over 45 million years ago stretched across New Zealand. In the last 14 million years the plain has been uplifted. It is made of marble and limestone. Limestone is mostly calcium carbonate, which came from the skeletons or shells of small sea animals which settled on the sea floor millions of years ago, and were compressed to form rock. It is often rich in fossils. Marble is limestone which has been metamorphosed by high temperature or pressure deep within earth's crust into a harder rock. Together limestone and marble constitute 5-10% of the earths surface. Karst is a term for a limestone landscape and comes from a region in Slovenia. Under the eastern flank of the Mt Arthur Range, two very large cave systems have been discovered: Ellis Basin and Nettlebed. The entrance of the Nettlebed was discovered in 1969, and, over the years, 25 kilometres of passages have been mapped by speleologists. From the cave's highest opening (Blizzard Pot) to its lowest level is 889 m, making it New Zealand's deepest cave. Ellis basin cave system is longer, but not quite as deep as Nettlebed, though new sections are still being discovered. Mt Arthur is hard crystalline marble, and nowhere else in New Zealand is there such a complex series of ancient rocks eroded into such distinctively different landscapes. Ice ages carved out cirques high on Mt Arthur. Caves are formed when limestone/marble is dissolved by water. Water with dissolved CO2 is slightly acidic, more so when tannins leached from the forest are in it. It reacts with CaCO3 gradually dissolving it, and carving caves where streams flow through fissures in the rock.

Paparoas
The Paparoa range – a backbone of rugged granite peaks and a lowland belt of limestone, carved by water into canyons, caves, and sinkholes. Sheltered by mountains and nurtured by a warm moist ocean current, this area has a subtropical microclimate with lush vegetation, giving the appearance of tropical rainforest.

Stalagtites
As water dissolves the limestone it becomes saturated with CaCO3. When the saturated solution drips from the roof, any evaporation of the water causes the CaCO3 to precipitate out of solution i.e. it becomes solid again. This can cause a stalagtite to form at the point the water drips from, or a stalagmite to form on the ground where the drop lands. A range of shapes can form by variations of this process: straws, pillars, curtains.

Pancake Rocks
Limestone, formed by sedimentation of shell debris, accumulated and compressed over millions of years, and then uplifted. The sea then forced it’s way under this geological formation, creating surge chambers and blowholes, that can explode with extraordinary power in the right weather conditions. Also wind and waves have sculptured a range of towers, pinnacles and faces in the rock.

Glaciers
Glaciers are rivers of ice which are fed by snowfall at their head, and flow down valleys until they reach a lower altiltude where it is warm enough to melt them. North west winds pick up moisture from the Tasman Sea and bring 15 metres of rain at 1500m, which delivers 45m of snow at 2500m. The accumulation of snow feeds the Fox and Franz Josef glaciers, two of the few in the world which come right down into rain forest. Fox and Franz are special because of the low level snouts and speed of movement. During 1965-67 the glaciers advanced 1-8m a day. The neve is the top part of the glacier, the huge collecting snow-field. New snow compresses the air out of old snow to form firn, which in turn is compressed further into blue ice. Gravity shifts the mass downward, and under the strain crevasses appear, which are the distinctive linear cracks that cross the glacier, especially where the incline increases, or there’s a corner. Where the glacier is squeezed at the narrowest and steepest part of its descent you will see the ice-fall, a mangled bunch-up of crevasses and seracs, isolated pinnacles of ice. Rock that has been crushed and dragged down by the glacier is called moraine. It collects at the sides of the glacier, on the surface, and at the terminal. Often, glaciers have terminal lakes, though this is not the case with the Fox and Franz glaciers, where you can the see the river gushing out from an ice-cave directly under the glacier. The ‘milkiness’ of the river is caused by glacial flour, which is a fine mass of silt and grit eroded by the glacier. Franz Josef Glacier was named after the emperor of Austria by the surveyor/geologist/explorer Julius von Haast. Haast named many mountains after his friends back home. The Maori called it Ka Roimata o Hinehukatere ‘the tears of Hinehukatere’. Fox Glacier has it’s own name, Te Moeka o Tuawe ‘the bed of Tuawe’. There are glaciers on almost every continent of our planet, covering 11% of the land surface and locking up 90% of the above ground freshwater (85% is in Antarctica alone). Only Australia supports no permanent ice today. New Zealand has 3153 glaciers, except for 18 on Mt Ruapehu, all are scattered over the Southern Alps, comprising some 116 sq km of ice.

Fiordland has been shaped by glaciers. This is evident from the shape of the valleys, which are U-shaped meaning they have steep walls and broad flat floors. In contrast, valleys carved by rivers are described as V-shaped. The glaciers in Fiordland were carving these valleys during the last ice age, 20,000 years ago, when the sea level was 100 m lower due to much of the water being locked up in ice. When the climate warmed, the glaciers receded to the mountain tops, leaving deep troughs which filled with water forming the lakes. Also sea levels rose flooding some valleys to form the fiords e.g. Milford Sound. Much of Fiordland is made of very old hard rocks (metamorphic e.g. gneiss; plutonic eg. granite), hardened by pressure and heat beneath the earths crust then uplifted. Thus the steep valley walls cut by the glaciers have been slow to erode further and so remain near-vertical, giving the place its stunning topography.

The Tasman is NZs largest glacier at 28 km long and up to 3 km wide. It once extended another 50km to the end of Lake Pukaki, which filled as the glacier receded. The Tasman glacier is up to 600m deep, and at the snout, still some 200m thick, the ice is 500 - 800 years old. It fell as snow long before Abel Tasman caught the first glimpse of the craggy skyline of the Southern Alps. Most people are rather disappointed at the ‘absence’ of the Tasman glacier. Instead of seeing a splendid vision of a crystal-white river, with ‘icebergs’ calving in a deep blue lake, the visitor sees a huge pile of rubble, finishing in a grubby lake and a thick dirty river. The glacier is there alright, and the rubble is only a metre deep in places, on top of 200m of ice. All glaciers are huge grinding mechanisms, carrying large amounts of mountain debris to the plains. Some of this material is held suspended in the glacier. Because this glacier is receding, the debris is much more evident. The terminal lake of the Tasman Glacier was only a few sinkholes twenty years ago, and a fifty years ago you would have had to walk up from the road to get onto the glacier. The lake is likely to go on increasing in size quite rapidly.

The Hooker and Mueller glaciers illustrate well glacial features such as lateral and terminal moraines, and the terminal lakes created by recession of glaciers. The Hooker river shows the cloudy grey colour imparted by glacial flour, the fine rock dust ground by the glacial movements. This flour at lower concentrations gives lake Pukaki its bright opaque turquoise colour.

Greenstone
Pounamu is a term applied to nephrite, known as jade in other countries, which is found in the Arahura and Wakatipu regions, and in many rivers and beaches between Jackson Bay and Martins Bay, and bowenite (which is a type of serpentine) found at it’s most significant site at Anita Bay in Milford Sound. Bowenite is lighter in colour and called by the Maori ‘tangiwai’ meaning ‘tear water’. The exceptional hardness of greenstone made it highly desirable for weapons of war, and its beauty, desirable for ornaments. One account refers to greenstone as ‘kai kanohi’, ‘food for the eyes’. The Maori recognised several types of greenstone – kahurangi (light coloured), kawakawa (dark coloured), inanga (whitish, sharing the same name as whitebait) and tangiwai (transparent). Only in the South Island could the valued mineral be found, and the most abundant source was in the Arahura and Taramakau valleys. The Maori had regular trails and knowledge of the Haast Pass, Browning Pass, Harper Pass, Whitcombe Pass, and Lewis Pass. Greenstone is not always obvious in it’s natural state, for usually there is an outer rind of rock that could be anything from almost white to deeper browns. The Maori traditionally looked for greenstone when it was wet, after storms or an outgoing tide, when the greenstone was more easily distinguished. Often some of the best greenstone pieces can be found on the coast, as they have survived the natural ‘grinding’ mechanisms of river and shingle. The milky-green inanga was particularly prized by the Maori.

Hot Springs
There are over fifty hot springs or seepages throughout the South Island, mainly associated with the Southern Alps and the Alpine Fault. This fault line is the consequence of the two tectonic plates that New Zealand sits astride, and literally moves mountains, such as the Red Hills; one part is still in South Westland, while the other has been slid up to Nelson. There are two commercial hot springs in the South Island, both on the Lewis Pass road, at Maruia Springs and Hanmer Springs. Natural hot pools contain microorganisms which are adapted to life at high temperatures – they have special heat stable proteins (enzymes) which can carry out the biochemical reactions on which life depends at temperatures which would destroy the proteins of most organisms. Some of the green slime in the pools is an algae called blue green algae (or cyanobacteria) which is the most simple primative type of algae i.e. one of the earliest types of plant which evolved. It can photosynthesize but its cells don’t have nuclei, which is a characteristic of bacteria rather than algae.

Southern lakes
Lakes Wanaka, Hawea and Wakatipu all lie in hollows carved out by glaciers 20,000 years ago, and the surrounding hills shows the rounded forms sculptured by glaciers i.e. hillsides smoothed and contrasting with the jagged peaks above. Look out for roches moutonnees (sheep shaped rocks) isolated rounded hills with a smooth side where the ice rode up and a rougher steeper side where the passing ice plucked out pieces of rock. This area was opened up by gold prospectors in the 1860s, then settled by high country sheep farmers. More recently it has become a popular recreational area with trout fishing and boating on the lakes and rivers, tramping in the mountains, and skiing in winter. Numerous vineyards have sprung up in the last 20 years taking advantage of the hot dry summers, gentle autumn conditions, and plentiful irrigation water.

Landslide
The Green Lake landslide in Fiordland National Park, may be the largest of its type on earth. (Surpassed only by submarine and slow creeping slides). It covers an area of 45 sq.km and the volume of earth that moved was 23 cubic km. The landslide occurred about 12,000 years ago and was probably due to an earthquake. A 9km segment of the Hunter mountains moved 2.5 km laterally and 700m downwards, creating a landslide dam 800m high. It formed an 11 km long lake which has since been filled in by glacial sediment, through which the Grebe river now flows. The debris formed the shelf which now holds Green lake and Island lake.

Tussock basins
On the shelf of landslide debris holding Green Lake and Island Lake are other depressions where tussock grows rather than beech forest. These may be old lake beds which have since silted up and infilled, where beech has not yet had time to establish. But there is another possible reason that beech forest does not grow there. These basins trap cold air forming a temperature inversion, so that although they are below the bushline, it is too cold for beech forest to grow. This is well illustrated by frosty nights spent camping at Green Lake – remember it is warmer camping under the beech trees.

Fossilised forest
The fossil forest at Curio Bay is one of the most extensive and least disturbed in the world and the processes that brought the trees to this state and left them ‘beached’ on the remote and tranquil Catlins coast, were complex, and almost entirely violent. The fossilised forest has a history that goes back to Gondwanaland. This ancient super-continent comprised much of Antarctica, Australia, Africa, India and South America, and existed about 180 million years ago. Curio Bay forest then would have looked similar to New Zealand rainforest today - luxuriant ferns, and trees like kauri and matai. A few dinosaurs, but no birds, and much of modern New Zealand at that time was under water. Volcanic activity repeatedly buried the forest with ash, then new forest grew, and then another reburial. This happened at least four times, and then these sediments were buried deeply and silica minerals invaded the woody tree stumps and quite literally turned them to stone. Finally, the rock was brought to the surface, and eroded by the sea to expose the fossilised tree stumps - a remarkable transformation.

Schist tors
Central Otago is a fragmented schist plateau, characterised by dramatic schist tors. The huge grinding process of weathering does its work unevenly, and some schist rocks are better at resisting than others - hence these columnar tors. Lichens have seized a hold on the rocks with some striking colours, in contrast to the brooding, almost sinister shapes of the tors.

Scree
The Central Southern Alps are made of a rock called greywacke, which weathers quickly. Its numerous cracks and weaknesses take up water, and when this freezes and expands, the rocks are fractured. The result is scree – a slow moving conveyor belt of rock debris. This is a unhospitable environment: unstable and subject to extreme temperatures. The plants which manage to survive on scree often have deep roots which reach down below the layer of mobile rocks into underlying moist sandy soil. The roots store reserves of energy so that if the surface parts of the plant are damaged, new parts can be grown. Colouration may be cryptic (blueish grey) to hide the plant from grazers, and surfaces waxy to prevent dessication.

Volcanic rock
Mount Somers is an old volcanic rhyolite dome, quite distinctive from the greywacke that makes up most of South Canterbury. It is not an actual volcanoe (like Ruapehu) but magma squeezed up through a crack. The hard volcanic rock of Mt. Somers withstood glaciation, and has created an interesting topography with rock outcrops, waterfalls, and narrow gorges.

Canterbury Plains
The largest plains in NZ (300km x 100km). Geologists estimate that less than a million years ago the waters of the Pacific Ocean lapped against the base of the Southern Alps, but slowly, by glaciation, and by the action of the great braided rivers (Waimakariri, Rakaia, Rangitata), the mountains were eroded and the debris in the form of stones and gravel was carried down to the sea. These coarse gravels were deposited at the river mouths in great fan-like deposits, pushing simultaneously seawards and sidewards to eventually join up and form the Canterbury Plains. At the intersections of these deposits, smaller rivers such as the Ashley, Selwyn and Ashburton now flow. Gravel deposits reach depths of up to a kilometre, soil is only 20-25cm, mostly made up of loess (wind blown soil). The Canterbury Plains was covered by totara dominated forest 2000 years ago, then huge fires devastated many trees. After the arrival of the Maori, much of the remaining forest of the Canterbury Plains was burnt, probably to allow bracken, the source of fern root, to establish itself.

Braided rivers
One the most distinctive habitats are braided rivers, huge channels of gravel that carve right across the Canterbury Plains and the MacKenzie Country, swirling with dust when the nor’wester blows. Plants and particularly birds have managed to establish themselves quite successfully in these arid and dynamic areas - over thirty bird species have been identified as using braided rivers, notably of course the wrybill and the black stilt.

Banks Peninsula
Made up of the remants of two basaltic volcanoes, Lyttleton and Akaroa which became extinct about 5.5 million years ago. Until the recent geological past, this area was an island, but was joined to the mainland by the gradual eastward movement of the Canterbury Plains.

Truman Beach
The cliffs are sandstone with sea caves carved in at their bases. The beach is covered in rounded pebbles – all about the same size, but who sorted them so precisely? Particle size on beaches is determined by wave action. Turbulent conditions produce steep shingle beaches, which drain quickly and contain little organic matter, and are too harsh for living creatures. Smaller waves give moderately sloped sandy beaches whose smaller particles hold some water and often have shellfish buried beneath. Calm conditions create mud flats rich in organic matter (organic materials break down into small particles which settle out with fine mud particles) and good at holding water, where snails, crabs and mangroves can survive at the surface.

Flora

New Zealand's native biodiversity includes an estimated 3080 plants! Species introduced from outside New Zealand add to the overall biodiversity, bringing the total to around 6000 plants.

Beech Forest
Beech forests are the most widespread and successful forest type in New Zealand. They occur from almost Auckland to Southland - only Northland and Stewart Island are exempt from their advances. Unlike podocarps which rely on bird dispersal, beech seeds spread by wind so the forest expands more slowly but predictably. There are five beech species in New Zealand. The distribution of the southern beeches was a major piece of evidence supporting the concept of continental drift. Beech seeds do not survive in the ocean, are too heavy to spread by wind, and are not carried by birds, so could not have spread between continents. Therefore beech must have spread when the southern continents were joined together as Gondwanaland, 80 million years ago.

Beech forests show an interesting reproductive strategy: they don’t flower every year but instead they flower and seed prolifically every 3-5 years (usually) following a warm dry summer. In mast years they produce millions of tiny red flowers, and later nuts, which cover the forest floor. This irregular pattern is thought to provide protection from predation. If the nuts were produced every year they would provide a reliable food source for a large population of seed eaters e.g. mice, birds, which would consume most of the seeds. The irregular pattern means that seed eater populations cannot build up too high during the non-mast years, and in mast years hopefully the quantity of seeds produced exceeds the amount which can be eaten. Mast years affect the whole ecosystem: the populations of mice in the forests explode due to the abundant food supply providing abundant food for their predators, weasels and stoats, which also reproduce prolifically. Eventually the food runs out and the mice numbers decline, leaving a surplus of hungry mustelids. These turn to other prey, notably the eggs and chicks of native birds, many of which suffer disastrous losses following mast years.

Beech often has a sooty looking fungus growing on it’s trunk, which grows on the secretions excreted by a scale insect feeding on sap under the bark. You can see the tiny white ‘anal tube’ threads of the insect, and often spot the sweet-tasting drops dangling at the end. Honey-eaters like tui, bellbird and silvereye, enjoy this bounty, as do the bees, which gather the secretions and turn it into what we call ‘honey-dew’, which has itself turned into a useful export crop. Insects that live in the sooty fungus also provide a food source for the birds. You can smell the heady honey-dew scent in season, but unfortunately wasps as well as bees are attracted to it.

Red beech is a handsome tree and likes fertile lowland areas, and has the largest leaves and is spread from East Cape to Southland. It is the tallest of the beech species reaching up to 30m and an age of 400-500 years. It is named both for the colour of the timber and of the young trees in winter which have a reddish tinge. The southern beeches (Nothofagus), which also occur in Australia, New Caledonia and South America (and used to be in Antartica), are quite different from the northen hemispere beeches.

Hard beech is very similar to red, and is the most durable of the beeches and was put to uses from railway sleepers to weatherboards. The silica in the wood blunted saws and chisels so it was never popular with wood-turners.

Silver beech (Tawhai), Nothofagus menziesii, is the most widespread and generally likes drier or higher slopes. It has a parasitic fungi nicknamed ‘beech strawberry’, a cute orange honeycomb ball.

Black beech is similar to mountain beech, but the leaves are generally oval, and mountain beech grows at the highest altitudes and has the smallest leaves, which have a distinct pointy end or ‘peak’ to them.

Bushline
The bushline occurs where mean air temperature for the warmest month is approximately 10 degrees C. i.e it is limited by summer temperatures not winter. Above the bush line the warm weather does not last long enough for new growth to become tough enough to survive the next winter. Silver Beech forms the tree line where limestone present, mountain beech on the cold dry exposed ridges.

Alpine plants
These plants have to cope with extremely cold, windy and dry (when water is frozen) conditions. They generally don’t grow very large due to the limited resouces (energy) available, and growing close to the ground gives some protection from wind and cold. Generally they have small leaves as these are less easily chilled and dried out, and less likely to be damaged by wind and hail. Many are hairy as this prevent air movements over the leaf surface, and therefore protects from cold and dessication. The complexity of landform, underlying geology, slope and aspect, produce a wide variety of micro-climates which in turn affects the vegetation. Over half of New Zealand's 2400 native plants grow in Kahurangi National Park, including 67 species which are found nowhere else. 80% of New Zealand's alpine plants are here because the area escaped the worst of the ice age!

Hebes – a genus with many NZ species characterised by leaves in four rows. Alpine species tend to have smaller leaves.
Mt Cook lily is actually a buttercup (Ranunculus lyallii).
Mountain daisy (Celmisia spectabilis) is a large white daisy - the dried leaves can be smoked and have a beneficial affect on asthma.
Mountain Foxglove (Ourisia) is an asymmetric white flower with yellow middle.
The spaniard, speargrass or taramea (Aciphyll spp.) is memorable due to its needle sharp leaf-tips. There are 40 species, all but one in New Zealand, and most are alpine plants.
Snow totara is a prostrate shrub, an alpine version of the closely related totara tree, and has sweet red edible berries, good food for keas and people.
Snowberry has white flowers and white, pink or red fleshy fruits, also edible.

Tussocks
Tussocks grow very slowly - some plants may be centuries old. They flower every 2-3 years, after a warm summer, as they can’t store enough energy to flower every year. Tough pliable leaves can cope with being snow covered for months – bend rather than break.

Divaricating plants
A feature of New Zealand flora is the number of plants that have divaricating branches i.e. they branch at right angles producing a mass of interlaced stems and twigs, with the small leaves inside. There are around 60 New Zealand species from different families which do this, not common in other countries. This growth pattern may be due to climate – it is most common in dry beech forest and open areas exposed to strong winds, extreme temperatures, and may provide a microclimate within the plant where leaves are protected from cold and dessication. The other possible cause is that this form evolved to protect the plant from browsing by moa, by hiding the leaves away inside the mass of twigs. The habit usually ceases if and when the plant reaches more than 3 metres in height, coincidently the maximum height at which the largest moa could feed. Moa were known to eat these plants, which occur in moa habitats – forest and forest margins. This question is still unresolved.

Kawakawa
Kawakawa (Macropiper excelsum) is easily identified from its attractive heart-shaped leaves, invariably nibbled with small holes — and therein lies a story. Though an inoffensive looking plant, kawakawa is one of the most potent plants in traditional Maori medicine, and modern chemical anaylsis supports much of this usage. Known also as the Pepper Tree, the Maori used the medicinal properties of the leaves and bark for treating cuts and stomach aches and a pulp from the leaves helped ease rheumatism. Chewing the leaves also helped to alleviate toothache. Both leaves and bark and fruit used as aphrodisiacs, having a stimulating effect on the body organs. It is related to kava. Knowledgeable New Zealand campers toss some of the leaves on their campfires, the acrid smoke repels mozzies and sandflies. Often the leaves were burnt near kumara crops because the acrid smoke discouraged most insect pests, but one insect, the brown looper caterpillar has built up an immunity to the toxins in the leaves and munches away contentedly. So much so that it is hard to find an unbitten kawakawa leaf.

Rangiora
Bushman's friend (Brachyglottis repanda), the soft underside of the leaf makes it good toilet paper if you are caught short in the bush. It is a small, bushy tree or tall shrub endemic to New Zealand. It grows to a height of 5 to 7 metres. It was also used as note paper in early days of New Zealand, and Maori used the large leaves for wrapping food for the hangi. The leaves are antiseptic and were also used to cover wounds and sores. Maori used the leaves as a type of chewing gum, but it has since been found to contain an unknown poison, so not recommended.

Flax
Harakeke (Phormium tenax and Phormium cookianum) is a distinctive coastal plant, preferring wettish ground, but will grow just about anywhere. Its familiar 3m leaves and stiff red-petalled stalk have become common sights in suburban gardens. Nectar feeders such as tui, bellbird and silvereye, love the sweet juice and act as pollinators for the plant. There are two species of native flax, but many varieties. Some types of flax were used for rope-making throughout the country by the Europeans, but the uses that the Maori put this plant to were wide-ranging and ingenious. They made rope, and used thinner fibres as a sort of universal ‘string’. Flax sandals called ‘parara’ were made for travelling, and ‘kawa’ was the name given for the flax pack-straps. The dry flax stalks were bundled together to make rafts or ‘mokihi’, and the broad flax leaves were entwined to make a base for making bread. The leaves could also be used for cooking food in.

Rainforest
The high species diversity characteristic of rainforest: trees include podocarps, rata and kamahi, nikau palm, tree ferns with numerous smaller plants, ferns, mosses and epiphytes. Larger trees may be covered with 20 or more other species.

Podocarps
Podocarps are a southern hemisphere family of trees, which dominated the forests 100 million years ago when the southern continents were joined as Gondwanaland. They are conifers i.e. have cones instead of flowers, and are more ancient than the flowering plants which are now the dominant type (e.g. beech). Podocarps do not have typical cones, but bear their seeds on a fleshy stalk or fruit, which is edible. Birds eat these fruits and aid in the dispersal of the seeds. The podocarps flourished more in New Zealand than anywhere else, and there are now 17 species. Of these five are the forest giants: rimu, miro, matai, totara and kahikatea, while the other 12 are smaller plants. The five giants grow to 30-50m high, often emerging above the forest canopy, and may live to 800 years old. They yield good durable timber and were logged extensively.

Rimu (red pine), Dacrydium cupressinum, is most easily distinguished by its drooping foliage and brown trunk. The timber is highly valued for beautiful furniture but it looks much better in a forest than in a house. Captain Cook used it to make a nutritious and tasty beer: rimu and manuka branches were boiled together for 3 hours, strained, molasses was added and boiled, then the liquid was cooled and yeast added to ferment it.

Miro, Prumnopitys ferruginea has grey hammered bark and red berries of which kereru (pigeon) may eat so many that they can hardly fly. The Maori used it medicinally – the oil from the berries to treat fever and the gum to stop bleeding of wounds, and as an insecticide.

Matai (black pine), Prumnopitys taxifolia, has foliage and bark similar to miro, but has purple berries eaten by kereru, kaka, and Maori. The juvenile form is divaricating. Sap tapped from the heart of matai was known as matai beer – a refreshing drink believed to aid recovery from tuberculosis.

Kahikatea (white pine), Dacrycarpus dacrydioides, is the tallest native tree, reaching 60m and may live more than 500 years. It is one of the podocarps, in fact the most ancient one in NZ: its pollen from 160 million years ago has been found so it lived with the dinosaurs. It lives in swampy lowlands and on the flood plains of rivers. In NZs early days, it was valued for its pale, odourless, resin free timber which was ideal for making boxes for exporting butter and cheese without them being tainted.

Totara, Podocarpus totara, was a favourite tree of the Maori who would choose one of the biggest to make a waka (war canoe) large enough to hold 100 warriors from a single trunk. They also used totara for building and carving, harvested the berries, and boiled the bark to make an extract for treating fever, skin conditions and piles. The timber is resistant to rot and Europeans used it for fence posts, door steps, window frames and telephone poles.

Epiphytes
Epiphytes and vines are both characteristic of rainforests. Both gain access to the canopy and therefore to sunshine by growing on other plants, instead of growing their own trunk. Vines germinate on the ground and climb up trees, e.g. climbing rata (Metrosiderous robusta), supplejack (Rhipogonum scandens). Epiphytes germinate on their host plant (epiphyte means “on plant”) and must catch and hold water and organic debris as they have no access to soil. (These are not parasites as they take nothing from the host but just get a place to live.) e.g. mosses, lichens, ferns, astelias (perching lilies), orchids, broadleaf. Kamahi (a broadleaf tree, Weinmannia racemosa) often begins as an epiphyte on a tree fern, but sends roots downwards as it grows into a free-standing tree.

Rata
Ratas (Metrosideros robusta (Northern Rata), M. umbellata (Southern Rata)) may be trees or vines depending on the species, best known for covering hillsides with a brilliant display of red flowers around Christmas. Northern rata (North Island and south to Westland) begins life as an epiphyte, on a large tree like rimu, and grows roots down to the ground, which thicken and become a trunk, eventually replacing the host as it grows into a huge tree. Southern rata (both islands except Northland) germinates on the ground and grows as a shapely tree (to 15m). Both have brilliant red flowers and are an important source of nectar for tui and bellbird. Several species of climbing ratas grow as vines, climbing up host trees. They are distinguished by their flowers (red, orange, or white) and leaf size and shape. Pohutakawa is in same genus (Metrosideros) which means iron wood.

Supplejack
A tangle of dark twining stems providing a trap for trampers who venture off the track. As they grow, they spiral anticlockwise, and coil around any stems or branches they encounter, thus making their way up into the canopy. The flesh of the red berries is edible but rather bland, and there are often not many due to the 1-2 large seeds within. The tender young shoots make a refreshing snack and are said to cure scabies (Maori medicine).

Easter orchid
One of the epiphytic perching orchids, Earina autumnalis, has a spray of tiny cream flowers and distinctive sweet, generally pleasant scent which is often compared to vanilla in nature. They are often smelled before they are seen.

Nikau palm
The only palm tree found on the mainland of New Zealand, Rhopalostylis sapida, and a reminder of this country’s more tropical neighbours. It is the southernmost member of the palm family. Usually about 10m tall, with a tuft of leaves reminiscent of a feather duster, the name Nikau means 'many leaves on the same stalk'. The fruits are enjoyed by the native birds, particularly the wood pigeon. The immature flower is edible, cooked and eaten like cauliflower. The green berries are also good eating, but not so good when ripe. The heart of the developing leaves is tasty too but taking it kills the plant – they are known as millionaires salad. The Maori wrapped food in nikau leaves before cooking it, and the large leaves were also used for baskets, floor huts and thatching for huts.

Kiekie
Freycinetia banksii, a scrambling climber forming a mass of sword-like leaves over tree trunks. Starting as a small shrub it rapidly develops a climbing mode, covering fallen trees, rocks and other low to medium level features of the bush. The leaves were used by the Maori for mats and baskets, and the extracted fibre for making rain capes and fish traps. The fruit is said to be the finest fruit in the forest. The large (70-150 mm) green fruits are slightly tinged with yellow or pink when fully ripe, and also a favourite of rats and mice.

Manuka
Leptospermum scoparium, one of the most wide-spread tree-shrubs in New Zealand, and for long time, one of the most disliked. Settlers battled hard to clear their land, and manuka was regarded as an invasive shrub that undid all their hard work. Times have changed and the list of beneficial qualities of manuka now far outweigh its disadvantage. Manuka often acts as a ground cover for other native seedlings, breaking in the exposed ground. It has sweet-smelling flowers that produced nectar and make a fine honey. The medicinal and antiseptic qualities of manuka oil are being steadily exploited and already there is a line of pharmaceutical creams and ointments. And the manuka burns with such a sweet fierceness that people are starting to plant manuka as future firewood lots. And you can always try throwing a handful of fresh leaves into a boiling billy and drinking the ‘tea’, Captain Cook did — hence the name ‘tea tree’. Some parakeets chew the plant oils and mix it with preen gland oil to apply to their feathers.

Cabbage tree
A distinctive plant which was highly prized by the Maori for its many uses. The roots, stem and leaf buds provided food, drink and chewing gum, with the cooked shoots being eaten as a vegetable (with a high carbohydrate content, and said to taste like artichoke) hence the name cabbage tree. The leaves were used to make kete, ropes, sandals, capes, snares and thatching. The plant provided medicines for colic, dysentary and diarrhea. The trees were grown as signposts: track markers through swamps, river crossings, burial grounds. After the birth of a baby, the placenta was buried under a special cabbage tree, symbolically linking the people to the land.

Cushion plants
Grow in closely packed form which traps warm air and moisture, and protects them from wind and movements of snow down a slope. They have wiry, tough branches, with densely packed leaves at the tip to reduce wind battering, fleshy or hairy leaves that trap moisture and slow evaporation, and an internal self-mulching network of dead leaves and branches. Vegetable Sheep is a curious cushion plant earns it’s name from some of the larger specimens, that from a distance an exhausted musterer mistook for the woolly humps of his stray sheep. Here the vegetable sheep are quite small, and survive amongst a number of different cushion plants.

Sphagnum Moss
An interesting example of a plant, once formally thought useless, and now so highly valued that there have been some instances of ‘sphagnum poachers’! The qualities that make sphagnum so valuable is its ability to absorb up to 20 times it’s own weight of water. This makes it ideal as a potting medium, particularly for the Japanese orchid market, and exports to Japan total 700 tonnes a year or more - ten million dollars at least. Because sphagnum moss is also sterile, and harbours no bacteria, it was partly used for bandages in the First World War, and has now found a modern use in sanitary pads. Sphagnum has no root system, and can be easily picked. There are a number of sphagnum species, and texture and colour can vary widely. Also has an important role in nature, by absorbing rain water it slows the runoff and reduces damage by flooding and erosion.

Ferns
NZ has a large diversity of ferns, primitive plants which generally prefer damp environments. Ferns have a two stage lifestyle: they produce spores on the backs or edges of the leaves, which germinate on the ground producing heart-shaped prothalli (very small). These produce eggs and sperm, which after fertilization, grow into a new fern plant. Eg, filmy ferns, are only one cell layer thick, beautiful in the sunlight. Eg, crown fern (piupiu, Blechmun discolor).

Tautuku Forest
Tautuku Forest Reserve is 550 hectares of virgin rain forest, and shows the high species diversity characteristic of rain forest: trees include podocarps, silver beech, rata and kamahi, with numerous smaller plants, ferns, mosses and epiphytes. The forest is separated from the long golden beach by a narrow band of scrub and sand dunes – with the native pingao (orange and green leaves) and intoduced invader marram grass.

Hieracium
( hawkweed) A ground-hugging plant, that fills up spaces unoccupied by tussocks or grass, and is unpalatable to stock. It is a vigorous grower and has spread widely in the Mackenzie area, usually in a partnership with the rabbits, which eat the grass and leave the area free for Hieracium to invade. It has now become a serious pest. Curiously, Hieracium seed has been exported to Germany, for use as a plant along the banks of the autobahns.

Mistletoe
Like the pohutukawa and rata, the mistletoe (pirita) is a ‘Christmas’ plant, flowering in a red outburst of colour amongst the drabber silver beech which is its common host. The mistletoe is a hemi-parasite (a part parasite), as it photosynthesises it’s own ‘food’, but extracts minerals and water from the beech tree, as well as grabbing a vantage point. Unfortunately, because the possum seems to be particularly fond of the mistletoe, this attractive plant will be an increasingly rare sight in the future. In season there can be an amazing display of mistletoe up the Ohau valley.

Fauna

Wasps
New Zealand has several types of wasps. It’s own native species go relatively unnoticed, but the introduced German Wasp and Common Wasp, are much more aggressive. These wasps are ferocious and highly competitive invertebrates, attacking almost any insect, chicks in nests, and of course, humans. In some areas, where the honey dew in the beech forest is a major attraction, the wasps once reached almost plague proportions with an enormous adverse effect on the native bird and insect populations, effects that are not yet easily measured or understood. The Common Wasp queen usually hibernates in winter, then lays worker eggs, which feed her as she lays new queen eggs and drone eggs. These hatch and mate and the new queens form nests of their own. A wasp nest is usually about 400-500 wasps in number. Cold conditions usually kill off all except the queen, though in warmer areas, the nest survives and can grow to an abnormal size. Humans have introduced natural parasites that live on wasp nests, but this process is slow.

Powelliphanta
Giant carnivorous land snails, feed on worms, slugs and smaller snails. They are ancient organisms, originating 235 million years ago. Isolated populations have evolved into numerous species, producing a variety of beautiful forms. They can live for 20 years if not eaten by possums or wekas.

Glow worms
These have the most efficient method of producing light known to man, something like 99% energy transfer. Glow-worms are the carnivorous larvae of a gnat, transparent, living in a small tube from which are hung sticky, silky threads which trap their prey - which is mainly midges. The midges are attracted to the luminescence, which has been calculated at one nanowatt (one thousandth of a millionth of a watt). The actual cause of the ‘glow’ is the oxidisation of a chemical called luciferin, present in the glow-worm. The male shines with a blue-green light, the female is more reddish. The hungrier they are the more they glow! Before emerging as a flying gnat, the female larvae pulls in the loose threads (to avoid trapping herself when she exits) and suspended from one single thread emits a strong pulsing light which attracts the males. She is immediately mated on exit and has a one to three days existence to lay her eggs to continue the cycle. Male sometimes flies into the web of larvae in search of female. Not total loss as energy transferred to larvae.

Weta
49 species of cave wetas endemic to NZ, distinguished from other wetas by their exceptionally long antennae, small body, and long prickly legs. Known to eat decaying vegatable matter, and live plant material, or they are cannibalistic. Live in caves or under logs and often come out at night to browse on the forest floor. Wetas are insects found only in NZ and are ancient creatures, virtually unchanged since 190 mya. They belong to the same order as crickets and grasshoppers, and like them having distinctive large back legs. However, like several other NZ species, the weta has become large and flightless, and it has adopted the lifestyle of a nocturnal rodent. The largest wetas are the giant wetas, which are among the largest insects in the world. The most common are the tree wetas, seen in gardens, stacks of firewood, gumboots, and any damp dark places.

Long Tailed Bats
(Pekapeka) have been the subject of an extensive and ongoing study in the Eglinton and Hollyford valleys. These bats are born fliers, much more so than their rarer cousins, the short-tailed bats. The long-tails have a body about the size of a human thumb, weigh about 7-12 grams, with a wingspan up to 20 centimetres long. Their age is still something of a mystery, but they mostly feed on insects, and live both in small colonies and in individual roosts, usually preferring old established trees. They are most active in the warmer summer months, particularly when insects abound. At cold temperatures they stay inactive (torpid), though whether they actually hibernate is not really known. The long-tailed bat is the commoner of the two bat species, and has been reported from a wide number of sites around New Zealand, from Northland to Stewart Island. It seems to be suffering a decline, perhaps through predation or habitat loss, and in some places where it has been recorded regularly before, such as Banks Peninsula, there have been no recent sightings at all. The best time to see the long-tails is at dusk, and Lake Gunn is a place where they are frequently seen, flitting like nervous, turbo-propelled ‘swallows’, except there are no swallows in the Eglinton or Hollyford Valleys. So if you’ve seen a ‘swallow’, you’ve seen a bat.

Skinks
If you see a flash of black and gold colour on a rock then you might have seen a skink. The Otago skink and grand skink (both measuring about 30 cm) inhabit the rock crevices in the schist outcrops and tors, and both are jet black with yellow and gold markings, which acts as an excellent camouflage in the lichen covered rocks. Grand skinks are more active and alert than the more sedate Otago skink, which likes to bask in family groups within easy reach of a safe crevice.

Black Ringlet
The black ringlet butterfly has dark brown to satiny black wings with small white dots, and it lays it’s eggs on the underside of rocks rather than on vegetation, perhaps because the warmth from the rocks speeds up the development of the eggs. It thrives in harsh alpine environments, and can survive on the bare glacial moraine of a great glacier like the Tasman.

Whitebait
Whitebait are the juveniles of 5 species of freshwater fish called galaxiids. The most common is inanga – these only live for one year and spend half their time at sea, half in rivers. The eggs are laid and fertilised on plants in damp areas beside rivers, when these plants are flooded by high spring tides. The eggs develop there until the next spring tide when the larvae hatch and swim down to the sea where they live for 6 months. Then they return as whitebait, swimming up rivers in large numbers, at which time people fish for them using large nets. Those that elude the nets live up river until spawning time, when as adults they swim down until they meet the high spring tide, then swim into the flooded riverside vegetation to lay their eggs. Another species, the giant kokopu, can live for 20 years. The West Coast has most whitebait as it has the least modified rivers and estuaries. They are threatened by habitat loss, overfishing, and predation by introduced trout. The crucial connection of estuaries and wetlands to whitebait breeding areas is only now generally appreciated, and the days when early travellers reported their dogs lapping out the whitebait have gone. Destruction of the habitat by drainage and irrigation have ironically seen whitebait become a treasured resource, where the high excitement of the first whitebait catches of the season are matched by the high prices in town. To think once it was dumped as fertiliser!

Birds

Rifleman
(titipounamu = ‘iti’ small, ‘pounamu’ greenstone) ‘little piece of greenstone’ might be one translation. It is one of two New Zealand wrens. The name rifleman also refers to its colour – military uniform. They are insect eaters, foraging on tree trunks and picking insects from the surface or from cracks. The male is the smallest bird in New Zealand, at only 6 grams. He feeds the female while courting and helps with incubation of the egg, which is laid in a nest in a hole or crevive in a tree. The female lays an egg mass (3-5 eggs) which weighs 84% of her body weight. The high pitched ‘zip zip’ of riflemen is above the hearing range of older people.

Rock Wrens
Rock wren, NZ’s only completely alpine bird which lives above the bushline all year round and lives under the snow in the winter (may see one at Mt. Cook). An alpine bird seen in the South Island mountains, identified by its big feet for hopping around on rocks, and bobbing movement. Is a weak flier, feeding on insects and fruit, and hiding in rock crevices to survive winter at high altitude. Stephens Island wren (Cook Strait) is an extinct relative. It was flightless and was observed by the lighthouse keeper whose cat kept bringing in small corpses. The keeper sent a few samples to scientists, but by the time the scientists realised the bird was unique they had all been killed by the efficient cat! The Stephens Island wren scurried through undergrowth and occupied the niche normally filled by mice, and this mammal-bird switch is common throughout NZ where bats are the only two native mammals. For instance the moa occupied the browsing niche normally taken by larger herbivores like deer.

Blue Ducks
One of four species of torrent duck in the world, they live in fast flowing mountain and bush rivers, and have strong webbed feet which allow them to maneuver in powerful river currents. They feed on insect larvae scraped from the surface of stones on the riverbed, and have a bill shaped for this mode of feeding, with the upper part overhanging the lower. The Maori name whio is their call. They are strongly territorial and mate for life. Populations have diminished due to predation and habitat destruction. Apparently there are 8 pairs in Flora stream. The Maori name ‘whio’ is aptly derived from the male bird’s distinctive whistle, to which the female usually replies with her equally distinctive grunt. Blue ducks are river specialists, they live mostly in fast-flowing waters (usually seen in pairs), and they have a dislike of flying, and try to avoid predator disturbances by using the currents and pools of the river, swimming seems a too inelegant a term for this sharp and graceful evasion practice. They live on insect larvae and forage amongst the stones. Pairs establish clear territories, about 1 km long. It’s believed that they only reluctantly fly between catchments and so are slow to establish themselves elsewhere once driven out of an area. Habitat changes, as well as introduced predators, have seen blue ducks decline in numbers, although their love of wilderness regions with fast-flowing rivers, hardly encourages frequent sightings. They nest in July-August and the chicks are independent after six months. An established pair can expect to live for around seven years.

Morepork/ruru
The native owl which feeds on a range of insects and wetas and small birds and mice, and has coped well with human arrival due to the mice. Lives in native and pine forests and is nocturnal. It’s peaceful evening call, is supposed to sound like ‘more pork’, but it also has a common short screech call which is very often heard and frequently puzzles people. If the Maori saw it flying along a path , they believed it was there as a protector, but if it was perched in a prominent place or entered a house it signified imminant death. There is another owl, the little owl, which came from Germany.

Moas
Moas were ratites, flightless birds, like the kiwi. There were eleven species of moa, living in a wide range of habitats including grasslands, forests and the sub-alpine environment. Because of the absence of any large browsing mammals in New Zealand, moas seemed to occupy this niche, with some species growing to a considerable size, up to 2 metres, and weighting up to 250 kilograms. However other ‘bush’ and ‘alpine’ moas were much smaller, weighing around 15-20 kilograms, and in size more like turkey’s or swans. Early collectors gave their moa ‘finds’ great elongated necks, like a giraffe, but the evidence now suggests the moa’s ‘snake-like’ head kept approximately in line with it’s body. An extinct giant eagle (with a wingspan of 3 metres) preyed on the moa, but it was the arrival of the Maori that destroyed the big birds. The discovery of moa remains with Maori remains on the Wairau Bar in 1939, helped to establish the idea of the ‘moa-hunter’ culture. Fire spread by humans eliminated huge habitat areas for the moa, and the birds were obviously a valuable food source. By the 17th century, about 700 years after the first Polynesians arrived, the moa were all but extinct. There is a Maori lament and saying ‘Ka ngaro i te ngaro a te moa’ ‘lost as the moa is lost’.

Weka
The European pioneers knew this inquisitive and flightless rail as ‘woodhen’, and praised it for it’s eating qualities, and condemned it for it’s thieving. An aggressive, curious nature has enabled the weka to cope with humans and their introduced predators, indeed almost to thrive in semi-urban areas. There are several sub-species of wekas, the Chatham Island version is so common it is considered a pest. Wekas eat anything: berries, insects, lizards, mice, rats, young rabbits, shellfish, grasses, seeds, vegetable crops, snails and the eggs and young of other birds. They even eat their own dead!

Little Blue Penguin
(korara) is the smallest of all penguins and the most common in NZ, found all around the coastline as well as in Australia where it is known as the fairy penguin. It nests in caves, rock cavities, also up in coastal scrub or forest. Has been known to nest under houses which is a problem for the owners, as the penguins are very noisy in the breeding season. Are preyed on by stoats and dogs, and as they sometimes cross coastal roads to reach nesting sites they are also killed by vehicles.

White Heron
(kotuku) The Maoris used the nuptial plumes of the kotuku to adorn the heads of their chieftains and were worn at special ceremonies. When a chief was wearing this feather women were not allowed to sit down in his presence. Captured birds were kept in cages and plucked at intervals. In Maori oratory, the most exquisite compliment is to liken someone to the kotuku. It symbolizes everything rare and beautiful. NZ's only breeding colony is in kahikatea forest besides the Waitangiroto river near Okarito where white herons nest and associate with spoonbills and shags. It was declared a fauna and flora reserve in 1941 and is closely patrolled in the breeding season. Elaborate courtship rituals in August, lay eggs Sept/Oct, preen each other and intertwine necks. Nests are made at heights of 3 to 13m above water in kamihis, kowhais and crowns of tree ferns, incubation shared, 25 days. Young clamber from the nest at 3 weeks and fledge after another 3 weeks, and breeding season over end December, all birds disperse in January. Diet is mainly small fish and eels, frogs and tadpoles, insect larvae and shrimps make up the main diet, but sometimes spear mice and birds such as ducklings, chickens and silver eyes and small kingfishers. Their breeding season coincides with the up stream migration of whitebait.

White-faced heron
Arrived naturally from Australia, but breeding was not confirmed in NZ until 1941. In the early 1960s numbers of the species exploded and it is now the most common heron in NZ. The key to its success is its wide choice of diet and its ability to exploit most kinds of wetlands. Feeds substantially on crustaceans, worms, spiders, molluscs, insects and vege matter. Foot raking is characteristic hunting method. Nest in tall trees, especially the crowns, near water.

Black swans
Largest population in the world on Lake Ellesmere (80,000) a pest to farmer, graze their land and also fly into power/telephone lines.

Shags
Named shags for the tuft-like crest on the head, also known as cormorants. They have a distinctive habit of perching with their wings stretched out to dry. When they dive for food (fish and eels), their wings become waterlogged, a feature which makes it easier for them to dive. However, they can’t fly well with wet wings so must dry them. NZ has 12 species.

Spoonbill
Named for the large spatula-like bill, which it sweeps through shallow water to catch aquatic insects, fish, frogs – this is done by touch so it can feed as easily at night. A large white bird, they can be distinguished from kotuku be hanging out in flocks, while kotuku are usually solitary or in pairs. They nest in kahikatea and breeding time coincides with whitebait migration. Self-introduced from Australia in 1860s.

Godwit
A migratory bird which breeds in Siberia, and flies here via East Asia to spend the summer feeding on mudflats and estuaries, storing energy for the return journey. The journey consists of two 5000 km legs, with a 3 week break for feeding en route. The male plumage changes from dull white to brick red in January, so they are looking good for the breeding season.

Fernbird
A small brown bird with a long scraggly tail, which lives in swamps, scrub and pine forest. It is a weak flyer, incapable of more than 100m, and scurries through scrub, rustling like a rat, in search of the insects it feeds on. Threatened by habitat loss due to drainage of swamps.

Tui
The parson bird, so named for the tuft of white feathers at its throat. A brillaint songbird and clever mimic – can mimic other birds and even people and cats. The female sings while on the nest which is unusual for birds. Often seen perching on the flower spikes of flax, dipping their beaks into flowers to obtain nectar. They also eat insect and seeds, and have an important role in pollination and seed dispersal. The wings make a distinctive whirring sound when flying. Closely related to bellbirds.

Bellbirds
Best known for their outstanding song, described by James Cook as being “like small bells exquisitely tuned”. Their main food source is nectar, and honey dew where it is present, but they also eat berries and insects. They have a slender curved bill for dipping into flowers, and a brush-tipped tongue for lapping up nectar. While moving from flower to flower to gather nectar, they perform the important role transferring pollin between flowers, generally these are plants with larger colourful flowers eg. flax, mistletoe, rata, kowhai.

Kiwi
There are several species of kiwi, the great spotted kiwi (or roa) in the north west of the South Island, the little spotted kiwi in Kapiti Island and other small islands, and the brown kiwi from Northland to Stewart Island. However recently the brown kiwi has been divided into two groups, the name ‘brown kiwi’ has been retained for the bird between Northland to Okarito, but south of Okarito, and including Fiordland and Stewart Island, the kiwi will be known as the ‘tokoeka’. New Zealand’s national bird, the kiwi has many unusual features. It is a member of the ‘rattite’ family, which includes the much larger emu, ostrich and the extinct NZ moa. Rattites are distinguished by the structure of their breastbone which lacks the ridge other birds have for attachment of flight muscles. It is flightless, and has tiny remnant wings ending in a claw. Most birds thought to have little or no sense of smell, but in the kiwi it is very advanced. They are the only birds with external nostrils at the tip of the bill. Its nostrils are at the tip of its beak and its finds food by probing the soil for worms and insects. There are several reports of kiwis in captivity sniffing their daily ration and refusing to eat it if it were not prepared by their usual keeper. Usually the kiwi is nocturnal, and is far more frequently heard than seen, but Stewart Island kiwi often forage in daylight hours. This behaviour is not entirely understood, but has been attributed to the need for the bird to forage longer on poorer food supplies in order to reach breeding condition. The eggs, especially in the little spotted kiwi, are proportionately larger relative to the size of the female, than the eggs of any other birds and they contain the largest proportion of yolk. The embryo lacks an egg tooth instead hatches by breaking the shell with its feet. The female kiwi takes no further interest after she has laid her egg, the male is left to carry out the long incubation of about 11 weeks entirely on his own. Kiwis are omnivorous, and they will eat anything, including earthworms, freshwater crayfish, berries, seeds, snails, slugs, spiders and grasses. During 1860s prospectors and bushman hunted kiwi because of its gamey flavour, however the greatest numbers were slaughtered between 1860 and 1890 to make feather trimmings and kiwi skin muffs for London fashion houses. One hunter on the west coast killed more than 2200 kiwis before 1871. They are absolutely protected, though their numbers still appear to be declining, due mainly to predation from dogs and traps set for possums.

Fiordland is also home to one of the four species of kiwi, the tokoeka which also occurs at Haast and on Stewart Island. It is unusual in having several characteristics more like mammals than birds i.e. bones containing marrow instead of hollow; two functional ovaries instead of one; and a lower body temp than birds. Kiwi numbers have been reduced by predators (dogs, cats, pigs, stoats, ferrets, possums, humans). The adults can fight off some of these predators with their strong legs and sharp claws, but the juveniles and eggs are at risk. Efforts to protect kiwis involve predator control and raising chicks in captivity to be released when big enough to have a better chance of surviving.

Cuckoos
The shining and longtailed cuckoos are both migratory birds which arrive in NZ to breed in spring. Both are typical cuckoos in that they lay their eggs in another birds nest, often removing one of the hosts eggs so the number remains the same, and let the host do the work of rearing their young. The cuckoo chicks hatch early and push the other eggs or chicks out of the nest so they get all the food brought by the foster parents. The shining cuckoo migrates 6000 km to islands in the Western Pacific, which is a remarkable effort for a land bird, though it may stop off on islands or Australia on the way. Unfortunately deforestation is reducing its habitat in those areas. In NZ it is doing well as its host, the grey warbler, is common throughout the country. Shining cuckoos feed on caterpillars and small beetles, and have a distinctive call comprising a series of ascending notes, sometimes followed by one or two descending. The long tailed cuckoo spends the winter in a range of pacific islands, where it is also losing habitat to logging. It parasitises the nests of whiteheads, yellowheads and brown creepers. It is easy to identify in flight due to its long tail, and its call is a harsh shriek. It eats insects including wetas, stick insects, and cicadas, and will rob nests of eggs and chicks.

Paradise Ducks
Paradise shelduck lives in South Island highcountry rivers and lakes, and North Island pastureland. They are usually seen in pairs, the female with a distinctive white head and chestnut body, male grey with a black head. They fly together, with the females, "zeek zeek", call alternating with the males, "zonk zonk". They pair for life but usually only live 2-3 years. Maoris used to take 1000s during their moulting period when they loose their flight feathers and are unable to fly. They graze on clover and other shoots.

Fiordland Crested Penguin
The word ‘penguin’ comes from the Welsh ‘pen gwyn’ or ‘white head’, and it is sometimes hard to think of penguins as birds. Their wings have become rigid flippers, their sleek glossy feathers are waterproof and they have thick layers of fat over their streamlined bodies, all of which aid survival in cold waters. The Fiordland Crested Penguin (tawaki) is one of the world’s rarest birds, and are strikingly attractive, with red beaks and a prominent yellow flash above the eye which ends in a noticeable tuft. They inhabit the coasts of Fiordland and south Westland as well as Stewart and other Islands. In June the penguins will climb several hundred feet up thick bush slopes to find a suitable nesting spot, under a fallen log for example, and return to the same place year after year. They do not breed until 5 years old, once pairs established stay together for life. The male fasts while he guards the nestling while the female feeds it on crustaceans and cephalopods. At 3 weeks the chick joins a creche of other chicks and the young birds fledge at about 75 days old towards the end of November, when they leave the breeding sites. Penguin populations are threatened by stoats, dogs, wekas and human interference, and can also suffer losses due to Fiordlands heavy rainfall washing nests away.

Takahe
The Murchison mountains, visible across lake Te Anau, are the home of the takahe. This is a large flightless bird, once widespread in NZ but later thought to be extinct for 50 years until rediscovered in 1948 by Geoffrey Orbell. The bird is a striking blue green in colour with red beak, looking much like the pukeko but larger and more solid in build. Its problem is that it feeds on tussock, which isn’t a very nutritous food, and therefore it must consume a lot. However since deer were introduced the takahe has been in decline as deer also feed on tussock and outcompete the takahe. Predation by stoats has also contributed to their decline. Efforts have been made to save the takahe. Since the mid 1950s deer have been culled and fertiliser applied to help the tussock recover. But by 1981 only 120 takahe were left so a captive breeding programme was started at Burwood Bush, near Te Anau. In this programme, the eggs are hatched and the chicks fed using hand puppets that look like adult takahe, so that the chicks know who they are. They are later released into the wild. An extra step to help them survive is aversion therapy. The chicks are entertained with a puppet show in which a stoat puppet beats up a takahe puppet, and from this the chicks learn to hide from stoat puppets. Hopefully they hide from real stoats as well.

Kakapo
Fiordland was, until recently, also the home of another very rare bird, the kakapo. The kakapo is another large flightless bird, a big fat green parrot. It is the worlds largest parrot, weighing in at over 3 kg, and is nocturnal, hence its name which means night parrot. It’s a vegetarian and can climb trees very well. Its problem was predation by humans, dogs, cats, stoats and rats, and also deer and possums eating its food.. Kakapo were a very conveniant food source for early NZ explorers, one of whom, Charlie Douglas, talked of shaking them out of the trees like apples. The last two natural populations were in Fiordland and on Stewart island, but were declining so quickly (down to 54 individuals) that they were removed to smaller predator-free islands. They usually only breed in years when the fruits they feed on are abundant, so now they are being given supplementary food to try to get them to breed more often and more successfully.

Crested Grebe
This Australian immigrant is NZs rarest waterfowl, with a population of 250 living in the South Islands mountain lakes. They are completely aquatic: the legs are positioned so far back on the body that they cannot stand or walk, so remain in the water except when nesting. Nests are built so low the grebes can swim on to them, but unfortunately they sometimes get swamped by waves. Young are often carried on the adults backs.

Tomtit
Petroica macrocephala A member of the robin family, the male has distinctive black and white (sometimes yellowish) colouring, the female less striking brown and white. They eat insects and can spot them up to 12 m away, consequently the Maori used to say someone with good vision had “tomtits eyes”. May have 3 clutches of eggs per year, the male feeds the first while the female starts on the second. This enthusiastic parenting is perhaps what made tomtits good foster parents for Chatham Island Black Robins.

New Zealand Robin
Petroica australis Feed on insects found in leaf litter, they appear to be friendly and curious but may really be after insects exposed when human feet disturb the leaf litter.

Black Robin
Petroica traversi Chatham Island cousin of the NZ robin. Huge success story in wildlife management. When it was discovered in 1871 on Mangere Island it had already been wiped out on other islands in the Chathams by cats, rats and forest clearence. Later cats eradicated it on Mangere too. But in 1938 a group of ornithologists scaled the cliffs of nearby Little Mangere Is and found a thriving population there. Later habitat destruction by muttonbird poachers caused the black robin population to decline to 7. A project was started to save the species, first by moving the remaining robins to Mangere Is, which was by then free of cats. However the numbers continued to decline due to the slow reproductive rate, until there was only one female left, known as Old Blue, and 4 males. Don Merton came up with a plan to increase reproduction by cross fostering the chicks. Eggs were taken from robins and put into tomtits nests, which encouraged the robins to lay more eggs. Tomtits proved to be good foster parents, except that the robins grew up thinking they were tomtits, and didn’t want to mate with their own kind. This was solved by returning the robins to their natural parents just before they fledged, and now there are more than 200 black robins.

Harpogornis
Before humans arrived in NZ, the only predator that threatened adult moa was the giant Haast’s eagle, the largest bird of prey that ever lived. It had a wingspan of 3 m and weighed 13 kg, with enormous talons and beak, and was probably capable of killing the largest moas and also humans. It went extinct about the same time as the moa and another bird, a flightless goose, both of which were its prey. The Maoris knew of the eagle as it features in a couple of their legends.

Yellow-eyed Penguins
(Hoiho) One of the rarest penguins in the world, numbering about 5000, it breeds only on the south-east coast of the South Island, and Stewart, Auckland and Campbell (subantarctic) Islands. 3rd largest penguin (height 65-68cm, weight 5-8kg) in the world after Emperor and King. (18 different species of penguins all in the South Hemisphere, the furthermost north breed on the Galapagos Islands on the equator.) Feeds on small fish and squid, obtained by diving down to 140 m. They make daily journeys of up to 15 km to feeding grounds and return each evening to their nests, some travelling more than 1 km on land. The 28 week breeding season begins in August when partnerships are formed or renewed and nest sites selected. Two greenish white eggs are laid in Sept-Oct and incubated for 43 days. Eggs hatch in November at the start of a 6-week guard stage - 1 parent guards the fluffy grey-brown chicks while the other is feeding. Before the chicks are fed, parents perform an elaborate greeting ceremony. When chicks 6-7 weeks old, both parents must fish to satisfy hunger of a rapidly growing chick, therefore left alone. Chicks moult into the juvenile plumage and enter sea for the first time in late Feb. Adults moult in March/April (for 3-4 weeks), during which they are unable to go to sea and loose 3-4kg of body weight, so very vulnerable to dogs! Juveniles make journeys up to 500km north to winter feeding grounds. Fewer than 15% of chicks reach breeding age, as they are killed by cats and ferrets as chicks, and by leopard seals and sea lions as juveniles. They live up to 20 years and females breed at age 2-3, males at 3-4. Their calls are a loud screechy, trumpeting, ‘hoiho’ means ‘noisy’. Hoiho comes ashore to its breeding area every day throughout the year. ( Most other penguins disperse to feeding grounds, returning to their colonies only for the breeding season.) Threatened by predation, impact of feral livestock, and habitat loss. If they see intruders on their landing area, will delay coming ashore to feed the chicks, therefore very important not to be seen.

Royal Albatross
The worlds largest albatross, spends most of its life gliding above the southern oceans where it hunts fish, crustaceans, salps, cephalopods such as squid and octopus. They do not start breeding until about 12 years old and when they form pairs, they spend a year of 'keeping company'. During this period the birds are quieter and do not perform the fall courtship display seen earlier. From egg laying to the departure of the chick takes an average of 319 days, and successful breeders nest every other year. Young birds, adolescents and non-breeding adults fly eastwards across the pacific and winter in the South Atlantic off the coast of Argentina. From here they continue flying around the subantarctic zone, across the south Indian ocean and southern Australian seas, to return to their breeding grounds in New Zealand. Albatrosses are long lived, mortality rate of breeding birds is low, 1 or 2%, oldest known bird was over 54 years old.

Pukeko
Pukeko is at once a familiar and exotic bird. It lives and thrives on the edges of human behaviour, dodges the cars (most times) and pokes it’s head out of raupo next door to the dairy. Stroppy and yet wary, it will quickly flap away, demonstrating one of the advantages it has over its close relative, the rare and flightless takahe. Pukeko’s are world-wide — found on many South Pacific islands, Australia, Africa, Southern Asia, Spain and Portugal, Central America and Florida. Despite their laboured flight it is believed the pukeko flew in from Australia about a 1000 years ago. Technically it is a rail like the weka, likes wetlands and feeds on roots, seeds, grasses and occasional grubs. They live communally, females often sharing the same nest (a most unusual trait amongst birds), and both males and females help with raising the chicks. This egalitarianism seems to ensure high successful breeding rates for it is a poor piece of swamp that could not boast it’s ‘swamphen’.

Harrier
A native species that has adapted well to human presence and is thriving because it lives in open country and has therefore benefited from deforestation. It feeds on birds, rabbits, mice, and is often seen tugging at the flattened carcasses of rabbits and possums as it feasts on roadkill. The harrier (kahu) is one of two native raptors (birds of prey) the other is the falcon.

Fantail
(piwakawaka) An expert flier, its broad tail allows it to stop and change direction in mid-flight, as it darts around catching insects on the wing. It sometimes follows humans through forests to catch they insects they disturb – and is a friend to trampers as it eats sandflies. It has been favoured by forest clearance as it often lives on forest verges and in regenerating areas. The pied form is most common but in the South Island black ones are not unusual.

Pipit
The New Zealand pipit (pihoihoi) is arguably this country’s most versatile bird. It can be found feeding on insects in tidal pools, or way up high in alpine tussocks, or even above the snowline. Because of this supposed preference for alpine areas, and it’s resemblance to the song thrush, the early settlers nicknamed the bird the ‘snow thrush’. It’s distinctive ‘tweeep’, and bobbing motion, usually perched on a handy observation rock, give the pipit a high profile. It would be a desolate place indeed that could not maintain a pair of pipits.

Black Stilt
(kaki) A slim black wading bird, with long pink legs and a long black bill, endemic to the Mackenzie basin. Lives in the braided river beds, where it feeds on aquatic insects and worms, and nests on mounds surrounded by water. Has suffered a loss of habitat due to the hydro schemes and invasion of riverbeds by introduced plants: willows, lupins, and broom. Predation by cats, rats and mustelids is also a problem, especially for eggs and young. It is closely related to the pied stilt, a similar black and white bird, which is slightly smaller with longer legs, and much more common than the black stilt. Interbreeding with the pied stilt is a threat to the uniqueness of the black stilt population, especially as black stilt numbers are low so black stilts cannot always find a black mate. In an attempt to save the black stilt, whose numbers were down to 72 in 1993, wetlands have been artificailly constructed and introduced plants removed, predators trapped, and pied stilts mating with black stilts have been shot.

Kea
The kea is a mountain parrot, the tourist tormentor that puts on a show whilst his mates nip behind and rip the bits off windscreen wipers and anything it’s inquisitive beak can get around. It’s ke-aa cry is unmistakable, but it’s distribution and population are matters for conjecture. Most of the nests are in the higher forest and scrub-alpine areas, but it uses the alpine environment for feeding, however they can come right down to sea-level. Most eggs are laid in July-August and the female is the sole incubator, the male never enters the nest. Keas are mobile, particularly the non-breeders, and males often form small ‘gangs’, particularly in tourist ‘hot spots’ like the Homer Tunnel or Arthurs Pass, and also on ski-fields, where they can congregate in flocks of 15-20 birds. At this point they become a nuisance. But keas are fully protected now, even though individual ‘rogue’ birds have at times been proven to maim and kill sheep, by eating the unfortunate beasts kidneys, though of course it was humans that drove the sheep into these marginal alpine areas. As a result, keas were killed in quite large numbers throughout this century.

Falcons
Raptors are the birds of prey. New Zealand has only two, the endemic falcon, and the Australasian harrier hawk (kahu). The falcon is becoming rare, a fierce independent bird, which on attack can reach speeds of 200 kilometres an hour. They occur mainly in the high country and mountain lands of the South Island, prefer nesting in trees or rocky ledges, and have a distinctive ‘kek kek’ call. The harrier hawk is much more commonplace, particularly on our roadsides, pecking away at a dead possum. Larger than the falcon, the harrier is also a solitary hunter, which prefers to roost on the ground in swamplands, with as many as 50 birds grouping together in autumn and winter. Both raptors hunt during the day, feeding mainly on dead and small animals, such as mice, frogs, rats and some rabbits and small birds.

Marine Mammals

Fur seal
New Zealand fur seal is only found in New Zealand waters and off the south coast of Australia. The seals arrive for giving birth in November and December, and by March the numbers of pups are at their peak. Groups of them get together to play games that look for all the world like ‘king of the castle’ and ‘tag’. Female seals are sexually mature at 3-4 years, males at 6-7, though the latter rarely become active till 9 or 10 years old when they are strong enough to compete against other bulls. Females invest more energy in male pups as it is more important for them to be big and strong to win a harem. Females give birth then mate with males a few weeks later and colonies are at sites where there are lots of rock pools and the pups are safe from sharks. Females and pups stay close to the breeding place most of the year whilst solo males move away, frequently hauling ashore all around New Zealand’s coastline. Seals can travel for hundred of kilometres but their migration habits are still not widely understood. Seals dive to 20m and the principal diet of fur seals are squid, octopus, lantern fish and barracuda, with most feeding done at night. Seals often get caught in hoki nets and then get shot by fisherman.

Hector's dolphin
One of the smallest and rarest marine dolphins in the world, they are found only in NZs inshore waters (mostly around South Island, particularly Te Wae Wae Bay, West Coast and Banks Peninsula), and there are only 3000-4000 of them. They are about four and a half feet long (1.4 m) and have attractive black and white patterning, and are easily distinguised from other dolphins by the rounded dorsal fin. They feed close to shore, catching fish, squid and crabs. They live to about 20 years old, females maturing at age 7-9 and having one calf every 2-3 years. The species is declining due to being caught in fishing nets nets (224 in 4 years around Banks Peninsula) which is too much for the low reproductive rate to compensate for. A marine mammal sanctuary has now been put in place around the Banks peninsula forbidding set netting during the summer months when the dolphins are inshore breeding. The Porpoise Bay population is unusual in that it is the only place these dolphins live permanently so close to shore. There are about 20 of them and they breed and feed here, and are often seen surfing. We want to look after this population which means: do not feed or touch them, do not approach them or try to swim with them. If they choose to swim with us that is okay. It is illegal to disturb or harrass native wildlife.

Hookers Sea Lion
The name sea lion is a tribute to the light ‘mane’ on the bull sea lions. The bulls, which can weigh up to 450 kilograms, can when disturbed get up on their front flippers and ‘strut their stuff’ with loud aggressive snorts, their pink mouths contrasting with their shiny black-brown bodies. Female sea-lions weigh only 180 kilograms, are paler in colour and less aggressive. The main colonies for the sea-lions are in the sub-antarctic Auckland islands (@ 15,000 in the main breeding areas), but they are slowly returning in greater numbers to the Catlins coast and Otago Peninsula. There is some early evidence that they may be starting to breed back on the mainland again, after being slaughtered by Maori and European sealers. Pups are born in December, and the females mate again soon after, delaying implantation so that the pups are born at the warmest time of year. They come ashore on sandy beaches, sometimes going right up into sand dunes. They feed on squid, fish, krill, octopus and crabs, and sometimes sea birds, penguins and seal pups. Sealion pups may be eaten by sharks, orcas, leopard seals, and they sometimes drown. Squid-trawling nets pose a threat to sea lions so a kill quota has been introduced: the squid fishery closes for the season as soon as 63 sealions (or 32 females) are killed. They can dive to 400 m depth but the average dive is 200m for 12 min. True seals (sea lions are eared-seals) stay down much longer - eg elephant or Crab-eater. Humans exchange 10% of lung air with each breath - sealions 40%. Blood volume is relatively greater than us, 15% of body mass compare with only 7.5% for humans, therefore storing more oxygen in haemoglobin and have more myoglobin. Heart rate normally (resting) 60-90 beats per minute, but while diving slows down to 10 beats per minute - blood shut off from extremities and directed to vital organs. Males can be aggressive in the breeding season (Dec-Feb) and should not be approached closer than 30 m, nor should their escape route to the sea be blocked.

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