Greg, the Takahe, on Tiri
Our last day in New Zealand, we think about what would be a fitting end to this month-long trip. We're back in Auckland, without a car rental, and we wake up early to a blue sky. We decide to make the trip to Tiri Tiri Matangi Open Sanctuary and to take a volunteer-guided walking tour.
The boat departs from downtown pier 4. Everyone checks their packs and shoes to be sure they are clean. No hitchhiking alien seeds or mammals are welcome on the island. The fast catamaran takes about an hour and a half to reach the island. Along the way there are a few little blue penguins on the water. When we arrive, there is a ray under the dock.
Tiri Tiri Matangi (Maori for "looking to the wind") is one of the New Zealand islands which are being actively managed to ensure that native plants and birds survive. The island is open to the public, a source of concern. The Department of Conservation does not wait for natural regeneration of native systems. Harmful introduced species are killed. Many volunteers seed, weed, and then release endangered birds. Thanks to the endless hours of continuing work by school children and sanctuary afficionados, "Tiri" looks very different from its recent agrarian past. Newly restored native habitats and the birds are thriving. Much work remains to be done.
Many of New Zealand's native birds are threatened. Before colonization, these birds had few predators. After contact, birds' eggs and the young birds were easy prey for mice, rats, possums (an Australian marsupial), and others. Now in the island sanctuaries populations of these endemic species are rebounding. We see some birds in the brush with the help of our experienced guide, Alison. There are juvenile saddlebacks scrabbling in the duff, whiteheads looking for insects within reach, a single napping brown teal, a secretive North Island robin, melodious bellbirds, fancy fantails in the shade, a red-crowned parakeet on a sunny branch, a secretive North Island robin, assertive honey-eating tuis, and big, bold takahes.
Takahe birds (Porphyrio mantelli) are special. Once thought to be extinct, they were rediscovered in 1948 in Fjordland National Park. They now number about 200 individuals. Ground dwellers, their reproduction rate is low and predation (eggs and chicks) is high. Old Greg (pictured) hangs around the Tiri dock area in plain sight.
Back in Auckland, after a day in the sunshine and forest shadows, we talk about the day in a local pub on the way back to the Quadrant Hotel at the top of one of Auckland's five volcano cones. Tiri Tiri Matangi is the last and one of our best New Zealand times.
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