Birds of New Zealand

One of the joys of visiting a different country, especially outside Europe, is getting to see and know the resident bird life. So nowadays we always take binoculars, the better to identify and appreciate the new species.

On our first stroll in NZ, around Auckland harbour area, there are (obviously) gulls - the red billed gull which, it turns out, is very common. Then, in the trees adjoining the walkway, we were excited to see something small fluttering about. What novel feathered beast would this be? We wait with baited breath.

Eventually it emerged and settled on the grass beneath the trees - a house sparrow! A few paces on there was another ...and another. In fact we saw house sparrows all over the place - in parks, in towns, by the coast, in open countryside, beside lakes, in scrub. The only place you don't see them is in dense forest. Anyone lamenting the decline of the house sparrow in the UK only needs to come here. They are everywhere.

It isn't long before we're also seeing blackbirds, mallards, and song thrushes, the latter much more common here than at home. And then (not as common) yellowhammer, skylark, and goldfinch. And Canada Geese. So much for exotic species.

However there is definitely a new bird at the first place we stay outside Auckland. It has a yellow beak and legs, and an attractive yellow flash behind the eye. The rest of the bird is greyish but when it flies off there is a whitish band across each wing. At last -  a new bird!

But, oddly, I can't find it in my 'Wildlife of New Zealand' book. Strange. Why wouldn't such a common bird be listed?

The answer comes from some www searching (birds of New Zealand). It's a myna - introduced from India. Not even an unusual myna, it's a "common" myna! It turns out these invaders are everywhere there are humans. On some roads they are every few metres, playing chicken. After 3 days I am not even sorry when C crunches one under the car.

My ultimate ignominy is when I spot a curious bird with feathers hanging over its head. This is, admittedly, in an area of parkland but I've just seen my first tui and am fired up for exotic encounters. I stalk the thing with the camera until I get a good shot.

Once again the wretched thing is not in the wildlife book. C thinks it's a quail ...and sure enough it's a Californian Quail. A long way from where it should be and yet another alien invader.

To cap that, a few minutes later in the same area C spots a weasel! Another introduced pest.

I only wish the idiots who bought these European creatures to New Zealand were still alive to be boiled in oil. What were they thinking to commit this vandalism on such a grand scale? And what wonderful native birds would we be able to see now, occupying the niches in which these aliens are currently thriving?

Not content with polluting this country with alien birds they also brought in stoats, weasels, domestic cats etc to the extent that many of the native bird species are only present on islands where the invaders have been kept at bay. But not only are the birds affected. Tree species which rely on specific birds for seed dispersal now fail to propagate because the birds have gone. Then there are the possums, which destroy the trees and, happily, are the commonest roadkill you see. These are trapped in some areas in an attempt to control them, as are stoats.

Eventually we did see indigenous species: NZ oystercatchers, shovellors, bellbird, fantail, tomtit and several others. But if I went again, I'd visit one of the island sanctuaries to see the rarer species. Or back in time to see a 12-ft-tall moa!