Searching for kiwi

 

We heard a lot about kiwis on our trip, but they're very hard to spot. Ellen went on a kiwi hunt on Ulva Island before joining us and managed to see some AND get great photos. But we merely heard about them everywhere we went: how they are nocturnal, how they are endangered, how people remove chicks from the fathers (who apparently don't notice their disappearance) and raise them in hatcheries, then return them to the wild once they are old enough to withstand the rampaging stoats, weasels, rats, cats and dogs.

So when our Rotorua guide told us we could see kiwis as well as other rare creatures at Rainbow Springs, we decided to stop there on the way out of town. It's really a sort of zoo, with aviaries where you can see all kinds of birds that might be hard to spot in the wild. We had already seen New Zealand pigeons and keas but were glad to see them again. The morepork and the millenia-old tuatara were treats, although each was tricky to spot and I have no decent pictures.

The introduced brown trout made beautiful patterns under the water.

 

Here's an iconic fern unfolding.

 

EAP got to stand next to an extinct moa.

 

Paradise duck

 

A very friendly, not to say manic, young shag

 

New Zealand pigeon high up in the aviary

 

At last it was time to visit the kiwi hatchery. No, the sign is not to scale...

 

Of course, you can't take pictures inside, so you'll have to take my word for it that this was fascinating. The chicks are brought here (from Okarito among other places), checked in and weighed, fed regularly, and handled as little as possible. We watched through big windows as the kiwi technicians picked them up out of their little bassinets and put them on the scales. They fed them a special kiwi mixture until they were old enough to pick it up themselves. Yes, the chicks were darling and fluffy, but it's also clear that they are not social birds (unlike the kea) and don't really give much back, unless it's a kick with their powerful legs.

Beyond the hatchery they've provided a habitat complete with low lighting (they're nocturnal) so that we could watch them in something closer to their native conditions. A great treat to see them so close - next time, let's go to Ulva Island!

A walk in the neighborhood

Caution: following is an experiment with Live Writer. Don't quite have the hang of it yet...

Here’s a frog found in the road and rescued with the help of two fellow walkers.

                                     Elderberries were in bloom by the lake.

Grasses along the lake.

                                 Elegant mulleins.

 

Mountain laurels in full bloom

Pretty little daisies along the fence line.

Favorite find: these elegant pine cones on this sprawling, butchered tree:

And three rabbits along the way.  This one thought that if he didn’t look at me, I wouldn’t see him.

The catbird seat

Apparently, that seat is in the middle of one of my boxwoods.

Today I finally started pruning the boxwoods. It's one of the projects that, once started, so clearly is way overdue that I wonder my fellow gardeners had not long since taken me aside for an intervention.

At any rate, as I clipped merrily along, I spotted a nest. I came back with my camera, assuming it was empty, but no! Two little blue eggs, and once I withdrew, the catbird couple flew around to see what havoc I had wrought.

 

I dearly hope I haven't scared them away. I think I can spy on them from my bedroom window if I stay quiet as a mouse.

Spring fever

The first day of spring brought everyone outside, but because I have a habit of leaving the back door open on nice days - no screen door - I sometimes have unexpected visitors. This afternoon it was a Carolina wren who flew in and landed on the window screen at the other end of the sitting room.

 

 

The wrens are usually very bossy and vocal, but this one just froze there. At one point it made some sad little mewing sounds, but that was all. Eventually, with a little encouragement from me that it probably ignored, the wren flew to a picture frame, then perched above the door frame, and finally flew back out again. Wish I knew what it told its mate about this little adventure.

Verrucosa arenata and her kin

Emma remarked during our Darwin week that it was really hard to identify insects in the wild, even with a good guide, so Darwin's work during the Beagle expedition was even more impressive. My voyage around the back garden turns up lots of spiders this time of year, and without Google (sorry, library databases), I don't know how I'd identify them.

This one is pretty certainly an orb spider, according to the Neararctic Spider Database, which has a pretty good picture on their site. She's quite beautiful. Notice how she posed with the golden triangle on her back clearly visible.

 

Zoom in to see the little insect she has bundled up for her lunch.

It's hard to get good pictures of spider webs, since they appear and disappear depending on the slant of light, but here are a couple recent examples.

 

 

Speaking of critters, earlier this summer some kind of cricket visited me and ended up checking out my blog (I guess).

 

More wildlife mysteries

 

Some kind of spider...

 

I call this a leafcutter, but I can't find anything online or in my insect book that looks like this and has that name. It's not a leafcutter ant, nor a leafcutter bee...

Wildlife

A few weeks ago, the bumblebees were buzzing around the oregano. I'm never sure exactly what kinds of bees I'm seeing but always hope they are honeybees. Anybody know?



The voles seem to have done their dirty work and gone away. They ate the hosta 'Sieboldiana elegans,' which really annoys me, but they left the much larger Krossa Regal alone. Maybe the key is to plant larger, better-established plants? Maybe they like only the young tender roots?


I have purchased Liquid Fence Mole and Vole Repellent and just need to get out there and spray. I fear that they will be repelled only briefly, but it's worth a try.

This other-worldly creature is perched on the lip of a pot filled with coleus. You can see it better if you click on the photo to enlarge it. I ought to know what it is, but I can't quite place it. A June bug??

Vile voles

I've been so lucky over the years - no slugs on the hostas, no deer, no squirrels digging up tulip bulbs...but my good luck is over. I have had voles in the front garden for the past couple years. Initially, the only damage was piles of dirt in the front lawn, but last year they ate two hostas. This month, I came back from a week away to find one of the 'Gold Standard' hostas had utterly vanished, and 'Blue Cadet' was lying sideways on the ground. These little, evil creatures tunnel underneath and eat the roots, leaving the beautiful leaves to wither and die.

Google "voles hosta" and you'll find more remedies than you can shake a stick at, most of them imperfect. This posting sums up most of the tips:

You know you have voles if your entire hosta clump disappears into a subterranean hole, or returns in the spring as a fraction of it's last years size. Voles (herbivorous mole relatives) are easy to control if you follow all three steps. First vole bait (rat poison) must be applied every 10 feet through the infected area. If you can find the runs, then apply the material there. If a run isn't evident, then put the material on the ground (they find your hostas don't they). Secondly, cover all of the bait, as the voles only feed in the dark. We like to use clay flower pots (it makes visitors ask questions). Thirdly, repeat the procedure in 2 weeks. This doesn't mean three or four weeks...TWO. If you follow this procedure, you will get rid of your vole problem.

It sounds too good to be true, and I despise rat poison, but maybe that's what I'll have to do. You'd think the neighbor's cat, who's a good hunter, could help me out here, but apparently not. She spends a lot of time in the driveway staring at the junipers - if she'd just turn around she'd find some delicious voles to eat!!

The other suggestion is to pot your hostas and plant them pots and all, or add pea gravel to the bottom of the planting hole. Anyone have any other ideas??

Beautiful bugs

 
Deadheading the hostas, I found this elegant little creature, which I think is a tree hopper.
 
I was on the lookout for snakes, but instead found this praying mantis - at least, I think it is, despite the fact that it's brown rather than green. Could it be a walking stick?
 
And this was such an interesting spider web, with its ladder-like section, that I had to take a picture. I am clueless about what it is.