New Zealand February - June 2015, Zealandia (night tour)

As promised in a previous post, we paid Zealandia (former Karori Sanctuary) a visit at night, during one of their special (guided) Kiwi Tours. Normally these tours cost 75 NZD, but as we are Zealandia members, we only had to pay 50% of the price, which makes becoming a Zealandia member definitely an economically interesting option. Night tours have to be reserved and paid (with a credit card) in advance through this website. The starting times are different throughout the year, as they are correlated with the time the sun sets.

We started at 19:45 after we had an introduction talk by our guide about the reserve and the work that is being done here. We also received special red-light flashlights from the guides, as you are not allowed to use normal flashlights (or flashes on cameras) in the reserve at night. When we entered the reserve we were just in time to see some diurnal birds as well, like New Zealand Kaka's (which actually are also nocturnal as recent studies have shown!), New Zealand Pigeons, South Island Takahe, New Zealand Scaups and Australian Pied Cormorants.

Just after dusk Moreporks started calling from several places, but as you are not allowed to use playback, the chances of seeing these owls are fairly slim, even though they are quite common within the reserve. Pretty quickly after the sun had set, our guide received information through a walkie-talkie that a Kiwi had been found close by, so we hurried to the site. An yes, there it was, walking through the undergrowth, a Little Spotted Kiwi! We could easily observe it as it was foraging and at a certain point it got scared by a duck and ran towards us and crossed a small bridge, allowing absolutely stunning views of their jolly little walk and head-bobbing! The Little Spotted Kiwi's in Zealandia are reintroduced and originate from Kapiti Island, but they are breeding inside the reserve.

It is very difficult to photograph a Little Spotted Kiwi (Apterix owenii) in the red light of the flashlights. 

A little later we visited some Kaka feeders and found two Brown Teals foraging underneath it. These little nocturnal ducks often venture onto land and into the forest. Here we also observed another Little Spotted Kiwi and we thought of ourselves as very lucky. Little did we know that a few minutes later we would have a third encounter with a very tame (or confused) individual that walked up and down a small bridge and in the end walked into our group and poked the shoe of my friend, passing just centimeters in front of me! Two New Zealand Long-finned Eels, which measured up to one meter, venturing onto land from a small stream, some Cave Weta's and quite some glow worms emitting blue (not greenish as I am used to) light finished the tour very nicely.
I can highly recommend this tour to everybody. It is an amazing experience to see a Kiwi, but the other wildlife that can also be seen at Zealandia, make it an even more special night out!

New Zealand February - June 2015, Zealandia

When spending some time in the capitol of New Zealand, Wellington, a visit to Zealandia, the former Karori Reserve is a must. It is a 225 hectare land island established by putting up an innovative fence, intensive predator control and reintroducing loads of native species. All native birds are currently doing well, except for the Australian Shoveler, the Weka and the Tomtit, which have died out inside the reserve due to various reasons. Have a look at their very informative website here and their comprehensive species list here. The reserve is easily reached on foot from Central Wellington, but busses stop in front of the entrance as well. When nearing Zealandia you can already see New Zealand Kaka's fly over the valley, New Zealand Pigeons perching on the trees and  you can hear Tui's calling from everywhere; a great entree! The entrance is 17.50 NZD for adults and 9 NZD for adults, which includes a visit to the very nice exhibition, where you can even see a specimen of the extinct Huia! When entering the park, bags should be checked for plants or animals that might accidentally be introduced into the park. Note that the following report is only based on a single visit to the recommended route and that there are tracks leading much deeper into the reserve.

Singing Tui (Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae)

The Zealandia fence

As soon as you are through the fence you can see the lower reservoir where we enjoyed close views of Paradise Shelducks, New-zealand Scaups, Welcome Swallows and the first "Grallards" (Pacific Black Duck X Mallard hybrids), which were commonly seen throughout the reserve. There is also a small area here that shows some Wellington Green Gecko's in a terrarium. Look out for these cool fellows as they do occur in the wild inside the reserve! Further along the reservoir there is a small cormorant colony and four species of cormorant are commonly seen inside the reserve, but we also enjoyed great views of a juvenile Brown Teal here! Close to the cormorant colony, there is a smaller fenced area inside the big fenced area. This area holds two individuals of South Island Takahe and they allowed spectacular views and even approached us! What medieval creatures!

Juvenile Brown Teal (Anas Chlorotis)

South Island Takahe (Porphyrio hochstetteri)

Further inside the forest New Zealand Fantail, North-island Saddleback, North-island Robin (which is often so tame that one hopped onto my foot and tried to eat my shoelace!), Tui and Silvereye are common. Whitehead and Grey Gerygone (Grey Warbler) were also observed inside the forest, but less not so often However some other native birds are easier to find at the feeders, where they receive supplementary food. At their feeders New Zealand Kaka's can be seen very well. We also observed how several species tried to get to the Kaka food, like New Zealand Bellbird, Stitchbird (Hihi) and Brown Teal! The same goes for the Red-crowned Parakeets (Kakariki), they can be seen flying through the forest occasionally, but at their feeders they are not so shy. Unfortunately the Stitchbirds were not present at all at their feeders and consequently we were very happy to have seen them before at the Kaka feeders!

North Island Robin (Petroica (australis) longipes) inspecting my shoe. Image taken by Jason Preble.

North-island Saddleback (Philesturnus rufusater)

Whitehead (Mohoua albicilla)

North Island Kaka (Nestor meriodinalis septentrionalis)

Red-crowned Parakeet (Cyanoramphus novaezelandiae noveaezelandiae)

At the upper dam some more New Zealand Scaups and Paradise Shelducks were present, but we also got lucky with seeing a vulnerable New Zealand Grebe, which had apparently not been sighted here before! A bit later, at the Tuatara Research Area, we got lucky again: a Long-tailed Koel came flying by! Apparently a difficult species and only a rare visitor here! At the Tuatara Research Area we had very entertaining views of these unique reptiles and saw some young ones with a much more contrasting pattern on their back too. We also saw a single Common Skink inside the Tuatara Research Area, but I guess it was not specifically placed here.

Adult Tuatara (Sphenodon punctatus)

Summing it all up: Zealandia is an experience not to be missed in Wellington. As I will be staying quite some time in this "coolest little capitol of the world" I will most likely write some more post on Zealandia. Especially as there are night tours as well to sea Little Spotted Kiwi! Watch this space!