Today’s photo of the week is of a kākā popping in to a summer party on a balcony in Wellington City.
The population of kākā in the capital is increasing thanks to the work of conservationists and Wellington wildlife sanctuary Zealandia.
The success of restoring native birds to cities is bringing those birds into increasing conflict with humans according to Victoria University’s recent research.
Kākā, pukeko and red-billed gulls were found to be the species most likely to encounter problems in cities. The research has helped to identify these species and will mean emerging problems can be monitored and addressed.
Olivia is 9 years old and lives in the Fiordland area. She writes about her recent trip to the Lake Howden Hut on the Routeburn Track.
Enjoying all the Routeburn has to offer
I liked going to stay at Lake Howden Hut. On the walk up the hill there were lots of water falls and big rocks. We had a drink of the water, saw a kaka bird and had a close look at the ferns. Some big trees were over the track that we had to go under like a tunnel.
At the hut there was a lot to do. We played in the lake and made a dam so we could have a pool, but the water was too cold. We found big rocks to climb and a stage to do our gymnastics and ballet on.
Liam on top of the world
We had pasta for dinner, then milo and chocolate biscuits for supper. We played cards before going to bed. We all wanted the top bunks but there were plenty of them so there were no fights. We played with our torches and in our sleeping bags, it was fun with everyone there.
Our Howden Hut home
The next day we walked to Key Summit, it was amazing. It is a beautiful place, even the climb up was ok! But my legs did get a bit sore.
Learning about the alpine environment.
There was information on the different plants. Liam, my brother, was our tour guide and led the way around the track. We went across bogs, around tarns and up to the top.
On the way home it was all downhill. We talked about the next track we wanted to do, maybe the Kepler or Hollyford Track?
It probably doesn’t surprise you to hear that people love visiting our native animals online at www.doc.govt.nz. What may surprise you are the native animals people like visiting the most.
This eccentric New Zealand parrot has a huge following, partly due to their high profile ambassador Sirocco, who regularly makes news headlines around the world.
The only survivor of an ancient group of reptiles that roamed the earth at the same time as dinosaurs, tuatara are internationally famous and endlessly fascinating.
Maori refer to bats as pekapeka and associate them with the mythical, night-flying bird, hokioi, which foretells death or disaster. Despite this rather gloomy association we still love visiting them.
One look at the photos on the gecko pages and you’ll understand why these gorgeous creatures made it to the number one spot.
Marlborough green gecko
So, that’s the top 10 native animals of 2011, based on the number of visits each of them received on the DOC website during the year. Do you think visitor numbers have given us an accurate picture of popularity? Did your favourite make the list? Let’s take a quick poll to find out…
