NATURE NOTES

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 123, 20 November 1926, Page 15

NATURE NOTES

« KAPITI SANCTUARY ITS BIRO LIFE (By E. H. T>.< Stidolph, E.A.0.U.). The first report of the arrival at the long-tailed cuckoo this season comes from Kapiti Island, ivhere the custodian (Mr. A. S. Wilkinson) observed it on 24th October.. Although not many are about yet, the bird is increasing in numbers on the island, and on 7th November several were seen at one locality on the island. The smaller and mate beautiful shining cuckoo arrived on Kapiti on Ist October, but disappeared after about a week's sojourn. Shining cuckoos are rare birds on Kapiti, although reported as plentiful on th« mainland opposite; their scarcity on the island is probably accounted for by the rarity of the grey warbler, the bird upon which the cuckoo usually foists its domestic worries. On two occasions recently a fine specimen of the crested penguin was observed; one at the mouth of the Taepiro stream, the other on the beach on the western side ,of the island. In the latter locality, too, three large colonies of white-froni-ed terns, comprising hundreds of birds, are now nesting. • * » » The only failures in nesting operations reported by Mr. "Wilkinson concern two pairs of tomtits and two of pipits. Both nests of the tomtits were finished, ready for the eggs, when they,' were destroyed either by rats or starlings. The starlings are always about the vicinity of the nests. In the ea*e of the pipits, the eggs were destroyed just when they were due to hatch. "These pipits are my tame ones," writes Mr. Wilkinson, "and come right into the house for food. They built, or partly built, their nest with coir out of my doormat, and to-day I.saw the male bird "taking away a big load of the same material, so they are evidently building again." The other pair of pipits lost their young when, they, were twelve days old. The nest was built in some tussock, about eight inches from the ground. A robin's nest wag found recently by Mr. Wilkinson in the crown of a niamaku, in the middle of the fronds, twenty feet 'from the ground. "At the present moment, 8.30 p.m.," Mr. Wilkinson concludes, "petrels are flying overhead making for the top of the island. All along the western side, on the top of the island, petrels are nesting." *■* ♦ » Every year a pair of blue penguins nest in the custodian's boatshed; thia year two young birds now occupy the nursery, which is placed in a kerosene tin. . On the foreshore between Paripatea and Taepiro there are half-*----dozen penguins nesting, besides numerous pairs inland. At another spot along the coast a pair of bine herons have again returned to their ancestral breeding-place, and close at hand a pair of grey ducks have constructed a nest in a secluded spot. ♦ * * * Several charming photographs have been secured by Mr. Wilkinson on Kapiti. In order to encourage the honeyeating birds, dishes of syrup are placed in convenient spots on suitable trees —sometimes a natural cavity is filled— and the photographs depict bellbirds and tuis about to sip the fluid. One picture shows a tui on the floor of the custodian's verandah, enticed there by an offering in a saucer. Another rare photograph depicts a North Island robin sitting on its nest in a mamakn.

Last year several saddlebacks were transferred to Kapiti, and bird-lovwg will be. delighted to hear that the birds have since bred there. In a certain valley on the island two adult birds in the pink of condition; were seen feeding a young bird, nearly full-grown, but withont the characteristic wattles. The three birds were seen by Mr. Wilkinson in a ngaio, about • five feet from the ground. The apparently successful establishment of these rare birds on Kapiti is a matter for congratulation. , ' • *. • •' ■• On a hurried visit to the outskirts of the Tararua Mountains recently, the writer and a friend enjoyed the company of a pair of pied f antails while having lunch on the banks of a bugh stream. On a dead semi-prostrate frond of a tree fern, the fantails had constructed their characteristic nestmerely perched upon the rachis or mid« rib—-and there one bird complacently sat upon the eggs, while its mate fuued and flitted about in the. adjacent herbage, busily engaged in snapping np minute insect, food, and taking no interest in the human visitors, » ■ »■ •■ ' • ;' Although on this visit the outskirts only of the bnsh were entered, many native birds were noted. Bellbirda chimed forth a few; scattered notes; tuis coughed and sneezed; whiteheads broke the silence of the forest with lively notes; tomtits jerked out their monotonous call; grey warblers added charm with their cheerful, pleasing, and sweet trill; white-eyes searched industriously for food; and in the open a pair of pipits fossicked about in active movements. At almost every point, large masses of white clematis ornamented the otherwise sombre hues of the bush itself. • • ♦ • Kingfishers and tuis are now quite numerous in parts of the Wairarapa, and undoubtedly have increased in numbers in recent years. From June until about the commencement of November tuis frequent largely suburban and. country gardens around Masterton, sip» ping nectar from many garden plants. Eucalypts are greatly favoured when these trees are in flower, and the tree lucerne is also favoured with visits from these birds. The golden wealth •of kowhai blooms always attracts numbers of tuis, which this season hare been particularly numerous on these trees. •■* • • The shining cuckoo'was first heard in the Wairarapa by the writer on 16th October, which is usually about the date it arrives in the district. The bird is not, however, plentiful. The larger and more rare long-tailed cuckoo has not been noted in the settlements in the valley, but doubtless hasimade its appearance in the Tararua Mountains, where its harsh screech can always be heard ia season.