NATURE NOTES

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 80, 1 October 1938, Page 17

NATURE NOTES

BIRDS ON THE HARBOUR

THE OYSTER CATCHER

(By R. H. D. Stidolph.) One of the best areas around Wellington Harbour in which to observe - shore-frequenting birds is the mouth bf the Hutt River and the sh£.llo\£J reaches of water extending eastward - to Point Howard. Reclamation worknow in progress in this locality nd doubt will adversely affect oOirie species, though some interesting birds may still be seen there. A week ago," for instance, as many as twelve blade oyster catchers or redbills, as this bittl is known to some people, were seeii feeding on the sand flats exposed by . the receding tide. All the representa* . fives of this species were busily en* gaged iri turning over shells or marinerorganisms and probing the sand wfts£ their bills in search of food. The appearance of the oyster catcher is somewhat comical and it can readily, be recognised from other shore birds' by its black plumage and red bill., Itappears that the oyster catcher visits; this locality during the non-breeding season, as so far all the reports of its presence there have been in the winter or early springy The extension of reclamation in this area, however, will probably. drive away this ioteresiißtf bird. . yy .'■..■: -: *■■$ BLUE HERON FEEDING. Fossicking about on the sand flats in. the same locality were '. two blue herons, which likewise were securing food. When the heron stands motionless on some rock it is a picture* ot patience, but when engaged in a sen-"-ous hunt for food among the pools left by the tide it is full of life and can. move with surprising quickness. JtsP attitude, on alighting, is gawky, to say1 the least, but once it has arranged its wings to its satisfaction it stalks along the edge of the water, eagerly scan--ning the neighbourhood. Suddenly there is a swift plunge of the bill and a tiny fish is caught. The search continues as the heron systematically scrutinises the pools for fish and other delicacies. These were the actions of the herons observed near Point Howard the other day, and it was rather interesting to see both this species and the oyster catcher feeding : within ,'a . few chains bf the main road to East-/; bourne, unconcerned with the large; volume of motor traffic passing along tbe road. These birds, in fact, could be clearly watched from the road itf . self, but not one person in a thousand" saw them as people sped on their way. in our modern means of transport. ~; ■ CASPIAN .TERN. '■" ; Another bird, to attract attention hi the same locality was the Caspian terni ~ a large white bird with a black cajr and red bill, usually seen flying over the water with the bill pointed-down-ward. Its long wings suggest the forrii ■" of the swallow. The Caspian .tern is a fisher, and while flying over shallow water is intently scanning the are_§_* below for any small fish which may venture near the surface, If its quarry is detected, the bird drops, into the water, and more often than not flies away with a small silvery fish.held in its bill. That arch robber, tha black-backed gull, is always on the lookout, and if it espies the fern with, ai fish it gives chase and sometime* succeeds in making the tern drop its. capture. This gull also persecutes th&~ tern during the breeding, season, when. '■' it.raids its nests if these are left ten!-;* porarily unprotected. Last season, for" instance, all the "eggs in a colony of * Caspian tern breeding on a sand sp'iiX in the Wellington district were destroyed by this black-backed gully; which delights in making a meal of the - contents cf the eggs. It 's no wondei^' that the Caspian tern is most unfriendly towards this robber. BIRD-LIFE IN EARLY DAYS. „-" It is interesting, to recall that thST first notes to be recorded of bird-life, around Wellington were those of Major,_ Heaphy, whose observations in 1839 were published in 1879 in an early! number of the Transactions of the. New Zealand Institute. Major Heapby made special reference to the great., number of birds that inhabited the neighbourhood of the Hutt River out-, let. He wrote "I remember 'especially l the enormous number of waterfowlfrequenting the shallows at the mouth,; of the Hutt River. Cormorants, ducks, teal, oyster catchers, plovers, sand-* pipers, curlews, and red-legged waders! were there in pairs, detachments, andi; masses, and so tame that it was slaugh-* ter rather than sport to shoot them,";; At that time the forest on the easterni side of the harbour was undisturbed. "Along the eastern shore," Ma j oil Heaphy wrote; "from the mouth of the Hutt River to outside of Ward Island the forest was unbroken and .trees overhung the water, giving shelter tat great numbers of wild fowl.". One caa hardly visualise thescene hr those days and the multitude of birds tha* greeted the eye. Several of the birds mentioned by Major Heaphy have^ digappeared. Teal, plovers, sandpipers, and stilts no longer frequent the locality, and it is only occasionally that thflj gbdwit (curlew) is seen. SHINING CUCKOO ARRIVES, y'i According to reports from different: par %s of New Zealand the shining cuckoo has made an early appearance in the Dominion this season: Thewriter heard one fly over >Mastertol» on the night of September 2, when its unmistakable sigh note could be heard' quite distinctly. Another report of thearrival of the cuckoo comes to hand from a correspondent residing at Lowry Bay, who reports hearing thisbird at 11.30 a.m. on September 19. The?* next report comes from the South.* Island, where a cuckoo of this species was killed by a cat at Ealing, Mid^„ Canterbury, on September 17. This bird was sent to the Canterbury^ Museum, and, according to Mr. R: A,* . Falla, the director, it was a male. This;*. he said, confirmed previous observa-. tions that the male birds arrived iri New Zealand from their winter home in the Solomon Islands before the* females. Usually, the long-tailed* cuckoo, which also spends the summer-" in New Zealand, arrives much later1.;, than-the shining cuckoo, though this., year a Masterton resident reports hay-;, ing heard a long-tailed,cuckoo cry QUfc;, as it flew over on September 19. x.~\.