NATURALISTS’ FIELD CLUB

Evening Star, Issue 24004, 1 October 1941, Page 4

NATURALISTS’ FIELD CLUB

VISIT TO ORNITHOLOGIST’S PARADISE

Professor Marplcs puzzled members of Ihc club when ho announced the title of his lecture as ‘ Where ’ until it was disclosed that Whero is the name of a very small island near Halfmoon Bay, Stewart Island. At no the lecturer) was tho diameter of this island much more than fifty yards, and its greatest height was about 60ft above sea level. Small though it was, it had proved a veritable ornithologists’ paradise to Professor Marples and Mr Eichdale, who had spent a considerable amount of time studying the bird life there.

Before visiting Whero some days had been spent on Bench Island, which was so densely wooded with scrub, tree ferns, and rata that it was difficult to find enough clear space for a tent. The main object of the visit had been to catch and ring yellow-eyed' penguins and so study their movements. Wekas were found to bo plentiful on this island and a family of these had been caught, weighed, and ringed. Towards dusk each evonng, crowds of mutton birds gathered at sea and, as darkness fell, they came ashore and settled for the night in their burrows. Other birds came late after it was quite dark, and blue penguins also came ashore for the night. The dismal groans and cries of' alf these birds made a weird mixture of noises, making sleep impossible. Much of the bird study had to be done at night, by means of flashlights, for many of these birds wore never seen in the day time, as they returned to sea early in the morning as soon as light appeared. On Bench Island 24 species of birds were observed, including kakas, parrakeets, bellbirds, and i.uis.

The island of Whero could be approached only in calm weather and as there was no landing place it was a somewhat hazardous adventure landing from a dinghy and scrambling up the cliffs. Everything had to bo carried, including drinking water,

as no supply was available on the island. ] The surface was covered with tussock, sedge, stilbocarpa, and olearia. The soil was riddled with burrows of birds and in places was densely cpyered with muhleuhcckia. On this small island 16 different species of birds were noted, among these being rod-fronled parrakeets, hedge sparrows, starlings, white eyes, gulls, shags, skua, and petrels. The skua, a gull which had become a bird of prey, liked to occupy a rocky prominence from which other birds could be observed and caught and devoured. Sometimes the skuas chased smaller birds, forcing them to disgorge their food, which the skuas immediately claimed. Small petrels were swallowed whole, but the tegs and feet remained in the gullet, to be ejected later with the remaining hones and feathers after the petrel had been digested. The predominant birds of the island were the petrels, which were there in thousands every evening. The diving petrels differed considerably from the others in appearance and in their flight, swimming and diving instead of swooping to pick up their food. These birds closely resembled the little auk of the northern hemisphere. Thousands of storm petrels were nesting in the niuhlenbeckia area and the larger mutton birds occupied burrows up to 4ft in length. , , ... . Interesting birds were the broad-billed prions, whose beaks, liin wide, were equipped with ‘ rows of plates along the sides. Thev filtered their food out of the water through these plates just as did a whale, and for this reason they were sometimes called ** whale birds. Shags were plentiful in Whero, as they were on most of the islands near Stewart Island. Insect and small animal life was abundant, too. Fifty sweeps of the net over the sedge area brought in 251 animals, of which 190 were one kind of small beetle, 32 flics, four mites, and sis spnngtails, while a similar number of sweeps in the same area at night revealed 331 animals, including 78 beetles, 58 springtails, and 85 mites. The stilbocarpa area produced 578 flies out of a total of 674 creatures. Mrs Tily moved a very hearty vote of thanks 1o Professor Marples for his most interesting lecture.