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Notes on the Three Kings Islands

by

Ross Michie

On 31 December, 1962, a party of eight, including myself, spent three days on the Great King. The weather was perfect and the birds and plant life were very interesting.

The plants peculiar to the Kings group number thirteen, of which twelve are to be found on the Great King, and one, Elingamita johnsonii, on West King only. Ten of the plants are small trees, one a climber, one a more or less prostrate Hebe, and a Carex.

Not having known the state of the vegetation on the Great King during the period of goat infestation and consequent plant destruction, I am not in a position to make comparisons of then and now. However, the gaps between aged or mature trees and juvenile tell their own story. Taking pohutukawas as one example of trees which are sprinkled throughout the Great King, in no place did I observe any between approximately six and ten feet high. Growing on an easy slope on the western side of the island near the top of the Tasman Valley is a small compact clump of mature pohutukawas about a quarter of an acre in extent. This part of the island is the only part not covered with manuka. For the most part here it is comparatively open, possibly the result of a fire many years back during Maori occupation. All along this slope are literally dozens of small pohutukawas up to a few feet high looking quite healthy.

Another striking example of the gap between mature and juvenile is Pittasporum fairchildii. This small tree appears to be more restricted to the western portion of the island (of which, incidentally, the highest point is almost 1,000 ft.). It was only down the steep scree and boulder rocks that I saw mature trees, yet directly above, among sizable manuka at the top of the Tasman Valley, plants up to eight and ten feet high were fairly common, many laden with big round capsules. All these plants have obviously grown since the destruction of the 393 goats in 1946.

Another interesting feature of the plant life is the abundance of young puka (Meryta sinclairii) throughout the island. At the time of the destruction of the goats, I think it is correct to say that not a specimen was known there. Birds have since spread the seed from

North-East and South-West Islands. The titoki (Alectryon grandis) is peculiar to the Great King. I saw one only, growing on the northern side of the steep scree slope on the narrow waist, as it were, of the island. This is the only place where a few trees had been previously discovered. Time did not permit a thorough check to ascertain whether more of them still exist. This titoki has a leaf not unlike the mainland species, but each leaflet is much larger, and there is only one pair of leaflets on either side apart from the terminal leaflet; the leaf is thicker.

The rangiora (Brachyglottis arborescens) is fairly well distributed over the island. It, too, has a harder leaf than the mainland species. The upper surface of the leaf is darker green and the under surface very white. As the shrub reaches a height of nine or ten feet it tends to get shaggy with the leaves in groups at the branch and twig terminals; as a young vigorous plant it is quite attractive.

Paratrophis smithii, counterpart to the turepo or milk tree of the mainland is a very different looking shrub' to the mainland species, and is well distributed among the manuka and stream edges, especially in Tasman Valley. The shrub has larger dark green entire leaves up to nine inches long and four inches wide. It has a somewhat untidy look about it, not having an upright habit, and is somewhat like a quince tree. At each leaf the twig takes a few degrees kink to one side, then at the next leaf to the other side, giving the twigs a slightly zig-zag appearance. The flowers are quite insignificant like those of its mainland cousin. They grow out from the hard woody parts of the twigs and also from the trunk of the shrub, in a way similar to those of the kohekohe.

Coprosma macrocarpa is a pleasant-looking shrub, well distributed, having large brightgreen leaves and the largest fruit I have seen on any coprosma, dark orange in colour when ripe. Cordyline kaspar (the Kings cabbage tree) is well distributed. It has shorter and broader leaves than the mainland species, and the leaves do not have the fibre that Cordylinc australis has. The plant itself is more slender. There was a complete absence of the grubmutilated leaves so much in evidence on the mainland.

Hebe insularis is a very soft twiggy type of veronica, usually inclined to be sprawly. It grows down the cliff ledges, on the scree, and on the collar just above the cliffs. It was in full bloom at the time of our visit; the flowers are a pale lilac in terminal clusters not unlike those of Hebe diosmifolia. I came on one plant with an unusual growth form it was a very handsome little compact round clump about three feet high and wide. The creeping fern, Davallia tasmani, which clambers through rock crevices and is also present through the manuka, is a pleasing little fern. We now come to one of the two gems of the Great King. Tecomanthe speciosa was located with little difficulty growing on a stream bank in Tasman Valley. All accounts 1 have read concerning this climber have stated that only one vine existed. This however, is not correct; there is a group of four separate flourishing vines, which may have and probably did come from the largest vine originally. Plectomirtha baylisiana, the one and only known tree, this we failed to locate. It was our only disappointment. We spent a good while looking for it in the vicinity of the locality given but without results. . A creeping plant not commonly met in the vicinity of the sea on the northern mainland is the native cucumber (Sicyos angulata), but it is quite common on both Great King and South-West King, in fact too common. Its ripe seed burrs are a real nuisance if one happens to push past an unnoticed vine. The segments of the burrs immediately cling to your clothing, as does the piripiri (bidi-bidi), but the difference is that the cucumber has very thin, sharp, brittle, irritating thorns. A herb which must have been practically wiped out by the goats but which is now abundant is the oru (Praha physaloides''). In parts of the Tasman Valley it forms masses of soft green. The Birds of Great King Very little evidence of Maori occupation remains. With the rapid regeneration over the past sixteen years the ground for the most part.is completely covered. Bellbirds, which I consider represent not less than 50 per cent, of the land birds on the island, are a very cheerful lot. From sunrise till sunset, not before or after, their singing and chirping can be

heard through the day, especially in the vicinity of the streams. The beautiful red-fronted parakeets come next after bellbirds in numbers, which would be roughly equal to that of all the other native birds. As for the rest of the native land birds on the island, it was most disappointing. They were for the most part absent. The pipit was seen on several occasions in the more open places, three fantails only were seen, also several kingfishers (and a nest hole in a bank which showed definite signs of a family having been successfully reared in it), and one silvereye. A pair of harrier hawks and some single birds were often seen in flight, and a hawk’s nest of this season was also found, the usual platform of sticks and twigs. Moreporks were fairly common; two pretty little fluffy slategrey young were seen sitting in a low tree close to one of the parents. Little brown quail were flushed on several occasions. To my knowledge these have not yet been conclusively identified as being either the Australian quail common on the mainland, or the once plentiful but now considered extinct native quail. No tuis, pigeons, or grey warblers were seen or heard. Of the introduced birds, a blackbird was heard singing on two mornings just after dawn and a nest of this season was found, four starlings flew over on 1 January, and a chaffinch was heard singing several times about noon on the same day. The red-billed gull was nesting literally by the thousand all around the shore line. From just above sea level right to the tops of the cliffs, there were odd chicks about a third grown, but most of the nests contained eggs and chicks just hatched. A sooty shearwater chick was found under a sheet of iron, part of the remains of the castaway depot. A number of petrel burrows were seen but not investigated. At night calls of sea birds flying over were frequently heard.

The first of the native birds to be heard of a morning were the parakeets. Their chatter would commence at 5.10 a.m. and at 5.20 a.m. the bellbirds would begin to sing, this coinciding with sunrise. I was surprised that they did not tune up earlier, but perhaps the reason is that the morepork is fairly common and might hunt till about sunrise.

South-West King

Four of our party including myself landed for about three hours on the South-West King. This was particularly interesting and it was no trouble at all to get ashore. There was a small gannet colony of about a dozen birds, just above a red-billed gull colony, where we landed. The gannet chicks were all still in the snow-white fluffy stage, with the exception of one tiny chick and a hopeful bird sitting on a deformed addled egg.

After a scramble through about thirty yards of tight twiggy taupata, we found ourselves in a beautiful puka forest, with a dense canopy of large leaves above and a covering of fallen leaves underfoot. This was something entirely new and very fascinating. A plant which immediately claimed attention was a large-leaved and large-fruited kawakawa. Nothing I have seen on the mainland or the Hen Island anything like approached this plant for leaf and fruit size. Owing to the dense canopy there was very little growing beneath the puka besides a sprinkling of kawakawa already referred to and a light sprinkling of Paratrophis smithii. Some of the Paratrophis had slightly larger leaves than the largest on Great King. This can possibly be accounted for by the quality of the soil, which is a rich humus.

The parapara or bird-catching tree was also present among the puka and approximately the same height, ten to twelve feet. It is present also on the Hen Island.

Where, an occasional puka which had reached its life span had died or had been blown down, affording a space for. other plants to grow, there would usually be vigorous plants of poroporo.

As one approaches the highest point on the island on the western side a rocky precipice is reached. Here the puka thins out. giving, place to stunted taupata, flax, and cucumber. Along the lower parts, coming up from the sea on the southern and south-western approaches, before the puka commences it is fairly steep and rocky. This portion was invariably covered with a stunted tangled mixture of Hymenanthera, ngaio, and taupata. with cucumber vines thrown in for good measure, the combination making a well-nigh impregnable barrier.

Time did not permit other than a quick run over a portion of the island. Therefore this brief account of the flora is very scanty. As

on the Great King many places around the rock faces are occupied by nesting gulls. On the western tip a large colony of both gulls and gannets was observed, also on the larger of the Princes Rocks many nesting birds could be seen. There were a good many petrel burrows sprinkled around in suitable landing places for the night-flying parent birds. In eight burrows I put my arm down to ascertain what the occupants were and without exception was greeted with vigorous pecking, this being an invitation to grab the beak and head, then carefully to pull the bird out, much to its objection. In every case the birds were of the same species; some were covered in grey down; in others the down was giving place to a white underpart. I am not very well acquainted with the petrels but think they would be storm petrels; the outer toe and webbing on each foot was black, and the inner two toes were black streaked, with more or less white webbing. Both bellbirds and redfronted parakeets were present, and two brown quail were flushed.

Last summer Ross Michie made a hurried but most interesting trip to the Great King and SouthWest King. He regrets that time did not permit his making more extensive observations. Ed.

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Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/FORBI19630801.2.12

Bibliographic details

Forest and Bird, Issue 149, 1 August 1963, Page 9

Word Count
2,183

Notes on the Three Kings Islands Forest and Bird, Issue 149, 1 August 1963, Page 9

Notes on the Three Kings Islands Forest and Bird, Issue 149, 1 August 1963, Page 9

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