Wekas as Weather Forecasters

Forest and Bird, Issue 162, 1 November 1966, Page 15

Wekas as Weather Forecasters

IV/TR C. C. MEIKLE’S article “Do Wekas’ -L’-*- Calls at Night Portend Bad Weather?”, which appeared in the August issue of “Forest and Bird”, has prompted comment on the subject from three readers, who describe their experiences with wekas in the north of the South Island. Calls Often Heard at Night From Blenheim Mrs G. C. Highet writes For 12 years my husband and I lived at Whatanihi, Pelorus Sound, and wekas were very numerous there (and in other parts of the sound, particularly at Fairy Bay, a popular picnic spot where picnickers fed them with scraps and could almost touch them). While we lived at Whatanihi we learnt a great deal about wekas, which usually were so friendly that they would come to the door for scraps and would even share the pups’ bones, but if the cats chased them, the wekas would outrun their pursuers easily. In the early summer there would be several pairs of parents each with a string of little ones, generally four or five. They usually made their nests in large groups of flax bushes. We often heard them calling during the day, but the calls came mostly at night. We found that the saying “When wekas call at night, then rain and storm ere light” was not quite accurate. If one called on its own, there was no change in the weather, but if it called and was answered, from usually a good distance, it did rain. Being weather conscious, we listened for the weka’s call if rain was forecast, and without fail the forecast was wrong if the wekas did not call. As we were in a sheltered spot, we could not verify the reference to. storm and wind, but certainly it rained.

Warning of Approaching Storm Marguerite Johnston states: Eighty years ago my father bought a property at Queen Charlotte Sound, bush clad almost to the water’s edge. By the time the family moved to it the small amount of flat land had been cleared, but a clump of bush had been saved behind the house. The rest was in virgin forest. We sometimes heard the whistle of a kiwi in the distance and were often wakened by that melodious early morning concert so applauded by others who have heard it.

Our reserve was alive with small birds and even a weka would stroll about occasionally. At times my sister and I would go to a nearby gully and whistle through the leaf sheaths of the dianella. Very soon fantails, tomtits, and riroriros would be twittering overhead, with a shy weka peeping round a tree trunk.

Wekas were very common then; they were oui' weather forecasters. Before rain their calls were always louder and repeated more frequently. I have referred to this in “The Beetle Boys”, where Mother Weka goes out to warn the birds of an approaching storm. Kiwis Also Call Before Storms Mr L. J. Bell, of Reefton, states: Wekas are plentiful in this locality and have been at my doorstep for over 70 years. During the calm before a storm, usually the evening preceding it, wekas may be heard in numbers calling and answering each other. This has very often brought forth the remark: “There is rain coming. Listen to the wekas.” Rain has invariably followed. In days gone by kiwis were here in numbers, and in the early night could be heard calling from almost every bush-clad gully. This chorus of calls was greater the night before a storm in like manner to that of the wekas.