THE JUNIOR SECTION*

Forest and Bird, Issue 185, 1 August 1972, Page 29

THE JUNIOR SECTION*

Compiled by Wellington Branch

IN our series of ecological articles we have discussed rock pool and coastal areas, alpine, bush, and swamp land, and an island. Now we come to the towns and cities, the urban and park land ecology.

WHAT happens to the wildlife when a town appears — not overnight of course — but as it spreads with more houses and buildings and more people needing room to live? Look at an early picture of the town you live

in, taken, say, about 100 years ago. There were a few houses fairly scattered apart, perhaps the occasional two-storey building, usually

built in wood. Plenty of room for wildlife birds, you will say. But this is not so; the fact of a town starting meant that much clearing and burning had already taken place, and a good deal of early industry was based on saw-milling and early farming, whose methods unnecessarily burnt out too much bush. An old resident of Masterton recollected that in the 1875-80 period kaka, tui, and pigeon were near Masterton in their thousands; flocks of pigeons would sometimes darken the sun, mobs of kaka flew over the township, and the noise of thousands of tuis singing at dawn was deafening (Mr Bannister states this in Stidolph’s “The Birds Around Us”). The bush has been cleared to the foothills of the Tararua Ranges behind Masterton now and there are still kakas and pigeons and tuis in it; Masterton is now a busy town of “Golden Shears” renown. Early Settlers Introduced Birds The early settlers missed the birds of the countryside they came from, and so “introduced” birds appeared — sparrow, blackbird, starling, thrush, etc. — and are now an accepted part of our bird life, and we are pleased to have them. . Birds may be grouped as either introduced birds or as native birds. The introduced birds have been imported by man, but the native birds have not. Native birds can be divided into (a) resident birds, like the tui, which were here in preEuropean days, (b) migratory birds, like the godwit, which spend part of a season in one

Whakatane Juniors' Weekend Camp

Whakatane Section juniors left on Friday afternoon, 4 February, for a weekend camp at the Lions Lodge, Urewera National Park. After tea we went to see the fascinating glow-worms. In the morning we went for a walk in the bush. I saw a kotukutuku tree, a makomako, a kahikatea, a manuka, a tawa, a matai, and a rohutu. After lunch and a rest we went for a hike up the hill. We pulled out ragwort along the roadside and saw a big rata tree. Then we went for a swim. At night we saw some slides about birds, trees, plants, flowers, rivers, and mountian craters. Next morning we went for a walk in the bush. We had to be quiet for 10 minutes and then I heard crickets, bees, fantails, bellbirds, silvereyes, riflemen, pigeons, tomtits, the wind, and the river. We then wrote stories until lunch time. We were very pleased we had joined Mrs Briffault for an enjoyable weekend. —Christine Goodson (9 years)

country and part in another, and (c) immigrant birds, like the white-faced heron, which have introduced themselves probably as the result of being carried on strong winds. All three types are classed as native birds and are protected by law, whereas introduced birds are not so protected, except of course where they are classed as game birds and can be shot on purchase of a licence in the proper season. The introduced birds adapted and settled in their new home, because conditions were fairly much the same as their country of origin. The ordinary house sparrow would have a hard time if it was not for man’s company, and he has adapted to use man’s throw-outs to such an extent that he might die out, and would certainly decrease in numbers, without this supply of food and habitat. Easing Tensions What are the advantages of having birds in our cities and suburbs and what are the disadvantages? In our mode of living today we are under considerable stress and strain and to keep fit and well, we need an escape channel; in other words, we need to unwind. Being able to look at a free-living bird which also has adapted to altering city conditions can ease our tensions; in fact a sparrow or pigeon just sitting on an office window ledge can make life pleasanter. The city birds get a hand-out of lunch scraps and have adopted this as a way of life. In suburban gardens a blackbird’s song can be part of your pattern of living and you say: “Good, he’s back again. Spring’s here.” Then you might see a sparrow or starling flying with a large piece of building material for its nest and you have an interested look ■to see where it is going, and you hope it has got a cosy nesting site in mind. Yes, if you are interested in birds and put bread and scraps out on a bird table or tray, these are obvious advantages — just looking at birds. .As for the disadvantages, you cannot have birds living in a city without some nuisance to people and buildings, a few nesting places on a parapet disfigured by droppings, a few blocked gutterings and downpipes, and certainly a mess on the footpath underneath a favourite roosting place. In Wellington we have “Pigeon Park”, opposite the Opera House, a traditional place to feed the pigeons and part of the life of the city. They are, of course, the introduced rock pigeons; put a fat native pigeon there

and he would die of heart failure at the sight of the city traffic. Birds on airport runways are a problem. Large flocks of finches, yellowhammers, or starlings can be a hazard to aircraft, and seagulls scavenging on rubbish dumps near airports have also caused alarm to pilots. As these new problems of living arise remedies are sought and gradually a solution is worked out. Ecologists know that we need free-flying birds in our world today, and we are the better off for their company. Some towns have a lake or river with ducks and waterfowl, and these places are an acknowledged attraction. The ducks are friendly and amusing as they squabble over scraps of bread, and in spring and summer mother duck proudly teaches her ducklings the finer points of swimming and diving.

In modern city planning there is recognition of the advantages of having “green plots”; some are very small areas where perhaps a building has been demolished and a street widened to leave a little spare land. It is surprising how an inspired planner can convert these little spots into seemingly larger ones by building up a small bank of shrubs or flax and putting in a tiny curving path. It is also a way of educating the public into new ideas of sculpture or architecture; they might look rather odd at first, but the more you look at them the more you see what the designer was trying to accomplish. So you can see that the ecology of cities and towns is interesting, and at present ideas are changing so quickly we wonder how the birds keep up with the changes.

Waikato Juniors Study Trees and Birds at Karamu

RECENTLY the Waikato Branch Junior Group stayed a night at Mr J. D. Wright’s home in Karamu. Near the house is a small native bush area, in which mainly totara and kahikatea provide food and shelter for tuis and rosellas, which are abundant.

After dark the first evening we went for a short walk to hear the night birds and their calls. We heard moreporks, pukekos, and some unidentified rather queer sounds. During this walk we heard a few terrified screeches, and next day while walking where this sound had come from, we found a heap of rosella feathers. We were puzzled about what could have killed this bird. Next morning, after an early cup of tea, we went for a walk in the dawn to listen for the early bird songs. The first we heard was a morepork (or was it the last of the night calls?), and others in order of waking and calling were blackbirds, tuis, rosellas, fantails, grey warblers, and chaffinches. One of the main reasons for our overnight stay was to try to identify as many trees, ferns, and plants growing in the bushed area as we couM. With some help from our leaders, over 60 different species were recorded. Some of the biggest were miro and kahikatea. Our stay was very much enioyed and, our thanks go to Mr and Mrs Wright and our leaders for giving us such a time to remember. —Lois Smith (11 years) and Julia Byrne (11 years)

*Sponsored by the J. R. McKenzie Trust.