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The famous national bird. Flightless and nocturnal. Very fat cock size. Rarely seen in wild since kiwi is nearly endangered. Flightless results in larger and strong legs which allow them to walk unexpectedly fast. They just look like "sneak thief" wandering about. Male birds are totally devoted to incubate and nurture their chicks. That's why the word KIWI HUSBAND is used. |
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The kea looks like parrot. Moss green body with bright-orange color on the undersurface of the wing. Mostly seen in alpine and subalpine area. Easily distinguished by the loud note "Kea, kea, kea". Curious and mischievous. |
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The flightless bird which can be found in the beach forest. Skinny hen-size. Curious and tame. Believe or not, I've eaten "corned weka meat" once. All I can remember about it is it's thick rubber-like skin. |
TAKAHE & PUKEKO
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These species are similar in their beautiful colors. But the takahe
and the pukeko are much different. The takahe is bigger and fatter. If you see a wildbird in this colors, it must be a pukeko. Because it is almost impossible to see a takahe in wild since it's endangered. The takahe survive only in the inner most depths of Fiordland while the pukeko can be seen anywhere. Takahe's fertility is low and what is worse, takahe is flightless. Wanna see takahe? Go to Wildlife Center in Te Anau. You can find them wandering slowly inside of the large fence. The difference between takahe and pukeko is explained in detail there. |
ROYAL ALBATROSS
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You can visit the albatross colony at Otago Peninsula. This is the
only place in the world where you can see wild albatross by easy access
on land. Among albatrosses, the royal albatross is the largest. Their wingspan exceeds 3m. Therefore flying royals across the sky are so cool that you are sure to be deeply impressed. We Japanese would better rename them since Japanese name for albatross(=ahodori) means "stupid bird"!! |
FANTAIL
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"Piwakawaka" to the Maori. Fantail is the sweet little bird with the long "fantail" as the name shows. They can be your friendly and cheerful companies during trekking. They won't stop singing. They won't stop spreading and shutting, raising and lowering their tails during the acrobatic flight. |
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Common bird around coastline. Black body with a red bill, red legs, red eyes. Very coward. If you wanna find seashells, find oyster catchers first. |
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The robin is the small bird often seen during trekking
in the forest area. They are so friendly as sometimes to hop on your stretched hand. In that case, don't feed snacks to them since robins are wildlife. |
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"Kereru" to the Maori. The huge handsome pigeon in the forest habitat. The unexpected flutter in the dark forest must scare you. |
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Imagine you are in a farm. It's a peaceful early morning. Here comes
the sweet song. It's the bellbird. Their songs are so melodious, varied and absolutely beautiful. It sounds like nothing. You'll wake up and listen to the bellbird on the bed. What a rich farm life is! |
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Another excellent tenor is the tui. While the bellbird looks plain,
the tui has beautiful iridescent black body with prominent white tuft and
necklace. The tui is indigenous forest habitat and is good at copying other birds' notes. You may find them easily. |
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Sparrows are everywhere both in Japan and in NZ. But it was the first
time for me to see the gray head sparrow! Actually, the gray head(ordinary sparrow) is much more common in the world while we are more familiar with the tree sparrow in Japan. |
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"Putangitangi" in Maori. The paradise duck or so called the
shelduck is found only in NZ. Usually, male bird is more attractive than female one. But it's not true to the shelduck. You can easily find the attractive white head with bright chestnut body. That's the female. The drake has dark color body. They are always seen in lovely pairs, and their marriage continues till one die. The drake is very brave and kind. I've heard that when they leave the nest, the drake always comes out first to look around carefully, to make sure it's safe, then goes back to the nest, and escorts the duck all the way. |
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As its name tells, CALIFORNIA QUAIL is common bird in North America.
But there are plenty of them in NZ too. Prominent black feather crown is nice'n lovely. You may see this quail at the top of trees as well as on the ground. |
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You'll have more encounter with penguins at beaches than you expect,
even if you're not at Dunedin's Penguin Place or Penguin Colony in Oamaru. There are some species such as little blue penguin(korora in Maori), yellow-eyed penguin(hoiho). Fiordland crested penguin(tawaki) is especially distinguished for its yellow crest and its rainforest habitat. The photo is little blue penguin. |
