Nature's Corner – Late Summer 2005
Bird News
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| Stitchbird Release |
The nesting season is drawing to a close with many breeding pairs having completed their third nesting for the season and others in the process of incubating or fledging their third and final clutch.
Most adult birds are going into their annual moult, which means that they may be less active and vocal. This process lasts about a month, and it is the newly independent juveniles that will be providing all the activity as they socialise and jostle with established pairs for territory.
On February 8th, Dave Barker, who does teal surveys for the Department of Conservation (DOC), visited the Sanctuary with his 'duck' dog Gus, to survey some of the more remote brown teal (pateke, Anas chlorotis) habitats in the sanctuary. Gus found one female brown teal in the headwaters of the Fault line stream, but the teal managed to sneak off through the undergrowth without having her leg bands identified.
During February a team comprising 2 Sanctuary staff, volunteers, researchers, supporters of Tiritiri Matangi, and DOC spent 10 days on Tiritiri Matangi Island catching 30 stitchbird (hihi, Notiomystis cincta) for transfer to the Sanctuary. It took 3 days to catch 37 hihi, which were then placed into an aviary on the island. It took another 7 days waiting for results of disease screening. Then the birds were recaptured and 30 were placed into transfer boxes for the trip back to the Sanctuary, and the surplus 7 were released back at their capture sites. The transferred hihi were released in the Sanctuary on the morning of February 17th. This brings the number of species released in the Sanctuary to 12. Look for these birds at the special hihi feeders and the bellbird feeders. Two of the hihi feeders are located on the Beech track, one up the old Campbell Street Track to the west of the top dam and one on Henderson Lawn (past the kaka and bellbird feeders at the base of the top dam).
What’s flowering?
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| Mapau flowers |
Mapau / Matipou (Myrsine australis). Clusters of minute cream flowers, often accompanied by ripe black fruit from the previous season, are throughout the valley, but easily seen (flowers only) on a tree along the fence at the back of the Heritage area, behind the Mike Stewart seat.
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| Olearia flowers |
Coastal Tree Daisy (Olearia solandri). Dozens of starry white flowers are on the bush growing out from the bank on Lake Road, just past the Valley Rules sign.
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| Pate flowers and buds |
Pate (Schefflera digitata). Throughout the valley, but the most accessible specimen is on the lakeside of Lake Road opposite Birdsong Gully. Clusters of finger-like stalks are crowded with tiny greenish-yellow flowers hanging down beneath the leaves.
Panakenake (Pratia angulata). Starry-white asymmetrical flowers on the ground cover in the garden plots in the lower valley. Flowering is continuing, but new season’s wine-red berries are also present.
Koromiko Taranga / Tree Hebe (Hebe arborea). Flowering now, especially along the Valley View Track. The largest specimen, growing behind the Sanctuary sign in the car park, flowered briefly and spectacularly in late January / early February.
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| Koromiko flowers |
Koromiko (Hebe stricta). Now coming into flower. Look for the racemes (flower clusters) of tiny pale lilac flowers, fading to white on the bushes along Lake Road and along paths and tracks in other parts of the valley.
New season’s fruit forming
Poroporo (Solanum laciniatum). The deep purple flowers of this small shrub are still on many plants throughout the valley. At the same time large, glossy, green new-season’s berries are forming, and in some cases mature fruit is ripening to orange.
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| Rengarenga seed capsules |
Rengarenga / Renga Lily (Arthropodium cirratum). Red-tinted, green seed capsules are developing. Look in the garden plots in the car park, around the Visitor Centre and other garden beds in the lower valley.
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| Ti kouka fruit |
Ti Kouka / Cabbage Tree (Cordyline australis). Clusters of green berries are forming on large stalks. A tree behind the seats on the eastern side of the Round Lawn above the Heritage area offers a close-up view.
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| Unripe Kohuhu fruit |
Kohuhu (Pittosporum tenuifolium). Pale, slightly furry, unripe seed capsules on the female or hermaphrodite trees. Throughout the valley, but look for the tree along the fence at the Heritage area behind the Dora Eder seat.
Tarata / Lemonwood (Pittosporum eugenioides). Bunches of small green seed capsules on trees throughout the valley. Check out the tree overhanging the fence at the back of the Heritage area.
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| Hangehange seed capsules |
Hangehange (Geniostoma rupestre). Throughout the valley. Small green seed capsules on most bushes. At this stage they look like berries, but when mature they will dry out and split open to expose a cone-shaped mass of sticky seeds.
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| Rewarewa seed pods |
Rewarewa (Knightia excelsa). Observe the clusters of brown seed pods that have replaced the flowers on the tree at the Rewarewa Bridge (second from the south end) on Te Mahanga Track. At this stage, each is tipped with a long needle-like extension that was the style in the original flower.
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| Unripe Ngaio fruit |
Ngaio (Myoporum laetum). New season’s green fruit has replaced the flowers. Look at the trees on either side of the Ti Kouka sign as you near the wetland view on Lake Road.
Karamu (Coprosma robusta). Throughout the valley. Female trees have masses of small green berries, although you may also see the odd tree with a few that have turned orange.
Ripe Fruit or Seeds
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| Kowhai seed pods |
Kowhai (Sophora microphylla). The sinuous green pods that have been difficult to spot as the foliage thickened are becoming visible again as they turn brown. Check out the large trees on either side of the top dam and the grove between the beginning of the Round the Lake Track and the track down to the hides.
Kotukutuku / Tree Fuchsia (Fuchsia excorticata). Small oblong berries, known as konini, have been ripening since January, changing in colour from green through red-purple to purple-black. Throughout the valley, but easily seen in early February on the tree overhanging the west entrance to the top dam. Look soon. The birds don’t leave ripe fruit to hang around! Many other trees have little or no fruit left.
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| Makomako fruit |
Makomako / Wineberry (Aristotelia serrata). On female trees, the sprays of tiny green berries have been ripening through red to black since mid January. Ripe berries are harvested promptly by birds, so be quick to inspect the tree overhanging the fence at the western end of the Upper Dam, or the tree 12 paces south of the Makomako sign on Lake Road.
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| Kakaha fruit |
Kakaha (Astelia fragrans). Some plants at the northern end of Tui Terrace have masses of ripe orange fruit. Look into the centre of the rosettes of sword-like leaves near the Miro sign.
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| Mahoe fruit |
Mahoe / Whiteywood (Melicytus ramiflorus). A common tree in the Sanctuary. On female trees the tiny round berries are ripening to violet or purple. Look especially at the tree behind the Entity Group seat at the north end of the Valley View Track.
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| Kawakawa fruit |
Kawakawa (Macropiper excelsum). Common throughout the valley. The elongated fruits on female bushes started to ripen to orange as January ended. Look for them on the bushes at the south end of Tui Terrace.
Kanono (Coprosma grandifolia). Throughout the valley, and especially along Lake Road, the medium sized pale-green berries on the female trees have been ripening to bright orange since early January.
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| Whau seed capsules |
Whau / Corkwood (Entelea arborescens). Clusters of large, bristly, brown capsules, splitting open to shed seeds, are on trees near the end of the track to the Campbell Street emergency exit.
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| Ripe Karaka fruit |
Karaka (Corynocarpus laevigatus). The large, glossy fruits started ripening to orange in the final week of February. Check out the trees with large glossy leaves at the western end of the Upper Dam.
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| Porokaiwhiri fruit |
Porokaiwhiri / Pigeonwood (Hedycarya arborea). Tight clusters of bright orange fruit are on female trees. Best seen on the trees along the roadside through the weka gate as you approach the southern part of the Valley View Track, or along Lake Road and on the Te Mahanga Track.
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| Titoki fruit |
Titoki (Alectryon excelsus). Brown seed capsules, which have slowly matured over the past year, started to split open on some trees in early February. Each split capsule reveals a glossy black seed embedded in a fleshy red cup. Quite beautiful, and easily seen on a tree on the bank just south of the white gate at the entrance to the car-park. Stand on the footpath and look up.
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| Whauwhaupaku fruit |
Whauwhaupaku / Five Finger (Pseudopanax arboreus). Throughout the valley. Large clusters of purplish-black fruit on the female trees. Fallen fruit clusters may also be seen lying on the tracks.
Vines
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| Akakura |
Akakura / Scarlet Rata Vine (Metrosideros fulgens). Found throughout the valley. Look for the orange-red flowers on the large vine above the large stand of kiekie on the western scarp above the Lower Lake. Flowering began in mid-February.
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| Unripe Kohia fruit |
Kohia / Native Passion Vine (Passiflora tetrandra). New fruit are forming. The largest specimen is growing on the shrubs across the drain at the bottom of the driveway leading up to the Visitor Centre.
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| Karewao |
Karewao / Kareao / Supplejack (Ripogonum scandens). Loose bunches of ripe red berries are noticeable throughout the valley, but are most easily seen along both the Beech and Swamp Tracks. Sprays of tiny green flowers or newly formed berries are also present.
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| Pohuehue flowers |
Pohuehue (Muehlenbeckia australis). Sprays of tiny buds, greenish-cream flowers and immature fruits are all present. For a close look, there is a vine on the western side of Lake Road, 15-16 paces south of the second group of Weed Garden boxes. Note also the vines growing at the back of Tui Terrace.
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| Tataramoa berries |
Tataramoa / Bush Lawyer (Rubus cissoides). Throughout the valley. Small raspberry-shaped berries are ripening to reddish-orange. As they colour up, they are consumed rapidly by birds, so you need to be quick to see them.
Flaxes
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| Wharariki seed pods |
Harakeke / Swamp Flax (Phormium tenax) and Wharariki / Coastal flax / Mountain flax (Phormium cookianum). Flax occurs throughout the valley. Seed pods are growing and maturing, and ripe seed pods are splitting open to shed flaky black seeds.
Gorse spider mites
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| Gorse infested with gorse spider mites |
You may notice some gorse bushes in the Sanctuary looking rather sickly and covered in what look like masses of spider webs. If you look more closely, you’ll see hundreds of tiny gorse spider mites (Tetranychus lintearius). They were brought to New Zealand from Europe to reduce the growth rate, seed production and density of gorse. Gorse is one of many plants introduced to New Zealand that have become major weeds, partly because they have few if any natural predators here. Gorse is a major weed of farmland in New Zealand, but presents little threat to the Sanctuary. In fact, gorse assists reforestation by providing shelter for native plants, which eventually suppress the gorse.
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| Electron micrograph of a gorse spider mite. © MAF. |
To help bring weeds under control, many natural predators of weeds have been released in New Zealand from the same places as the weeds they feed on. These are called biological control agents. Of course, one of the risks with releasing another new organism is that it may also become a pest, but the authorities assure us that in the case of gorse spider mites, this risk is very low. Control of gorse using biological control agents began in 1989, with six agents released so far. Gorse spider mites have been released throughout most of New Zealand and are now very common around Wellington. They live in colonies and spin webs over the gorse. During summer, females lay clusters of eggs on gorse stems. Mites have sucking mouth parts and they extract juices from gorse, causing its foliage to become a bleached yellowish-white colour and often causing it to die. Mites are very susceptible to environmental conditions, particularly temperature and rainfall. At higher temperatures, mites will breed and develop faster, resulting in population explosions during warm summers.
Note
| There are many micro-climates in the valley, lying as it does in a generally north and south line and its topography, being long, narrow, and deep. Often plants and trees in one part of the valley have begun to seed while the same species in other parts of the Sanctuary are flowering or coming into flower. Historically plants and flowers in the valley have tended to flower and fruit later than those in other parts of Wellington. |  | |
| Sanctuary by moonlight, looking north over the Lower Lake. Photo by Judi Lapsley Miller |
Nature's Corner is written by Sanctuary volunteers Pam Fuller and Allison Buchan. © All photographs, except where indicated, Karori Wildlife Sanctuary. Clicking on photos with blue borders will take you to a larger photo.
Published February 21, 2005; updated March 1, 2005