Nature's Corner: Summer 2005
Bird News
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| North Island Robin |
Staff and volunteers continue to be busy monitoring nesting pairs of seven of our species of reintroduced birds, kiwi-pukupuku (little spotted kiwi), pateke, (brown teal), toutouwai (North Island robin), korimako (bellbird), miromiro (North Island tomtit), tieke (North Island saddleback) and North Island kaka. Most birds have fledged their first clutch of chicks and are already into their second (or even third) nesting. By late December, staff had banded the first, and in some cases, the second round of new miromiro, korimako, toutouwai, tieke and kaka of the season.
Four kaka chicks fledged during the week after Christmas. A second clutch (one chick) fledged on 13th January from a natural nest and there are 5 chicks in 2 more nests, with 4 due to fledge mid January.
Fourteen pateke (brown teal) ducklings fledged during December/January and most were caught and banded just before Christmas. They included a family of 5 on the Taylor Wetlands, 3 at the top end of the Lower Lake and 6 in a forested stream above the Upper Lake.
Seven pairs of tieke are being monitored between Tui Terrace and the south end of the valley. Seventeen saddleback chicks have fledged so far this season. Most pairs have already had two clutches and we expect some to start a third clutch soon. The two pairs near Tui terrace and the Swamp track have renested so are seen less often than a few weeks ago when they were looking after fledglings.
We captured on video the first images of a young kiwi-pukupuku (little spotted kiwi) chick outside the nest. This is the fifth chick Jackson and his mate have produced since their release in July 2000. We already had video footage of two of his earlier chicks from inside the burrow but never any footage of chick and male behaviour outside. It was recently hatched, on or about January 1st. We have had a camera focused on the entrance to the nest since mid December to capture images of the chick once it had hatched. On the first night it was seen, it spent most of its time inside or near the burrow entrance while Dad foraged elsewhere; since then it has gone out of range of the camera, exploring and foraging further afield.
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| Tomtit |
The valley is alive with bird song. The Turbine and Tui Glen Tracks are good places to hear the 'squeaky wheelbarrow' song of the miromiro. Look and listen for toutouwai on the Round the Lake Track and tieke and korimako in the vicinity of the Te Mahanga Track. Pipiwharauroa (shining cuckoo) chicks are also very vocal and visible at present while they follow their much smaller foster parents (riroriro / grey warbler) around. Tui chicks are also very vocal.
New Flowerbuds Forming
Pate (Schefflera digitata). Throughout the valley, but the best specimen is to be seen on the lake side of the Lake Road opposite Birdsong Gully. Clusters of finger-like stalks bearing flower buds are appearing among the leaves.
What is Flowering?
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| Rengarenga seed pods |
Rengarenga / Renga Lily (Arthropodium cirratum). Flowering is coming to an end and red-tinted green seed pods are developing. Look in the garden plots in the car park, around the Visitor Centre and other garden beds in the lower valley.
Kanuka (Kunzea ericoides). Look for the stand of these trees on the headland across the top Lake from the Top Dam. Small white flowers, hanging in clusters, began appearing in late December.
Ngaio (Myoporum laetum). Starry white flowers with pink markings are on all the ngaio trees planted along Lake Road. Hundreds of flowers have fallen on the road as flowering draws to a close and the new season’s fruit begins to form.
Poroporo (Solanum laciniatum). The deep purple flowers of this small shrub are on display throughout the valley, and also in the garden beds at the side of the car park and beside the Visitor Centre.
Panakenake (Pratia angulata).Starry-white asymmetrical flowers on the ground cover in the garden plots in the lower valley. Flowering continuing but new season’s wine-red berries are also beginning to appear.
New season’s fruit forming
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| Mahoe fruit forming |
Mahoe / Whiteywood (Melicytus ramiflorus). A very common tree in the Sanctuary. On female trees, tiny round green berries are beginning to form along the bare twigs that were formerly clothed in flowers.
Kawakawa (Macropiper excelsum). Throughout the valley. Female bushes have moved into the fruit-forming stage.
Tutu (Coriaria arborea). New season’s fruit are crowded on hanging catkins. See the bush on the hillside, overhanging Lake Road just south of the short white fence.
Ti Kouka / Cabbage Tree (Cordyline australis). Clusters of green berries are forming on large stalks. A tree behind the seats on the eastside of the round lawn above the Heritage area offers a close-up view. Look also for the much taller tree at Birdsong Gully.
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| Kamahi - the reddish blush is due to its immature seed capsules. |
Kamahi (Weinmannia racemosa). Mostly on the western side of the valley. Look for the three large reddish-looking round-headed trees on the western scarp above the Lower Dam. Flowering has finished and the red is the colour of the new season’s immature seed capsules.
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| Developing Kotukutuku fruit. |
Kotukutuku / Tree Fuchsia (Fuchsia excorticata). Small green oblong berries developing. Throughout the valley, but easily seen on the tree overhanging the west entrance to the top dam.
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.
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| Hangehange fruit forming. |
Hangehange (Geniostoma rupestre). Throughout the valley. Flowering is almost finished and small green fruit is forming on most bushes.
Kowhai (Sophora microphylla). New green seed pods developing. 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.
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| Green berries on Makomako. |
Makomako / Wineberry (Aristotelia serrata). Sprays of tiny green berries are forming on female trees. Look closely at the tree overhanging the fence at the western end of the top dam.
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.
Karamu (Coprosma robusta). Throughout the valley. New green berries forming on female trees.
Ripe Fruit or Seeds
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| Kanono fruit ripening. |
Kanono (Coprosma grandifolia). Throughout the valley and especially along Lake Road, the medium-sized pale-green berries on the female trees have started (early January) to turn orange.
Whauwhaupaku / Five Finger (Pseudopanax arboreus). Throughout the valley. Large clusters of purple-black fruit on the female trees. Fallen fruit clusters may be seen lying on the tracks.
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| Porokaiwhiri fruit ripening. |
Porokaiwhiri / Pigeonwood (Hedycarya arborea). Bunches of dark glossy green berries are turning orange. Best seen on the trees along the roadside through the weka gate as you approach the southern part of the Valley View track, along Lake Road and on Te Mahanga track.
Vines
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| Kohia fruit forming. |
Kohia / Native Passion Vine (Passiflora tetrandra). This vine flowered for a short period over the Christmas holidays. By early January new fruit was visible, forming in the centre of the expended flowers. The largest specimen is growing on the shrubs across the drain at the bottom of the driveway leading up to the Visitor Centre.
Pikirangi / Mistletoe (Ileostylus micranthus). Some of the seed of this small-flowered mistletoe placed on hosts earlier this year is germinating.
Tataramoa / Bush Lawyer (Rubus cissoides). Throughout the valley. Flower petals have fallen to the ground and fruit formation has begun. Look for the small green raspberry-shaped berries on the vine dangling from the tree on the left at the entrance to the kaka feeders at the base of the top dam.
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Karewao / Kareao / Supplejack (Ripogonum scandens). Bunches of small green berries are turning red. Throughout the valley but most easily seen along the Beech and Swamp Tracks. Akakura / Scarlet Rata Vine (Metrosideros fulgens). The flowers, which previously could be seen around the western fence-line, are developing into seed capsules. |
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| Karewao fruit ripening. |
Flaxes
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Harakeke / Swamp Flax (Phormium tenax) and Wharariki / Coastal flax / Mountain flax (Phormium cookianum). Flax occurs throughout the valley. Most plants have finished flowering and seed pods are forming. Of the two species of flax, wharariki is by far the most common in the Sanctuary, being most abundant on the higher slopes toward the southern end of the valley. Of the flaxes in the planted areas, the light green plants with drooping seed pods are wharariki. The larger and stronger-looking plants with erect seed pods are harakeke. | |
| Wharariki seed pods |
Note
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| Cypress Grove on the Valley View track. |
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.
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 January 17, 2005