We spent two days on the island, spending the night in the bunkhouse so that we could go out after dark looking for kiwis, which are nocturnal. But a couple of hours of peering into the dark bushes didn't yield any sightings of the elusive birds, although we heard plenty calling. It was quite windy so they may have been staying well-sheltered, or perhaps we just couldn't hear them moving over the rustling of the trees.
A bellbird
During the day we did better. Walking around we were followed several times by fantails, feeding on the flies our feet dislodged. We also saw dozens of honey-eating bellbirds and stitchbirds at feeding stations maintained by the park rangers, as well as saddlebacks, whiteheads, kingfishers, New Zealand robins, parakeets, and the more common tuis and pukekos. The best were the takahe. These football-sized flightless birds are extremely rare, but there are three living near the visitors' centre on the island who are almost overly friendly and all too keen to steal your lunch if you look away. Quite a surreal experience - somehow I expect rare creatures to be shy. Maybe this gives some insight into why they're nearly extinct.
Tim bonds with a takahe
Staying in the bunkhouse was, as ever, a fascinating experience. With us were a couple of other people on holiday and five or so volunteers and researchers who work on the island. Some had led very varied and interesting lives and told dinner-table stories that were well worth hearing. One man had been an airport customs officer, and told us about a woman who tried to take her dead father on a plane as a passenger in a wheelchair. (Do you have any idea how difficult it is to ship a body in a coffin?) Luckily he noticed before she boarded...
Tim got a lot of good pictures - see here. Of course we also threw away lots of pictures of empty branches a bird had just left :)
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