Rainbow Springs and Kiwi Encounter
Rainbow Springs is right across the street from our motel and it came highly recommended. Turns out, the recommendation was spot on.
The RS aviaries are home to many of New Zealand's nativr birds. The "cheeky" kaka was a delight, but kea really caught my attention. It's attracted to glittery things and while my hand was on the railing, it hopped right up to my hand and pecked at my ring. It saw it's tongue flick out and dart across the topaz and the gold, then licking between my fingers. Now and then it would peck. That hurt!
They also have tui birds here, but I didn't read that any of them talk so the one we saw in Whangarei which called "come here" to us must be an unusual specimen.
A highlight is the Kiwi Encounter. This is a working hatchery and nursery. When the Kiwi are mature enough, they are released back into the wild areas. The success rate for the survival is 60% compared to 5% for those left in the wild without human intervention. Sadly, their numbers are down from millions and their population is declining so rapidly that it is halving in size every 10 years and kiwi could be close to extinction by 2015.
Did you know a kiwi egg is 25% of the bird's weight? That's like a woman giving birth to a 35 pound baby. "Personally, I don't see what the problem is", said our male guide. After their exahusting egg laying, the females take off and let the males hatch the egg, for about 80 days. Meanwhile, the females are trying to build up again so they can lay another egg a few weeks later.
We saw live baby kiwi and adults who were foraging around in the natural wooded areas provided by the kiwi habitat.
We ended up by watching a sheep shearing - pretty cool! And saw sheep dogs herding the sheep and running over their backs!
More later when I get some more internet time. Stay tuned.
The RS aviaries are home to many of New Zealand's nativr birds. The "cheeky" kaka was a delight, but kea really caught my attention. It's attracted to glittery things and while my hand was on the railing, it hopped right up to my hand and pecked at my ring. It saw it's tongue flick out and dart across the topaz and the gold, then licking between my fingers. Now and then it would peck. That hurt!
They also have tui birds here, but I didn't read that any of them talk so the one we saw in Whangarei which called "come here" to us must be an unusual specimen.
A highlight is the Kiwi Encounter. This is a working hatchery and nursery. When the Kiwi are mature enough, they are released back into the wild areas. The success rate for the survival is 60% compared to 5% for those left in the wild without human intervention. Sadly, their numbers are down from millions and their population is declining so rapidly that it is halving in size every 10 years and kiwi could be close to extinction by 2015.
Did you know a kiwi egg is 25% of the bird's weight? That's like a woman giving birth to a 35 pound baby. "Personally, I don't see what the problem is", said our male guide. After their exahusting egg laying, the females take off and let the males hatch the egg, for about 80 days. Meanwhile, the females are trying to build up again so they can lay another egg a few weeks later.
We saw live baby kiwi and adults who were foraging around in the natural wooded areas provided by the kiwi habitat.
We ended up by watching a sheep shearing - pretty cool! And saw sheep dogs herding the sheep and running over their backs!
More later when I get some more internet time. Stay tuned.
Comments