February 14, 2024
On our second morning on Waiheke we headed out for a bush walk. It was less strenuous than the previous day’s walk but just as beautiful.
Silver ferns have become a symbol of New Zealand and you will see them on the uniforms of most of the country’s sports teams, including the All Blacks and the New Zealand Olympic team. Actually, the top of the fern’s fronds are green and it is only the under-surface that is silver.
Many of New Zealand’s native birds are endangered and there is a massive nationwide program to catch and kill their predators, including stoats, rats and feral cats. Hence, we came across a number of traps along the path.
However, the conservation program faces an uphill battle and it is likely that many more species of native bird will be lost in New Zealand by the end of the century. Case in point, we ended the walk at a pretty little bay which is also a breeding spot for the New Zealand dotterel, a native shorebird that is near to extinction. There are actually two subspecies of dotterel in New Zealand. The southern subspecies is particularly endangered with estimates of under a hundred still surviving. The northern subspecies is more widespread but their numbers are still in the low thousands. Perhaps, not surprisingly then, we didn’t see any actual dotterels, just the two on the top of this beautiful sculpture.
And this cardboard cutout of a dotterel and her chick.
Mal and Lauren 