Night Tour of Zealandia

While Mom was here, we went on a night tour at Zealandia. Zealandia is a wildlife sanctuary near where we live that does amazing work breeding native species that are endangered and educating the public about the importance of conservation and what they can do to help. The Māori name - Te Māra a Tāne - means, "the garden of Tāne" who is the Māori guardian of forests and land animals. Despite living not far from it, J and I had not gotten around to going yet.

We decided to go on the night tour because Kiwi are noctural, and we thought it would be very exciting to see a Kiwi out in the somewhat "wild." I saw one in the zoo a long time ago, and J and Mom had never seen one. We also invited Harry to come along, and he's never seen one... and still hasn't. We did our best to spot a Kiwi, but didn't manage it. Oh well. I would have thought that I would be more disappointed than I was, but the rest of the tour was so fantastic that I was just thrilled with the evening in general.

I took pictures of some of the animals we saw, but since it was dark, they are not exciting. I will show them to you anyway, but I have also used the great and powerful internet to help me show you what these creatures look like when not blurry and/or lit by red night-vision lights.

First, here is our tour guide, who was very knowledgeable, telling us about the wall they constructed around Zealandia to keep out predators. It has an overhang at the top that is wide enough to prevent possums from climbing up and over, and is tall enough that cats can't jump over it. It also has a metal matting coming horizontally at the bottom to keep rabbits from tunneling under it. She pointed out that if they were smart enough to back up a ways, they could tunnel under, but so far not a single rabbit has figured that out. It has very fine, metal weave to keep mice and stoats, which can fit through impossibly tiny holes, from slipping through. They are very committed to a predator-free environment, because so many of the animals they're working to conserve are defenseless.

Even though the city is actually all around you, you feel like you're out in the wilderness as soon as you enter Zealandia.

The first animals we saw were Shags, of which I didn't get any recognizable pictures at all, even though it was still fairly light. I am fond of Shags because we saw them often around Virginia Lake in Whanganui.

The next animals we got to see were takahē - flightless birds from the South Island. I was eager to see them, because from the pictures I'd seen, they looked similar to pūkeko, which continue to be among my favourite birds. I have now learned that takahē are hight on my list as well.

It was actually not that dark when we saw them, and they came right up to our guide, who gave them some food, for which they'd clearly been waiting. It was so exciting to see them up close.

(When I looked a my pictures later, I discovered that due to the longer exposure time in the deepening darkness, and the right takahē's perfect timing, she actually has two heads in my picture! Magic!)

You may thank the internet for this much clearer picture of a takahē. They are shorter and stockier than pūkeko (likely because they don't have to worry about aerodyamics) and have iridescent wings that range from dark blue to bright green, moving back from head to tail.

Takahē are extremely endangered, and were even believed to be extinct at one point. They are being bred at various safe sites around NZ. The two we got to see were a breeding pair that are now, at 20 years of age, too old to breed anymore, and so have retired to Zealandia to be spokes-birds for their species, to make people like me come and fall in love with them.

If you'd like to read more about takehē, you can click here.

Next, we saw some kaka, which are native NZ parrots. It was fairly dark at this point, and so we were using our red night-vision flashlights. In real life, you could actually still see them pretty well, but my camera was not appreciative. You can see the shape of the kaka in the middle left.

Under better photographic conditions, this is what a kaka looks like.

And this is what they look like in flight. They save their brightest colours for under their wings. Interestingly, I actually saw six kaka in the trees at the Botanic Gardens when I was there with my children this week! The other teacher and I were more excited about them than the children were, until the kaka started tearing huge, white flowers off a tree and throwing them, which the children found vastly entertaining.

Kaka are threatened, but are doing much better than many other native birds. Introduced mammalian predators are their biggest worry, but breeding programmes in protected areas have been successful. Zealandia's programme has been so successful that the kaka population is flying out of the sanctuary and spreading out through the city (as evidenced by my experience in the Botanic Gardens). Unfortunately, like many parrots, they are rather devious and can be quite destructive, so some Wellingtonians are not very happy about their proliferation. Also, there are many houses with lead nails here, and the kaka are pulling up shingling and eating the lead nails, giving themselves lead poisoning! The same thing is threatening kea, another native NZ parrot. I would have thought lead nails in roofs were a thing of the past, but apparently not. Hopefully, this will spur people to action and they'll be gone soon (the lead, not the kaka).

To read more about kaka, click here.

We were very lucky to get to see a tuatara, as it is the middle of winter and they usually hibernate. Our guide told us that this one is known to be quite hardy and can be seen on days when all the other tuatara are in full hibernation mode. She also told us that tuatara can slow their heartbeat down to one beat per minute!! That is unbelievable!

The internet was particularly generous with tuatara photos, and provided one with the tuatara in the same position as in my photo. Thanks!

Tuatara are pretty incredible creatures - they are directly related to many dinosaurs, and are the only member of their order that did not go extinct over 60 million years ago! They are only found in NZ, and are the only reptile native to NZ, so they are unique all over. They are threatened by introduced rodents, but are doing well on offshore islands that are pest-free, and in sanctuaries like Zealandia. We even got to see some little baby tuatara on our tour, which was fantastic.

If you'd like to read more about tuatara, click here.

The best part of our night tour for me (and one of Mom's favourite parts) was seeing the glow worms. J and I saw glow worms on our kayaking tour, and that was stunning, but I think they were even more awe-inspiring here. As we walked through the dark woods, at times we were surrounded on all sides by points of crystal blue light. They twinkled and shone in an impossibly magical way, making us feel like we'd been transported to a new, mystical world. I think I could have stood their and admired them forever.

(Thanks again to the internet for providing an image of something my camera can't see. Even this picture doesn't do them justice, but I don't think anything could.)