Kapiti Island

Kapiti Island lies 5km off the west coast of North Island, just north of Wellington, and has been a nature reserve of one kind or another for over 100 years. These days it is a predator-free island and reserve, and hosts a number of birds not found on the mainland (except at Zealandia, or in aviaries such as Mount Bruce).

Our original plan had been to take an overnight trip there, but the lodge was fully booked on the weekend we wanted to go so we decided on a day trip. The ferry leaves at 9 in the morning, so we decided we would be better off if we stayed in the vicinity the night before, rather than make an early-morning trek from Wellington. Accordingly, we booked into a bed and breakfast in Paekakariki. This allowed us to visit the Southwards Car Museum in the afternoon, and also to explore a bit of Paraparaumu before heading to our lodgings.

A copper car. Yes.

After dinner we walked along the beach as the sun set in an almost cloudless sky.

That's South Island in the background

I received a text in the morning confirming that they would be sailing that day – which, as the Rauoterangi channel was as flat as a mill-pond, was entirely expected. I guess there are occasions when the conditions in the morning look entirely acceptable for a trip but the forecast is for high seas later in the day when they would cancel…but this wasn’t one of them. We parked by the beach and registered our presence at the Kapiti Boat Club, where we searched our bags for rats and mice, watched a short video about the island and its history, then went outside to board our boat.

Paraparaumu beach has a very shallow slope, so the method of boarding the water taxi is up a gangway whilst it is on a slipway attached to the back of a tractor. The tractor then pushes the boat out to sea until it floats off and is able to make the crossing. The journey is about 10 minutes. At the island, we walked up to a shelter and had a quick talk about the species we were likely to see on the island, and also the ones we wouldn’t see (kiwis, because they would be asleep underground during the day).

Our guide took us part of the way around, pointing out a couple of kiwi burrows on the way, then we parted ways as he took a group on the lagoon walk, which concentrated on seabird life, whilst we took the loop walk up the hill to the lookout point. Along the way we sought out and found various birds, including weka, North Island robins, swallows, and young bellbirds, as well as the inevitable tuis and fantails, often accompanied by whiteheads. We also saw a Pacific visitor, the long-tailed cuckoo, which was being driven away by an angry tui.

Hobbit holes...no, wait, kiwi burrows

Mini Babybel

As we returned to the lower level we saw several kakariki, although they weren’t being particularly cooperative in staying still. I managed to get one feeding on flax seeds, but my positioning wasn’t too good in relation to the sun.

As we returned to the lodge for lunch, we found that there were a lot more weka than we’d thought, and I needn’t have been so worried about getting a picture of one – they live around the human settlements and are quite bold in scavenging and stealing food. Also, several kaka turned up at lunchtime – they’ve been known to unzip backpacks to get at packed lunches. The injunction not to feed the birds seems not to apply to the birds themselves – they’ll happily help themselves to anything left unattended.

After lunch we had another walk around on the flat, where we spotted one of the island’s resident takahe (there are 10 on the island, out of a total world population of around 280), and also some saddlebacks, which resolutely failed to come out into a good photography position.

The water taxi took us back at around 3:20, and we had an ice cream in Paraparaumu before heading back home.

Pukaha Mount Bruce

On Sunday, we decided to head north of Masterton to the Pukaha Mount Bruce Bird Reserve http://www.pukaha.org.nz/ . We set out early-ish (well, it was Sunday) and arrived there before midday. The reserve aims to reproduce the original forest that used to cover a large swathe of the region, but only now remains in small patches, and is New Zealand’s national centre for breeding and researching rare and endangered species. They have had a fair degree of success in clearing the forest of introduced predators (stoats, weasels, possums, cats and rats) which have been responsible for the rarity/extinction of many native bird species, although they do not have a predator-proof fence, like that found at Zealandia (about which more at a later date).

We followed the bush trail through the forest. Some of the rarer birds are in large aviaries, whilst the more common New Zealand species fly freely through the forest. We spotted some whiteheads, which form noisy groups, and the kokako in one of the aviaries. They have a breeding programme for kokako, and have successfully released birds into the wild in order to establish new populations on predator-free islands.

Kokako

Further on we saw the inevitable tuis and New Zealand pigeons. Also in the river is a population of New Zealand long-finned eels, which are fed daily. The eels grow up to 2m in length.

Long-finned eel

After watching the eel feeding, we went back to the visitor centre and Café Takahe to feed ourselves. The café overlooks the enclosure where the reserve’s two takahe live. This bird was thought to be extinct until they were rediscovered in 1948. Since then, with the help of captive breeding and reintroduction on predator-free islands, the population has recovered to some 200 birds. Two of them live at Pukaha.

Takahe

After lunch, we went along to the final feeding event of the day, the kaka. Kaka are parrots and are related to the South Island Kea. Both species have extremely strong beaks, and the aviary in which the kaka were kept is made of a much stronger wire than the chickenwire used for the other birds – kaka can easily cut through chickenwire with their beaks. Fortunately the population at Pukaha has recovered sufficiently for them to be released into the wild, although they are still fed in part by the rangers. Early in the breeding programme each bird had a radio transmitter and was ringed, allowing the rangers to track them, but in recent years birds have been released into the wild to nest, and not all of them are ringed now. Birds are regularly swapped between populations around the country to ensure genetic diversity and prevent inbreeding.

Kaka

Unfortunately the kiwi house was closed when we visited, as it is being extensively rebuilt, so we were unable to see kiwis. Also, the tuatara was hiding somewhere in its box, so that was another no-show. Still, we’ll visit Zealandia in Wellington sometime soon, and hopefully see some there.