Encouraging Tuateawa Birds.

Tiritiri lighthouse

Tuateawa really is quite a remarkable place when it comes to bird life. A recent trip to Tiritiri Matangi with a Tuateawa friend made this very clear. In many ways Tuateawa has the edge. We lack some of the iconic species found there but our bush is so much better and our kaka breed with us. On Tiri they are rare visitors, probably from the Coromandel! The density of Tui, Bellbird and Kereru seemed very similar in both places.

Kokako

Given present technology total eradication of mammalian predators is not a possibility for Tuateawa, unlike on Tiri. We are unlikely to see Saddlebacks and Kokako in our neck of the bush. We could however see a drift down, from further north, of the Robin recently introduced there.

Even so, this year, the conservation activities of Habitat Tuateawa and other agencies have gained massive traction, returning a huge bonus for Tuateawa. Kaka have been seen feeding their young on one well bushed section. Close by, and adjacent to the Forest Park, a mob of thirteen kaka was sighted. In more open country we saw a flock of ten kereru exceeding earlier sightings by a considerable margin. As for the Tui and Bellbird, their numbers are legion!

Tui on flax plant

Bush sections tend to have more native species. Many sections in Tuateawa, though, are reverting pasture and Kanuka scrub. These have a greater variety of birds because they include species introduced from Europe like Yellowhammers, Thrush and Chaffinch. The native bird numbers seem to increase as these sections become more bush like. Nectar feeders are common but Kereru and Kaka are infrequent visitors.
Encouraging native species onto your land is probably a long term game. Scrub doesn't become bush over night. We get Kereru on cabbage trees and a puriri, but these have been decades in the growing. Nectar feeders are an easier proposition. Flax plants take only a couple of years to reach flowering size. Pohutukawa are a longer term option but some will flower for nearly two months. The Kermadec Pohutukawa flowers sparsely for most of the year and is sufficiently small to have quite close to the house.

Tui on Kermadec pohutukawa

What all birds need is water for drinking and for a bath. In terms of an almost instant bird attractor a bird trough has to be the answer. After seeing their popularity on Tiri we installed one just before Xmas. The list of species visiting is growing and we have hopes of maybe attracting Kereru and Kaka. It is a real source of entertainment with birds visiting more frequently just after the trough has been topped up with fresh water.

Tui bathing at Tuateawa

Then of course there is the Non-E.C. route. (Ecologically Correct) My apologies to the acronymophobics for having created one more! Introducing species from other countries can cause problems and even introducing a native species from another region can interfere with the local gene pool. However there are many nectar producing, bird pollinated plant species in both Australia and S. Africa. Quite a few of these exist in Tuateawa. Red Hot Poker plants do seed down quite heavily but they also attract Tui and Bellbird and you can plant them in just the right place for viewing.

Bellbird on Redhot Poker

If you are into bright flashy birds, like the Rosellas, then planting sunflowers in a rabbit protected location works well as they love the seed. This picture is of much duller Greenfinches.

The all time push overs have to be the Californian Quail. It doesn't take too long to get them addicted to a plate of oats. Before long you will be hand feeding them!