Birds of a Feather

The Kakariki is a small brightly coloured native parakeet that lives in and around the edges of native forest, often in large noisy groups. The red feathers of their head were prized by Maori for use in feather cloaks, or to secure to the ends of tiaiha (spears). The birds were caught with handmade snares using bait as berries. As legend has it, Maori used to believe that the brilliant orange-red feathers of another, much larger native parrot, the kaka, which has an incredible burst of colour under its brown-green wings, were stolen from the kakariki. Kakariki in fact, literally means small kaka. As Margaret Orbell points out in her very useful book, The Natural World of Maori, the birds sometimes raucous chatter has been likened to human behaviour in the simile 'ko te rua porete hai whakarite,' ‘just like a nest of kakariki.’ I took these photos of kakariki on Ulva Island, near Stewart Island – with a very small camera and from a long distance, hence the blurry quality. But they give you an idea of the kakariki’s vibrant colouring and distinctive red head.

A Bird in the Hand

The South Island Robin

Pitoitoi or Toutouwai
Like a number of small forest birds that had no use as food or for their feathers, the robin was considered by early Maori to have special powers in telling in the future. If you heard a robin's call on your right side, it was good luck and if you heard it on the left, it was bad luck. I photographed this little down down on Stewart Island. Robins are incredibly friendly and as you walk through the forest, they hop out onto the paths in front of you. If you scratch the earth with your hand, or with a stick, they'll hop over to hunt for bugs. Because their numbers have severely declined they are a protected bird and this little guy has banded ankles thanks to conservation efforts by the Department of Conservation.

Down by the Sea

Rimirimu or parengo is the Maori word for seaweed and karengo for the specific Porphyra species that was commonly eaten. Rimurapa is the word for the bull kelp, which Maori used for storage – the fleshy inflatable blades of bull kelp were used as bags for preserving food. These kelp bags, or poha, were made by splitting the blades open and inflating them. They were then hung to dry, then deflated and rolled up. Then, southern Rakiura Maori would take them to the Titi Islands around Stewart Island, where they would be used for the storage of muttonbirds. An average-sized poha could hold up to 50 birds and when the bag was full, hot fat was poured in to exclude air and seal the birds. Birds are said to have remained safely preserved for up to five or six years in this way.
Maori traditionally used a number of red and green seaweed species as food, which they pulled off rocks in winter and spring. After it had been dried, the seaweed was stored and used as a good source of protein during the leaner winter months. It should be noted that the photographs I have used here may not be any of the species traditionally used by Maori. I photographed these off the wharf on Stewart Island simply because of their spectacular patterns and shapes moving in the clear water. A number of seaweed species are still protected by customary fishing law for tribal use.

Birds of a Feather

Meet Nestor meridionalis – The Kaka, a medium sized parrot (18 inches long), endemic to the forests of New Zealand. Although no longer as common as its close relative the kea (which looks very similar), you can still find kaka quite commonly on Stewart Island. There are four species of the bird and if you’re not venturing anywhere near Stewart Island, your best chance of seeing one will be in a zoo or bird sanctuary. Along with our beautiful, plump wood pigeon – kereru – the kaka was once a favoured game bird for Maori. It should be noted that they quickly learned the perils of its sharp beak, which could easily cut its way out of snares; instead they learned to spear the bird, or catch it by its feet. Its bright red feathers were also sought after for weaving kakahu (cloaks). I photographed this gorgeous bird in a Stewart Island garden in February.

Meet the People - 11

Stewart Island Feb 2009 Ajr

Another in the Series Meet the People – Contemporary Maori Doing Ordinary and Extraordinary Things – Phillip Smith (Ngati Mamoe, Waitaha, Ngai Tahu) can be found at the helm of his boat MV Wildfire almost every day of the week. Based at Oban on Rakiura (Stewart Island), Phillip – a fifth generation islander – runs the kiwi spotting operation Bravo Adventure Cruises at Little Glory Bay in Paterson Inlet. He’s been doing that since 1990 and in that time he’s introduced over 20,000 people to one of our most precious birds in the wild. Before that he focussed on fishing and hunting charters around the island; and he’s also had a stint working at the island’s salmon farms. Suffice to say he knows Stewart Island like the back of his hand. There isn’t a bay, a beach or a stretch of land on this large southern island off the coast of Southland that he hasn’t explored.
In addition to his tourism activities, Phillip is also a trustee of the Rakiura Maori Land Trust and one of the tangata tiaki (guardians) of the Te Whaka a Te Wera Mataitai – a customary fisheries reserve that was gazetted in 2004, which aims to restore and protect the fish stocks of Paterson Inlet for all New Zealanders. He’s passionate about that – about conservation in general in fact – and he’s worked hard to help rid Stewart Island of predators that prey on kiwi.
Stewart Island Feb 2009 Ajr
“We’re lucky here on Stewart Island to have over 25,000 tokoeka (South Island Brown Kiwi); they’re not endangered here as they are on the mainland but we want to make sure it stays that way. There’s nowhere else in New Zealand where you can walk along a sandy beach at night and see kiwi hunting for sandhoppers among the seaweed,” he says. Phillip makes no guarantees that you’ll see a kiwi on one of his trips but his strike rate hovers around 98%. “We almost always see one or two kiwi. The most we’ve spotted in one night is seven and there are other treats like Hooker sea lions, seals and little rock hopper penguins. There’s always something to see,” he says. http://www.stewartisland.co.nz/

Maori Place Names - 5

Mapau Road

Mill Creek, Stewart Island

Birding on the Titi Islands

I’ve never been to the Titi Islands and I’m never likely to get there – certainly not for ‘birding’ – the annual harvest of titi or muttonbirds. You have to be a descendant of Rakiura Maori to be able to do that. Rakiura Maori are the sole kaitiaki (caretakers) of the Nga Moutere Titi, the 21 Titi Islands scattered around much larger Stewart Island in southern New Zealand waters. I did however get a few photographs of some of the more northern of the Titi Islands when I was crossing Foveaux Strait on the ferry recently on my return from Stewart Island.

The Titi Islands are one of the few places where customary harvest of birds has continued since Pakeha arrived and the customary rights of Rakiura Maori are now recognised in law. Titi, muttonbird, sooty shearwater, Puffinus griseus – they’re all the same – is a migratory seabird and the young birds caught by Maori as an annual delicacy are fat with the oils of the fish eaten and regurgitated by their parents. The parent birds come home every night, having eaten pilchards, shrimps, sprats and small squid and the young birds gobble down their oily dinner and grow very, very fat. (It’s no wonder they smell on cooking). Generations of families make the annual pilgrimage to the islands on April 1st and capture bird by reaching down into the bird’s underground burrow.

Photograph of display at DOC Information Centre, Stewart Island. Ajr

In the old days, titi were often preserved in a poha like the one pictured here. Inside the poha is a waterproof bag made of bull kelp. The birds were cooked and then placed in the bag in their own (cooked) fat (a process known as tahu). Air pockets were squeezed out by hand to create a vacuum seal that kept the food fresh for 2-3 years. That bag was protected by an outer wrapping of harakeke (flax), tied together with the bark of the totara tree.

Southern Carving

Stewart Island. Feb 2009. Ajr

This is the Carving

On the Outside

Of the Department of Conservation Visitors' Centre

in Oban, Stewart Island

Te Puka - The Anchor Stone

Lee Bay, Stewart Island. Feb 2009. Ajr

When I was on Stewart Island (Rakiura) recently, I drove around to pretty deserted Lee Bay to photograph the giant chain that meanders out of the bush, across the walking track and ‘under the sand.’ Beside it sits Te Puka – the anchor stone which states: “Maori creation stories tell how Maui, a legendary Polynesian voyager, pulled up from the sea floor the anchor stone Te Puka a Maui (Stewart Island/Rakiura) to act as the anchor for the great ancestral canoe Te Waka o Aoraki (South Island of New Zealand). The stylised anchor chain is secured firmly on land by a shackle but disappears beneath Foveaux Strait/Te Ara a Kewa, to remind us of the spiritual and physical connections between Stewart Island/Rakiura and Bluff/Motu Pohue, the traditional taurapa or stern post of Te Waka o Aoraki. The chain links also symbolise a history of inter-relationships that have given the peoples of Stewart Island/Rakiura a strong sense of heritage and identity.” On my way back across Foveaux Strait to the mainland, I caught a second snap of the chain - white at Landsend, on the southern tip of the South Island.

Meet the People - 5

Another in the Series Meet the People – Contemporary Maori Doing Ordinary and Extraordinary Things – Ulva Goodwillie (Waitaha, Ngati Mamoe) is passionate about birds and in the nine years since she started taking guided walks to Ulva Island Bird Sanctuary just off Stewart Island, she’s given thousands of people a better understanding of our native birds and their conservation. Her mother named her after Ulva Island; and after fourteen years away from Stewart Island, Ulva was drawn back to the place she loved best. Her successful tourism operation is a long way from her former career as a music teacher – or so you’d think; but for Ulva, birds have a magical music all of their own.

All Photos on Ulva Island. Feb 2009. Ajr

She knows every inch of Ulva Island and the particular sound of every bird that lives there. Just by their call she knows if they are male, female, chicks or adults – and she’s just as knowledgeable about the native flora. She knows both their Maori and Latin names and she can tell you how certain plants and trees were used by Maori in the early days. “I am Maori and I operate from a Maori perspective but my walks are not Maori tours as such. My tours are about the lifestyles of the birds not the lifestyles of Maori. Most people are interested in botanical and zoological aspects but if people are interested in the Maori stories and legends of the birds and forest, I can also add those,” she says. It’s the perfect combination and sharing her passion for natural history is what excites her the most. www.ulva.co.nz

Maori Place Names - 2

Kamahi Road,

Steward Island, South New Zealand

Taonga Species

Kakapo. DOC Visitor Centre, Stewart Island. Feb 2009. Ajr

I’ve just spent a very ‘birdy’ three days working down on Stewart Island and the little pest-free bird sanctuary of Ulva Island, which the Department of Conservation recognises as the ‘Showcase Project’ for its Southern Conservancy. I would have loved to have made it to Cod Fish Island to find out more about one of our rarest birds and the world’s heaviest parrot, the kakapo, which the Maori consider one of their taonga (treasured) species, but time ran out for getting necessary permits. I did however, catch up with this fellow – a taxidermy example – on display at the Stewart Island DOC visitor centre. Hundreds of years ago kakapo were common; now there are only 91 known kakapo left and these are all restricted to pest-free offshore island bird sanctuaries and they are closely monitored by DOC and teams of willing volunteers. When the DOC established the National Kakapo Team in 1995 there were just 51 birds left but thanks to their careful monitoring and breeding programme, the population has increased by 78%. For Maori, the kakapo has strong cultural, spiritual and traditional associations and DOC works closely with the major South Island iwi (tribe) Ngai Tahu in their protection and management. Today the birds are also appreciated for their quirky personalities and their odd characteristics – their strange booming noise, the fact that they are known to live to an old age (possibly up to 90 years) and the fact that they are flightless, nocturnal and live in burrows and only in New Zealand. You can find out much more about this intriguing bird and the Kakapo Recovery Programme by clicking on www.kakapo.org.nz, where you can meet some of the named adult birds personally.