I was with two DOC guys (Department of Conservation). A plant guy and a bug guy. It was GREAT!
I saw two things I have been really wanting to see - a rare NZ wren called titipounamu (rifleman) and one of those category defying little creatures that doesn't really fit into one box or another in the classification sense - a velvet worm!
Titipounamu is a small insect eating bird that does not have a song as such but kinda squeaks. It looks like a wren but not related to true wrens. It is endemic to NZ which means it does not occur elsewhere. There are only two kinds of 'wrens' left in NZ and both are in danger of becoming extinct. We heard about 15 of them during our walk and I saw 7.
The velvet worm (Peripatus) has a phylum all it's own! They live in damp places near the soil. The ones we saw today were easily spotted under rotten wood. They are nocturnal. They look velvety! The one we photgraphed stretched out very long! They have stubby little legs with pads on the end. They were thought to be a 'missing link' species between annelids (worms) and arthropods (insects, spiders, crustacea). In any case - they have ancient origins and are really cool! <---- that is my technical term lol!
We went up high - which you probably can't tell from the above photo. The one below show how high - mountain beech dominates the forest and you might be able to tell the growth is somewhat stunted due to altitude.
oh! This guy seems to be very friendly too...
They love it when you walk by because you disturb the ground and make it easier for them to get grubs and bugs and such. This one in particular came and landed within arms reach so I scraped a bit of the ground in front of me and moved back and bit and he hopped straight over and found something!
They have long legs and like to hop about rather than fly.
The area that was are going to fence has a population of these birds that have managed to hold on and are now being supported by the intensive trapping programme we are running with the help of our wonderful volunteers! it really is incredible that these wee robins and tiny wrens have managed to survive! Things will be much much easier for them once we get the fence up!
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