Close Encounters of the Bird Kind

Jeremy, age 10, is our guest blogger as a homeschool assignment. He chose the topic- his new favorite type of animal, the dominant native fauna of New Zealand. Make sure you view the movie of our scary encounter with a kea. Enjoy!

Jeremy and a paradise duck visitor

This blog essay is about the birds I have learned about here in New Zealand. I have learned about birds in existence, and I have also learned about extinct birds. I have learned about land birds, flying birds, and even water-dwelling birds.

Model of Haast eagle

 First let’s talk about extinct birds. One of the main extinct birds that I have heard about is the Haast eagle. The Haast eagle was gigantic. It was the largest bird ever recorded. It had an average weight of 500 lbs, and an average wingspan of 10 ft. 

Stuffed South Island giant moa at the Aukland Museum (with Jeremy for scale)

Another extinct bird is a moa. A moa is another huge bird. I think that moa look a lot like ostriches because of the fact that they are both big and flightless. Now I will tell you how they became extinct. The way that moa became extinct was the Maori. The Maori are the native people of New Zealand. They were the ones who hunted the moa to extinction. And that didn't work out so well for the Haast eagle because --fun fact-- Haast eagles ate moa so you can imagine that the eagle didn’t have so much to eat and... yeah.

Three of the five species of kiwi, at the Aukland Museum. They are strictly nocturnal, so it is hard to photograph them. Jeremy gets upset when he sees a photo of one taken during the day, saying that "it's cruel to the kiwis."

Next let’s talk about land birds. New Zealand has a lot of land birds. The main reason is that New Zealand doesn't have any [native] mammals. This is because New Zealand became an island before mammals evolved. The reason why it's so hard for these birds is because of the new, introduced species of mammals.

I will now list some of New Zealand's birds: kiwi, takahe, kakapo, pokeko, and a lot of others.

 

Now let’s talk about flying and gliding birds. There is the gliding albatross, the cheeky kea, the playful fantail, the singing bell bird, and many more. 

Fantails are super friendly- this one followed us on a walk

As I said earlier the kea is very mischievous. I will now list some of the mischievous things that keas will do: they will destroy your windshield wipers, and your hiking boots. They will also steal your car keys and your wallet.

 

And last let's talk about water-dwelling birds including penguins. New Zealand has two types of penguins: little blues and yellow eyed penguins (YEP). The little blues are slightly shorter and have blue back feathers. 

The YEP have yellow crowns of feathers. 

There are also paradise ducks, black swans, and shags. 

Jeremy with young shag (also known as a cormorant) 

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In conclusion, I hope you liked my essay about what I have learned about birds in New Zealand. New Zealand has changed my perspective on birds forever.  I LOVE BIRDS NOW!

model of New Zealand giant penguin, now extinct