Arachnocampa luminosa - fungus gnat. They produce a delicate blue light with their rear ends. The blue light is used to attract insects to the silky strings that they have hanging from them, they catch the insects in these spider style. Eventually they pull the thread back up and consume the food. *the glowworm picture is lifted off the internet since tourists are not allowed to take pictures in the glowworm areas.
This past week got me out of Auckland a bit and it was delightful to see the countryside. I had a meeting up in Matakana on Thursday that was over by noon, so instead of driving straight back I stopped to do a little birding in Wenderholm Regional Park in Waiwerea. It was a lovely park with trails that wind through the woods and along the coast. There are numerous large trees (Caucasian fir, bunya bunya pine, Moreton Bay fig, Holm oak, cork oak, magnolia, coral trees) that were planted as gifts to the original European owner in the 1860’s. There are also many large Metrosideros trees along the coastal portions of the park. But, most exciting were the birds that I saw there: Caspian Tern, NZ Kingfisher, NZ Dotterel, Tui, South Island Pied Oystercatcher, Fantail, and White faced Heron. The weekend involved a trip down to the beautiful Lake Taupo with Alex (fellow EAPSI grantee) to meet up with several other grantees from Wellington. The lake sits in the caldera of a volcano that produced the largest eruption in the world! (In the last 70,000 years). It is speculated that the caldera initially filled up with water, causing a huge outwash flood and MAY have helped to initiate the last Glacial Maximum. That aside, the view of the snow covered mountains across the lake was stunning. From there we journeyed up to Waikato to explore caves. We spent the first half of the day underground learning about the faults and the water dripping in through the cracks creating stalactites. We saw many forms of cave structures, sheet, popcorn, broccoli, etc. but for me the most intriguing was the glow worms. Arachnocampa luminosa - fungus gnat. They produce a delicate blue light with their rear ends. The blue light is used to attract insects to the silky strings that they have hanging from them, they catch the insects in these spider style. Eventually they pull the thread back up and consume the food. *the glowworm picture is lifted off the internet since tourists are not allowed to take pictures in the glowworm areas. It was a lot of driving but it was broken up by stops at cafes and one last stop at Maungatautari Ecological Island. This is a 3400 hectare reserve surrounded by 47km of predator proof fencing. This is the largest ecological island on mainland NZ. There are supposedly kokako, hihi and kiwi among the 20 (or so) species reported in the reserve, but we only had time for a short amble around before the sun was setting. We did hear tui calling. This park may deserve second visit. All that driving time did afford us a sighting of the New Zealand Falcon, which is not nearly as common as its raptor brethren the Swamp Harrier.
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Dr. David Towns and Steph Borrelle of the Institute for Applied Ecology have given me a warm welcome and a spot to work. The lab is active with many types of projects going on (deepwater squid, plants, insects, and of course seabirds). I have been thrilled to find the culture of tea here. A bell rings at 10:15 in the morning for everyone to take a break and have tea. The first day that I was there was silly hat day at tea time for some reason and my advisor, Dr. Towns looked dapper in his silly hat. A lab mate loaned me a hat since I was inexplicably unprepared. Right now I am trying to get the proper permissions to go out my field sites and collect data. I am also trying to learn the plants and the birds that I will be interacting with. While some species may be similar to those we have in Hawaii they are also quite different.
This was not related to my work at all, but I wanted to get out of the office and learn a little more about New Zealand and the work that the people here are doing for conservation and restoration. On Wednesday, I went out with Jane Ferguson of Forest and Bird and Roy Clements from the Pourewa Restoration Group to help with restoration of the Pourewa Reserve and Kepa Bush (Auckland). This 33 ha parcel of land has recently been returned to the ownership of Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei who aim to restore the mauri (life force) of the land. A recent BioBlitz in the reserve turned up 893 species of plant, bird, or insect. Today we weeded and planted trees (Puriri, Vitex lucens). It was a gorgeous sunny day and it was fantastic to help and meet such lovely people. The first picture is a Puriri that I planted, the second is a type of fern (?!) and the third is evidence the ginger is a scourge here as well. The Royal Society of New Zealand met us (15 students from across the US) in Wellington to welcome us and introduce us to the country. We started off with a visit to the Wellington community Pipitea Marae for a Pōwhiri. Maraes are Māori meeting houses that are, in most cases, intricately and beautifully hand carved buildings. These traditional buildings serve as a location for Māori rituals and ceremonies. A Pōwhiri is a welcome onto the marae. The welcome includes calls and songs and a formal welcome by one of the Māori elders. There were many interesting similarities between these customs and the customs of traditional customs that I have experienced in Hawaii to welcome people to a meeting or a conference. In conjunction with the Pōwhiri we participated in a Hongi, the act of pressing noses together and sharing breath. Following our welcome we shared some tea together in the marae. A tour of the Parliament building, known as The Beehive, gave us a look at the unique history and architecture of the building as well as an introduction to the governance of NZ. We were also treated to a field trip with Karyne Rogers, senior scientist at the GNS, for a tour of the Wellington fault, which runs through the heart of the city and out to the coast. |
AuthorI am a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Hawaii at Manoa in Natural Resource and Environmental Management (NREM) interested in an interdisciplinary approach to conservation and natural resource problem solving. Archives
January 2017
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