Sunday, February 06, 2005
"I want the one without the gannet!"
"Without the gannet?! You can't have it without the gannet! It's a standard British bird!!"
I've had a very birdlifecentric day today, in lovely downtown Christchurch. The Botanic Gardens are full of ducks of many stripes (but mostly spots), and also the museum has a huge bird exhibition.
Which is actually kind of icky, because they're all stuffed dead birds. Which means that when you see that they have 15 stuffed kiwis, you feel like shouting "And that's why they're fucking endangered!!" at the top of your lungs.
But I resisted. Only just.
The bird gallery did provide a couple of really really cool things.
One - There was a stuffed kakapo (another in the shouting to the gods cohort). This bird fascinates me, wholly due to Douglas Adams' fabulous tome Last Chance to See, and there hadn't been any examples of it in any of the other museums I've been to.
Okay, quick notes about the kakapo (for more info, I've linked to the wikipedia entry) - it is (to quote the much missed DNA) the world's biggest, fattest and least able to fly parrot. It doesn't form pairbonds for breeding - instead, what it does, in it's alpine or subalpine habitat, is dig out hollows that are acoustically perfect, and then sit in the middle of them and produce a booming noise. This is the male's "Come and get it, baby!!" call. The problem (one of many) is that the booming is not directional. So the male will be shouting "Come and get it, baby!!" and the female will be going "Yes, but where??" Also, females are only ready to mate once every three years (or something close) and thus the male will be shouting "Come and get it, baby!!" and the females will be studiously ignoring him. Is it any wonder Douglas Adams loved this bird?
Two - There was a bird call interactive display, and the kakapo's booming was there, so got to hear that.
Three - Due to the Bush Birds display, I realised I had seen a Weka when I was walking the Snout track in Picton (or more precisely, when I was convincing myself that I was not going to have a heart attack during one of my numerous rest stops whilst walking the Snout track in Picton). This is very very cool, because they are only just coming back into general habitation in those areas.
I've had a very birdlifecentric day today, in lovely downtown Christchurch. The Botanic Gardens are full of ducks of many stripes (but mostly spots), and also the museum has a huge bird exhibition.
Which is actually kind of icky, because they're all stuffed dead birds. Which means that when you see that they have 15 stuffed kiwis, you feel like shouting "And that's why they're fucking endangered!!" at the top of your lungs.
But I resisted. Only just.
The bird gallery did provide a couple of really really cool things.
One - There was a stuffed kakapo (another in the shouting to the gods cohort). This bird fascinates me, wholly due to Douglas Adams' fabulous tome Last Chance to See, and there hadn't been any examples of it in any of the other museums I've been to.
Okay, quick notes about the kakapo (for more info, I've linked to the wikipedia entry) - it is (to quote the much missed DNA) the world's biggest, fattest and least able to fly parrot. It doesn't form pairbonds for breeding - instead, what it does, in it's alpine or subalpine habitat, is dig out hollows that are acoustically perfect, and then sit in the middle of them and produce a booming noise. This is the male's "Come and get it, baby!!" call. The problem (one of many) is that the booming is not directional. So the male will be shouting "Come and get it, baby!!" and the female will be going "Yes, but where??" Also, females are only ready to mate once every three years (or something close) and thus the male will be shouting "Come and get it, baby!!" and the females will be studiously ignoring him. Is it any wonder Douglas Adams loved this bird?
Two - There was a bird call interactive display, and the kakapo's booming was there, so got to hear that.
Three - Due to the Bush Birds display, I realised I had seen a Weka when I was walking the Snout track in Picton (or more precisely, when I was convincing myself that I was not going to have a heart attack during one of my numerous rest stops whilst walking the Snout track in Picton). This is very very cool, because they are only just coming back into general habitation in those areas.
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As is the kakapo (green that is).
As I've said, the chapter about the kakapo is one of the main reasons I wanted to come to New Zealand. So moving. So depressing, but uplifting and funny and sad and...I really need to get another copy of that book.
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As I've said, the chapter about the kakapo is one of the main reasons I wanted to come to New Zealand. So moving. So depressing, but uplifting and funny and sad and...I really need to get another copy of that book.
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