This time of year is always great in the forest with lots of chicks
temporarily boosting populations until they go off to find new
territories for themselves. Bellbird chicks are easy to locate from
their insistent 'feed me' call and it's a treat to watch the parents
come in to feed them.
A tomtit pair built their nest by the side of the busiest track at the
busiest time of year and successfully raised four chicks. It was
amazing to watch these busy parents flying in every five minutes or so
with food for their young. It shows how unaware people can be and how
secretive birds can be that the nest was built and the eggs sat on for
two weeks before anyone noticed!
It has been confirmed – Orokonui has the tallest tree in New Zealand.
In fact it is the only tree in the country taller than 80 metres. A
pair of surveyors from Washington recently spent their time in New
Zealand measuring all the tall trees using survey lasers and the sine
method. Interestingly the tree tagged as the tallest was measured at
74.2m but another tree further down the track was noticed and on
measuring this one it was found to be 80.5m. The tallest tree is a
Eucalyptus regnans and in its Australian home has been recorded at
heights of around 120m. New Zealand native trees tend to grow wide
rather than tall with the tallest, the kahikatea reaching around 60m
in height.
News and events can be found on www.orokonui.org.nz or on our facebook
page. The Visitor Centre and café are open daily 9.30 – 4.30.
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From blueskin.co.nz and 'Blueskin News' published by Blueskin Media:
voluntary/non-profit community publishers in Blueskin Bay (Seacliff,
Warrington, Evansdale, Waitati, Doctors Point, Purakaunui), Dunedin,
New Zealand. All material sent to or published by us is "copyleft" in
the public domain and may be freely shared, archived, re-edited and
republished. If you want to credit the source it's "blueskin.co.nz".
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