Grey Warblers Grey Warbler These small and grey forest birdsare often quite difficult to spot. But the trilling warble is a dead giveaway as to their presence. A bird who prefers the high canopy in our forest we hear them more often than see them on Ulva Island, but around the Village where the trees […]
Author: Peter Tait
Peter Tait is a professional nature guide based at Stewart Island, New Zealand, and he works primarily on Ulva Island Open Sanctuary. Peter has been resident on the Island for over 40 years and was one time Forest Ranger in Charge of Stewart Island. Fishing followed forestry and was in turn followed by Talisker, a 17m charter yacht. He is qualified Skipper Deep Sea Fishing Vessel. In addition to guiding Peter and his wife Iris are hosts at Sails Ashore Lodge.
Hardware and associated software
Hardware. Graphical, Video & Audio A friend has been asking me about the hardware I use for photos, videos, still pictures and audio on our web site and so I have decided to post a brief description here. First Digital Camera My first digital camera was a Fuji Finepix 5000. 3 megapix, with a 10 […]
Brown Creeper, Pipipi, Finschia novaeseelandiae rakiura
Brown Creeper creepers I can’t remember visiting Ulva and not seeing at lease a couple of of these small “non-descript” birds. So much so that a few years ago I once casually wrote them off to a Brit Birder as “Oh its just a Brown Creeper” and was told quite firmly that we didn’t know […]
Rifleman, Titipounamu Arcanthisitta chloris
Rifleman Sometimes called a “Bush Wren” they are not apparently a member of the wren family Riflemanare New Zealands smallest bird, and for me the most difficult to find. Partially because they are so small….. 6 or 7 gram, and at most 80 mm long. Males are bright green on the back, females a duller […]
Bellbird, Anthornis melanura
Bellbird, or Korimaku bellbird chorus Few visitors if any could visit New Zealand forest and leave without enjoying our vocal Bellbird, and the famed “Dawn Chorus” or for that matter the evening Choral Festival is a particularly delightful event, with bellbirds and Tui (see previous post)taking starring roles. Actually it all gets a bit confusing, […]
Yellowhead, Mohoua ochrocephala
Yellowhead, Mohoua, Bush Canary Yellowhead warble Mohoua, or Yellowhead One of the most distinctive of our smaller forest species, Yellowhead or Mohoua are one of the 4 species returned to Ulva Island after rats were eradicated. Absent from Stewart Island for many years their numbers have increased slowly on Ulva and we often see them […]
Transit of Venus
Venus Todays big event was the Transit of Venus across the face of the sun. Doesn’t happen all that often, the next occurrence apparently not for 105 years. And last night the forecast was dodgy to say the least as a big storm was due to sweep across New Zealand. But I woke to a […]
South Island Saddleback, Philesturnus carunculatus carunculatus.
South Island Saddleback are one of the success stories of New Zealand species conservation. Once common throughout the South Island, by 1962 they were restricted to just 4 offshore islands at the south of Stewart Island. Rat predation having seen the rest off. And then in 1962 rats were discovered ashore on these islands and […]