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<\/a>I remember once quitely watching a weka completely strip the lunch box of a tourist asleep on the sand at Sydney Cove on Ulva Island . The box was literally in front of the womans face, perhaps 20 cm away. “Larry the Dip” could not have done a better job. We have several ground and close to ground nesting species in New Zealand, which perhaps seems a little odd, with a detirmined nest robber out and about. But the weka has a reletively poor sense of smell and so with a little camoflage or as in the case of the Variable Oystercatcher who nests right out on an open shore , a highly developed sense of agression, nests do survive.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
They are addicted to shiny things, and in fact the word “weka” has crept into New Zealand English as someone who has little scruples about other peoples property or is a hoarder of junk.<\/p>\n Weka are territorial and have real battles with interlopers about ownersip of preferred “pitches” and I use the word advisedly, as they will frequent areas where people have food.Life in weka society can be quite ugly, and we have watched a hens two grown offspring systematically set aboutdispossessingher of a preferred territory. It was quite violent and had she not departed I don’t doubt she would have been killed.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n