Most of us have, at some point, watched birds in the sky and thought something like, “Man, I wish I could fly like that...” I certainly have. But have you thought about why birds fly in the first place? Taking to the sky is a pretty big evolutionary step! …
Moa for #BirdOfTheYear2018
Animal Intelligence
I’ve written about animal intelligence before, to some extent. A few weeks ago, I talked about some small cats, including the margay, which is the only known predator to use vocal mimicry to try to lure its prey closer. In one of my earliest posts, I celebrated the kea, NZ’s native alpine parrot that’s at least as smart as human 4-year-olds…
James Cook: Naturalist
I was cleaning my room earlier this week when I came across a stack of paper covered in my own messy writing. Intrigued, I sat down to read. Turns out they were my notes and speculations from reading the accounts of James Cook, leader of 3 hugely influential voyages to explore the Pacific and southern oceans in the late 18th century...
Guest Post: Awe and Pro-Environmental Behavior
The Fast, the Furious, and the Feathered
We’re back from hiatus! I took a few weeks off to focus on moving house, and to travel around NZ’s South Island for a couple weeks. We made a big loop around the South Island – from Kaikoura to Kahurangi National Park to Milford Sound – but the highlight was 4 days of tramping. And while we were out in the backcountry, we got to see New Zealand falcons! NZ falcons are rare and endemic, so getting to see one is pretty special...
Favorite Birbs + Going on Hiatus
After last week’s post about the popularity of certain types of animals in photography, I decided to look through my own nature photos to see if I also seemed to prioritize certain animals. While I did find quite a lot of photos of large charismatic mammals, I was glad to find a wide variety of other creatures and organisms too. But the creatures I seem to photograph most by far are birds...
A New Year's Journey South
As I mentioned in my last post, I went to Stewart Island for New Years! Stewart Island, or Rakiura, is New Zealand's "third island", off of the bottom of the South Island. Some 80% of the island is Rakiura National Park and there are only about 400 human residents, so the place is teeming with wildlife...
An Afternoon at Orokonui
On a bright summer day at Orokonui,
I saw bellbirds and robins and kaka and tui.
Tuatara and takahe step to and fro,
Like small dinosaurs from eons ago.
If you come here at night, you can hear ruru hoot,
And you may see a kiwi (the bird, not the fruit).
These creatures and more deserve your attention,
Since they could vanish without good protection...
Turkey Talk
Thanksgiving might be my favorite holiday. But being an American living in New Zealand makes Thanksgiving a bit of a challenge – especially getting hold of a turkey. There’s just not that much demand for it here, which means if you want a nice big turkey for Thanksgiving dinner, you have to special order it from a farm several weeks in advance. Throughout this whole Thanksgiving prep process, I’ve been wondering about turkeys – wild ones, that is...
Clever, Curious Kea
The New Zealand Bird of the Year contest in full swing! Hosted by Forest and Bird, people can vote for any of 55 bird species that call New Zealand home. Of course the bird with the most votes wins, but pretty much all of them are winners, since the contest is all about raising awareness and funds for conservation...