Kiwi Hunt in New Zealand- UPDATE

[ellenant]

Hi everybody,
you might have realized that I was absent for a while
(and will be again, soon....)

Well, I am grateful that a few souls have missed me....


Well, the spring has begin, and with it the breeding season
of the birds here in NZ.
I do a Masters Degree here on Wildlife Health in Native Songbirds,
and so I have been in Auckland last week on a conference--
but, YAY!, I have been able to visit the amazing Tiritiri Matangi
wildlife reserve there (if there is a paradise for birds, its there!
and it is also a paradise for bird lovers, because the birds
are so curious and cheeky...bird spotting is NO challenge there,
the birds spot you and come!).
I also was collecting samples this week down in Wellington
in the Kaori Wildlife sanctuary, what is equaly amazing.
Although the weather was horrible, with storm and
heavy rain (what cant stop a deticated person like me....),
the bird were out an about....

so I stop talking now and just say--
ENJOY!

Sorry, this will be VERY picture heavy....




A Tui feeding off a Kowhai tree



A Kaka (relatives to the famous Kea which life in the forest)









North Island Robin



An endangered ancient Tuatara lizard





An Auckland Tree weta



Beach on Tiritiri Matangi



Bellbird









A male Hihi, like Tui and Bellbird a Nectar-eater



here you can see the "whiskers" the Hihi have, they need
them for feeling when they feed from flowers







This is one of the feeders which supplies the Hihi with nectar



Thats just me



Awesome! Just when I entered the forest, I was greeted by
a pair of the rare Kokako!





Kokako are waddlebirds, and this is why:





This is the first good picture I have taken of a North Island Saddleback.
Normally, they are VERY fast hopping around, and pictures
you try to take of them normally look like this:





I wonder what this little guy is doing....




The famous Takahe!





My favorites and study objects--
the fierce and aggressive fighters, the Tui!






Favorite food--
nectar from Kowhai flowers!





Tiritiri Matangi Lighthouse

[VJS+1Cockatiel]

WOW! That was a lot of pictures.

Great Pics! You really caught the beauty in each of those birds!

[Katana]

Wow... that takehe is amazing! LOL I thought he had a yellow/green plume on his head... than I saw it was just trees.... He's got a lot of leg bands on, doesn't he? I also noticed a Hihi with three leg bands on.... what do they mean?

[ellenant]

Thank you!
And the great thing is--
they are so curious and cheeky in these wildlife reserves,
it is not difficult at all so get close and take pictures!

[ellenant]

Well, the Takahe has a blue-green metallic plumage
and a fire red beak.
All these birds are endangered and closely watched and cared
for--
there is less than 200 Takahe left in NZ.
This is why they have this many leg bands....

The leg bands indentify an individual bird.
The Hihi has many coloured leg bands so you
can identify each individual when seeing it in the bush.
Hihi are also extinct on the mainland and only
survive in special reserves without predatory
mammals like rats, cats and mustelids.

[di_dee1]

Great stuff, Ellen.

[mattybgood67]

absolutely awesome....!
ellen please say you have more..

regards
matty

[ellenant]

Yes, Matty, of course I have more...
I just thought they might be boring after a while,
thats why I only posted the few...

Aynway...
Here is a pair of brown teal.
They are an endangered NZ duck species



(you have to know they are special, otherwise you could
just think they are ordinary mallards)



Bellbird (right) and Hihi (left) sitting next to each other.
Normally, the bigger and more aggressive Bellbird chase
the Hihi away



A Pukeko, the little relatives of the Takahe



Takahe






Another Kaka- picture....

[Melza]

i love seeing all these pics! i feel ashamed that i am a kiwi and havent seen all these birds! i have studied most of them in bio though! LOL

good old takahe! *it was in my exam last yera *

great pics! keen for more!!!

[Sir Peter of Canada]

Great pics Ellen...what a wonderful place that must be...I know I would need a bucket load of extra batteries for my camera...I would go crazy there...thanks so much for posting those.
Oh...and if you have any more...SHOW 'EM...

[RedFeather]

Yay, birdies! <3

[Faithly]

Very unusual birds - which I like!

They look so cool... seems like you had a great time there .

[ellenant]

Thanks all!
I will post more pics when I am out again and had a chance
to chase a few more birds....

[Squeakers411]

Ah Ellen -
I'm sorry I haven't responded yet...
But I'm here now!

I think the bellbirds would have to be my favorite
They look so cute and so puffy!


The Pukeko and the Takahe look very similar...I guess the whole 'being relatives' thing explains it
Is there a signifigant difference between them? Or is it really just the size?? (I'm exhausted missy, so if I'm blind again I sincerely apologize! ) Are their beaks different? Kinda looks like it through the blurs...

You said you were collecting samples? I'm blanking as to what you told me they are...I think you said to see what they actually might have? (Like worms or something) If I'm wrong, please enlighten Your work interests me

[dawnl]

Love your pictures!

Always very interesting to see birds from other countries. Keep them coming!

[baaaad_kitty]

awesome!! this post makes me want to go to NZ!

[ellenant]

Thanks again!

Okay, Emily....

Yes, the bellbirds are nice, and there is a reason
they are called BELL-birds-- when a choir of them
is singing, it sounds like many little bells.

They can be very nasty towards the Hihi and chase them.

Well, Pukeko and Takahe are closely related,
both are in the genus "Porphyrio".
The main difference is, Takahe are MUCH bigger,
they have lost the ability to fly and only have stumpy wings,
and this is also their trouble, so they are EXTINCT now on
the mainland, contrary to the flying Pukeko.
Around 200 Takahe are left today.
But they are breeding well at the moment...


Collecting samples--
yes, they are fecal (poop-) samples, I do a research
on coccidial (one-cell)- parasites in native songbirds.
But I have the occasional tapeworm....

A few pics!

These are the many,many coccidia I discovered in
some not so well Tui:


Close-up
That is the infectios stage, they have sporulated


And this is a nice tapeworm egg from a saddleback.
You can see the larvae inside.
Yes, they are 6 hooks on the head of the larvae.
They are actually quite like the babies of the ALIEN
jumping out if the Alien eggs.
When you have fresh feces and the baby tapeworm
are still alive, the even move their little tails and
they also move their hooks around the mouth.
That is really cool!!!!



You got to love the critters!

[~Lori~]

Awesome pictures! I love the Bellbirds and Hihis, so cute.

Ellen, I think we need a field thread from you, where you can keep us updated with NZ wildlife, and your adventures! Like we have RedFeather's information thread. *hint*

[Ticklekisses]

Great pics, the Auckland Tree weta reminds me of a cockaroach. I find it... disgusting. Sorry. LOL

[Squeakers411]

Those are some interesting photos...
So those little hooks are tapeworms? That looks so interesting...Are you using a microscope to view all of these? What magnification are you all using? (I know there are some microscopes that take the image of the cell all in itself...Is it one of those computer-like ones?)
What does Coccidia actually do to birds? (Besides make them sick More specifically I mean )

I would love to hear some bellbirds...

So...During all of your research, what would you say is the most commonly found worm/parasite/infection in birds in general?

[ellenant]

Hi Lori Ann, yes, I actually have kind of started with a "field threat".

Gabriella, thats mean!

Weta are something New Zealand, they are flightless, like the birds.
But, here are also some real BIG real cockroaches around,
but, they are introduced from Australia.

Emily--
well, the tapeworm has a head, and the hooks are around his mouth.
So he hooks/sucks himself on the gut wall.
After the head, comes his tail, and that can be loooooooooong.

Yep, I use a microscope, and normally I check for coccidia with
200x magnification, but for closeups I do 400x.
For pictures, I use my normal non-special digital camera,
and for some strange reasons the amateur pictures I take
with that one are better than the ones my supervisor takes
with his computer camera stuff (men and their expensive toys....).

Coccidia cause gut infection, generally.
But there are different genusses and species,
and they can be all over the place in different bird species.
In the birds I examine, it is mostly gut infection,
but after they are closely related to Malaria, they
can have also stages in blood cells and liver and spleen.

My saddleback are not affected by the coccidia, they are
only mildly infected and are fat and healthy.
My Tui are more serious infected, some of them emaziated.

If there are syptoms, it would be diarrhea, fever, anorexia,
sleepiness, "bottom of the cage", even death.

well, in my birds so far, the most common infection is coccidia.

I actually started doing this and I wanted to do a research
in MALARIA. But, all birds I caught did not have malaria,
they had coccidia.
So, instead of doing a disease that is not there,
I just do the thing that is there.


What I also do is--
I try to get the genetic sequence of these buggers.
That is what I do all day in the lab.
Pretty much just boring cooking of stuff, this gene analysis
is certainly NOT as exciting as you might think.

But, I have the prospect of finding a few NEW species that way.

Do you think that is exciting?

[Squeakers411]

Yes
I do, actually!
Hmm....
So, are there at least a decent amount of birds who don't have coccidia? Or worms?

I feel bad for the Tui

What is Malaria again? Is it a virus? Or is it kinda the same thing as Coccidia? (I'm blanking again...Is Malaria an actual sickness? MAN I sound stupid...I'm sorry! )

I have to admit...I do not like the tapeworm...They are a bit disturbing, IMO, but still interesting.
So do you take blood samples and then go from there?

I also hear lots of wild birds have lice...(Especially Seagulls? Or something along those lines) Have you found that to be true? I wonder if its just a sea bird type of thing?

-Off topic -
Why are you not supposed to pick up pidgeon feathers?? I was told it could get you sick (boo) but what is the real reason? Or is it just an old tale parents tell their kids to scare them?
-End of off topicness-

So when you say new species...You mean, new bacterial/wormish species?
Or actual bird species?

Thanks for answering all of my questions!

[jordi]

What a wonderful adventure!

[ellenant]

Hi everyone!
I am back from the bush!
And finally my broadband is working again after
some breakdowns over christmas.

Merry christmas everyone!

I am going to show LOTS of pictures, and tell the tale
of why I am away so often lately....

May need several posts....

But the news is--
I AM BACK.

For now...

[ellenant]

One important thing I am doing in my research is examining the parasites
of native New Zealand songbirds. In some posts earlier in this threat
I have shown you a few pics of the birds.

Now I would like to show you my latest discovery....
PRIDE....

Liver flukes in the saddleback!







I was very lucky finding them in the gall bladder of a dead bird...


It was more luck than anything that I found these guys,
and I spend weeks in the lab searching.
So you know what I do all day when I am not in the bush
catching birdies....


Okay...
in my next post I will start showing all these exciting bush bashing
pictures.
You just might have to wait for tomorrow because it is
already late here....