Who has any pics of these ????

[StuSimmo]

Takahe. Apparently only a few hundred left, anyone else got any pics to show ? They didnt seem scared of humans at all !

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[PhotoDawg]

Cool looking bird Stu. I have never seen one of those?!?!! Thanks for sharing

 

[NeilCam]

Stu, I'm getting the redX. Although I can say that I've never taken a picture of a redX and I'm not surprised they're unafraid of humans. However, I'm incredibly surprised there's only a few hundred left.

Neil

 

[Flew]

Takahe. Apparently only a few hundred left, anyone else got any pics to show ? They didnt seem scared of humans at all !

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Stu,

I'm getting the red X too. This seems to be a common problem for new members that use pbase. There are several threads that describe the problem and the fix.

Let me know if you can't find any of them and I'll see if I can figure it out again.... :wink:

Regards,

Frank

 

[StuSimmo]

Hopefully the pics....

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View attachment 5998

 

[Flew]

Yep, can see 'um now. Don't know what they are though.... :roll: Nice shot of cool looking birdies.... 8)

Frank

 

[PhotoDawg]

A DOUBLE RED X OF DEATH!!!! And I thought 1 red X was bad!! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[NeilCam]

Hmmm, they look like a form of Moorhen, but I don't know which species. I didn't think Moorhens were that rare.

AAHHHhhhhh here we go, it looks like they're Takahē. From http://www.doc.govt.nz/Explore/001~National-Parks/Fiordland-National-Park/index.asp:

The takahē, for example, is a large flightless rail related to the more populous pūkeko, more commonly known throughout Australasia as the purple moorhen. It is of ancient lineage and poorly adapted to cope with introduced predators. The takahē was thought to be extinct until it was rediscovered in 1948.

More on this unusual and fascinating bird at http://www.kcc.org.nz/birds/takahe.asp

Always amazes me how NZ has so many birds that a) walk around and b) aren't particularly worried about the presence of people. Must get there one day. Maybe on my next trip back to Oz.

Thanks for the shots Stu.

Neil

 

[Bob the Spiderman]

New Zealand Birds.

Hi Neil.

The reason that so many of the birds of NZ are/were flightless was because the continent had NO PREDATORS whatsoever. Consequently the birds lost the need to fly. Then as bloody usual along came Western Man with his Rats - Cats etc and the flightless birds were basically wiped out. However this bird and their famous flightless parrot retreated to the numerous remote uninhabited valleys and gorges and survived to be discovered again, and this time protected, after 1945.
BW. Bob F.

 

[StuSimmo]

Bob, absolutely correct. The Takahe are very rare and only survive in a few places that are isolated islands run by conservationists (if that is the right word).

The Island I took these on was Tiritiri Matangi, do a search and have a look. Its about 15 mins by boat from where I live.

Stu

 

[NeilCam]

Thanks guys, although I did know the reasons, it still always surprises me.

Neil