Saddleback

A first!  First time I've ever seen on of these beauties and I didn't only see one.....!  

I've had Zealandia on my radar for  quite some time now so it was pretty high up my 'when in Wellington' list.  With the better weather today was the day.  Basically, Zealandia is an eco sanctuary less than a handful of kms from Wellington city centre.  It was the brainchild of Jim & Eve Lynch who, at the simplest level, just wanted to bring the birds back to the valleys around Wellington.  In what is in esssence, just a few short years (well.....twenty or so), this particular valley has been steadily driven towards the main goal "....to restore this valley to the way it was before the arrival of humans."  It's a lofty goal but already there's an abundance of evidence that they're succeeding.


I spent some 3 or more hours walking the tracks.  From the moment you open the car door in the car park you can hear the difference.  Walk a little way along the track and the difference magnifies.  On my walk I saw tui, fantail, kereru (NZ wood pigeon), (blackbird!), takahe, kaka, (sparrow!) robin, kakariki (parakeet) and shag to name those I can remember, but higher on the list above all others for 'wow factor' (for me at least) was the saddleback.  I actually saw about 3 or 4 of them or rather, I heard them......they seem to be a bit on the shy side so any viewings were almost invariable through bush.  So.......it's not the greatest picture but it has great significance for me.  In extras you'll see an array of other birds who were less shy about being snapped!


Onward at the end of the day - just a short-ish drive up the motorway to Porirua where I'm staying in a campground that doesn't have great reviews but is easily accessible and cheap.  And a hot shower is good whatever the surrounds are like!