#porphyrio hochstetteri

[auntie-birdie]

South Island takahē (Porphyrio hochstetteri)

© Aaron Skelton

[birdblues]

Takahē

[haveyouseenthisanimal-irl]

[internetdruid]

🥚if you’re still doing these <3

South Island takahē!

(Porphyrio hochstetteri)

[seashellblue]

[airyairyaucontraire]

Evolved them in isolation with almost no mammals around so they could be weird in peace

ok like kakapo are great and all, i love them dont get me wrong but takahē are by far the best endangered new zealand bird and quite possibly THE Best Bird?

you cant really get any better than this. criminally underrated 

[have-you-seen-this-animal]

[cobblepotindustries]

Now I'm wondering why Porphyrio hochstetteri re-evolved that ability where the other swamphens did not. Something about the island insular population, perhaps? They're one my favorite birds, and one of the best examples of modern conservation's effectiveness. An ancient, human-friendly species that was though to be entirely extinct by the 1890's. Until a small population was discovered in the Murchison mountain range of Te Waipounamu in 1948. Conservation in the period was limited, and often fraught with rows over interventionism versus attempting to allow the species to return by themselves. Politics manages to get in the way of many a good deed, doesn't it. Ultimately, the involved choice was made to set up multiple island sanctuaries: away from the invasive deer, stoat, and cats that poach their eggs and trample grasslands. They made the correct choice, in the long term, for the species.

Regardless, from just about one hundred birds to a increasing population of four hundred and forty as of 2021 is an astounding rebound.

They're the largest of their family, and they sound like the soft noises of a brass trumpet. I adore them.

[aonoexpat]

Getting my bearings

07-02-2023

Okay please do not expect me to keep up this rate of posting on here because I do not intend to but I just have SO MUCH NEW STUFF TO SHARE RIGHT NOW

It feels like I've been here for two whole weeks already, with how much I've been up to. I've seen the local shopping district (blown away by the caliber of the thrift shops here, I am living for it), gotten in a (minor, no worries) car accident, gone to that board game night (played Viticulture, cool but not entirely my thing) and most of the administrative process has been taken care of by now, which means:

a local phone number: much needed to get around if you want future employers to be able to reach you. I have a dual SIM phone but I've taken my Dutch SIM out anyway, because the rates are staggeringly high: 254 cents per minute of outgoing or incoming calls, 51 cents per text message and 500 cents per MB(!) of data. No thank you. I do still want to keep my Dutch number so I've just downgraded my plan to the bare minimum to save some costs.

a local bank account: it took some back-and-forth, but now I'm officially banking with Kiwibank :) I chose them for their omnipresence, and because I'd read online that they're one of the more sustainable and inclusive options out here.

a local tax ID: is on the way, this is necessary for NZ and NL to communicate about my income and any taxes that apply.

an actual job: working on it, printing CVs tomorrow but I also managed to get my hands on a beautiful guitar so busking is now officially on the table!

The time I wasn't working on these things, I spent out and about, enjoying the views and the culture shock. Yesterday's highlight was Zealandia: a 255 ha wildlife sanctuary that sits right on the fold line where two tectonic plates meet. It's home to many a species of birds, reptiles and plants, some of them endangered, and offers some killer views:

Here's a little selection of who I met there:

The Pied Shag / Kāruhiruhi / Phalacrocorax varius varius

Not to be confused with a regular ol' penguin. Seemed very chill

The Takahē / Porphyrio hochstetteri

Very sleepy, and the most reminiscent of its undoubtedly dinosaur ancestors. Also clearly a menace to keep inside its designated area:

The California quail / Tikaokao / Callipepla californica

Standing guard on the fence as its whānau rummage about in the garden below 💚

Tuatara / Sphenodon punctatus

The Kākā / Nestor meridionalis septentrionalis​

According to the volunteer park guide who was kind enough to give us a talk about them on her time off, the park started out with 14 of these back in 2002. At the time the Kākā hadn't been living in the Wellington area for over 100 years. Since then, over 1000 new Kākā chicks have been born in the sanctuary due to their tremendous efforts to protect these intelligent birds. The feeders they put out for them require them to step on a little pedal to lift the lid and access the food. They've done experiments with them where they put a little wooden block under the pedal to block it, and the young ones quickly learned to remove it to regain access. They've also suspended food from pieces of string hanging from the branches to see what they would do, since Kākā are unable to hover. Even this they managed to solve by sitting on the branch and pulling up the string until they could reach the food. They look like they're having great fun, hanging upside down from branches and being real acrobats in the trees as well as the air 😍

I'm definitely visiting this place again when I have the chance, because there's a lot more of the park to explore!

My current plan is to stay here in Te Whanganui-a-tara until the beginning of April. Then I can catch a ride up to Hobbiton and then Tāmaki-makau-rau (aka Auckland), after which I'll travel back down, in order to visit the South Island in May, most likely! So for now my focus will be on saving up some money and enjoying the wonderful weather while it lasts 🌞

[birds-in-posts]

South Island takahē (Porphyrio hochstetteri)

[leedsomics]

De-novo genome assembly of four rails (Aves: Rallidae): a resource for comparative genomics

The rails are a phenotypically diverse family of birds that includes around 130 species and displays a wide distribution around the world. Here we present annotated genome assemblies for four rails from Aotearoa New Zealand: two native volant species, p[u]keko Porphyrio melanotus and mioweka Gallirallus philippensis, and two endemic flightless species takah[e] Porphyrio hochstetteri and weka Gallirallus australis. The quality checks and comparison with other rallid genomes showed that the new assemblies were of high quality and that the annotations could be trusted. Using the sequence read data, heterozygosity was found to be lowest in the endemic flightless species and this probably reflects their relatively small populations. This study significantly increases the number of available rallid genomes and will enable future genomic studies on the evolution of this family. http://dlvr.it/T0bxVM

[armatofu]

La historia del takahé (Porphyrio hochstetteri) es el ejemplo de cómo un programa de conservación es capaz de recuperar especies que se habían dado completamente por perdidas, como es el caso de esta ave no voladora neozelandesa, que desde el siglo XIX se consideraba extinta.

Esta especie prehistórica de la Isla Sur de Nueva Zelanda, característica por tener un pico rojo intenso y un plumaje azul muy llamativo, se ha convertido en todo un símbolo para los conservacionistas porque supone la ‘resurrección’ de una especie declarada extinta en 1898 y que en la actualidad cuenta ya con más de 440 ejemplares, según los últimos datos del Departamento de Conservación de Nueva Zelanda, que datan de 2021.

La vuelta a la vida del takahé se remonta a 1948, cuando el físico Geoffrey Orbell junto a su equipo descubren los últimos ejemplares silvestres de esta especie, que entonces se presumía extinguida desde hacía 50 años. Los últimos supervivientes de esta especie se avistaron en las praderas de las montañas Murchison, sobre el lago Te Anau, en la región de Fiordland.

El ave ya cuenta con más de 400 ejemplares ZOOCHAT

El descubrimiento de Orbell puso en marcha un largo programa de conservación, que en un principio se centró en la protección de la especie en cuatro islas libres de depredadores (Te Hoiere, Mana, Kapiti y Tiritiri Matangi) y que vivió uno de sus principales hitos con la creación del Centro Burwood Takahé, donde se incubaron artificialmente huevos silvestres y se criaron antes de devolverlos a su hábitat.

Primer plano de la cabeza del ave M. C. TOBIAS

No fue un proceso corto ni tampoco sencillo, ya que la recuperación vivió serios altibajos, en especial en 2007, cuando una plaga de armiños redujo a la mitad la población de takahé en las montañas Murchison. Ya en 2016 se consigue recuperar el número de ejemplares y mantener un crecimiento constante de la población de takahé.

Aves espirituales

Según detalla el propio Departamento de Conservación de Nueva Zelanda, el takahé tiene un “especial significado cultural, espiritual y tradicional” para los Ngāi Tahu, los iwi, una tribu maorí de la mayor parte de la Isla Sur de Nueva Zelanda.

El vínculo entre la tribu y este ave es tan estrecho que llegan a considerar al takahé como un “taonga” (tesoro) e incluso ejercen de “kaitiaki” (guardianes) en colaboración con el Departamento de Conservación del país para asegurar la protección de la especie.

Esta especie puede vivir entre 16 y 18 años en libertad y entre 20 y 22 años si reside en un santuario. Suelen vivir en praderas, salvo cuando nieva con intensidad y se generan capas de nieve gruesas, lo que les obliga a desplazarse hacia zonas de bosque. Comen hojas ricas en almidón procedentes de matas y juncos.

[birdblues]

South Island Takahe

[tarzamsteroftheayeaye]

Love my purple dinosaur chickens

What in the world is this? Photos of South Island takahē, a rare New Zealand bird that can’t fly. Weird and wonderful, yes?

[stranger-nature]

Day 6, Husky - Takahē (Porphyrio hochstetteri)

This flightless bird endemic to New Zealand is an absolute unit and very fitting of the title of "husky."