Environment – Ears and eyes open during park walks

It’s easy to see and hear some of the more common birds on a walk in Shakespear Regional Park. 

Visitors will often see tui and kereru in Kowhai Glen and Waterfall Gully, pukeko, skylark and Californian quail on open ground and oystercatcher/tōrea pango, dotterels/tūturiwhatu and black swans/kakīānau in Te Haruhi or Okoromai Bays. 

But there are actually a lot more species to see – or, especially, to hear on your walk.

I appreciate that many readers aren’t quite as focused on birds as I am, but a little bit of preparation will add huge enjoyment to your walks when you discover just how many different birds are sharing the park with you. I recommend using the NZ Birds Online website to help you identify what you are seeing and hearing via pictures and sound recordings.

On a recent visit, beginning with a slow drive along the road to Okoromai, we saw white-faced heron/matuku, pied stilt/poaka and spur-winged plover in the wetlands. It was high tide so there were just a few red-billed gulls/tarāpunga, another heron and a couple of kingfishers in the bay. 

We walked through the campsite, up the gravel track and across the paddock on the other side accompanied by skylark and pukeko. Once we came close to the bush we heard a snatch of robin song. 

We entered the Kowhai Glen track at the eastern end. Just inside the bush we came across a pile of feathers on the track including lots of blue, green and red feathers – enough to identify the victim as an eastern rosella, probably taken by a harrier. Shakespear also has a breeding population of the native, red-crowned parakeet/kākāriki so it’s worth listening out for their distinctive chattering calls. Another chatterer, the saddleback/tīeke, has some very recognisable calls that should become more obvious as the population begins to rebuild after being knocked back while the stoats were in the park. Nearby, we heard a morepork/ruru calling which immediately provoked two bellbirds/korimako into their alarm calls. 

We continued out of Kowhai Glen and crossed to the top of Waterfall Gully. As soon as we entered the bush we began to hear the excited chatter of whiteheads/pōpokatea. These little birds spend a lot of time high in the canopy where they are hard to see, but they are rarely quiet and so still detectable if you listen out for them.

Leaving Waterfall Gully, we walked slowly through the grassy area east of the Okoromai wetlands hoping to hear fernbird/mātātā and spotless crake/pūweto. These two are rarely seen as they skulk in the vegetation but the ‘U-tick’ call of the fernbird and the repeated ‘tick’ or the bubbling call of the crake will confirm their presence and you get a gold star for finding these secretive birds.