One of the most rewarding aspects of my return to New Zealand a few years ago, after several decades working abroad, was the decision to bring my family to live in Tauranga.
David Porter
The decision was based, simply, on the fact that I had to the best of my knowledge never even visited Tauranga before. But I had by then developed a love of researching and finding out about new places. Exploring a new city seemed as useful way as any to start renewing my acquaintance with my homeland.
So, it has proved. And one of the most charming aspects of living in Tauranga has been the avian life. When I drop my wife off at work, we invariably drive up from our home towards Bethlehem along a road that bisects the Gordon Carmichael Reserve.
And although we have recently been going through a period when the bird life has been less profuse than usual as they retired to nest and produce their chicks, the numbers are again beginning to swell.
According to Tauranga Ornithological Society member Paul Cuming, the proliferation of bird life in the area is largely a result of the proximity of low-lying sources of water.
The birds themselves did not arrive here after lengthy trans-oceanic migrations, as I had fancifully supposed. Instead, says Cuming – who is soon to retire after many years at the society – most of the birds’ presence has resulted from efforts by an earlier generation of gamekeepers to introduce the species to provide shooting practice for hunters.
“There’s always been a wetland around there where there is low-flowing water, and ducks and waterfowl like to congregate,” he says.
The most common small duck that clusters in the area is apparently the mallard. But there is also an oversupply of waterfowl and Canadian geese, says Cuming. He notes that this may be stretching the habitat slightly beyond what the habitat can contain. The bigger birds tend to be Canadian geese, which would originally have been introduced from North America, and have no natural enemies here.
The presence of birds in Tauranga is not unusual for New Zealand, he says, with any town that houses a suitable pond likely to attract ducks, geese and swans.
But perhaps the most charming aspect of our avian population, is that it seems to bring out the gentler side of the New Zealand driver. I have several times been brought to a halt on the road because drivers have ground to a halt to allow a single file of head to tail birds to cross the road in peace, to get back to their source of water.
Cuming suggests that, while this is partly because motorists fear damage to their cars because of a collision, it also reflects the fact that in general New Zealanders increasingly seem to accept and welcome the presence of the birds in our society.
Photo: Owen.outdoors, pexels.com
