I am a native in this world And think in it as a native thinks

Sunday, August 21, 2016

Sunday bird blogging


This is a pukeko, the New Zealand variant of the Australasian swamphen, hanging out in the swampy grounds in Rotorua.

One odd fact about New Zealand: except for a few species of bat, there are no indigenous land mammals there. As a result, many of the native birds are flightless, and even the birds that can fly build their nests on the ground because they had no ground-based predators. But the Maoris brought rats and dogs, and Europeans brought all the usual small mammals, and nesting on the ground, or being unable to fly, is no longer a safe lifestyle for birds and most of the native species are now endangered.

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