A pair of birds getting frisky on school grounds is a promising sight, an ornithologist says.
While on his way to school yesterday, Logan Park High School year 13 student Charlie Milne, 17, was stopped in his tracks by a weka walking around the path.
He stopped to admire it, and soon after to his surprise, a second weka popped out of the bushes — the pair then attempted to make themselves a third bird near the secondary school’s boiler shed.
‘‘They did then try to start mating.’’
‘‘At first, I thought there was just one.’’
But he was very pleased to have seen two.
Charlie hoped they stuck around for a while, and had no idea where they had come from.
Charlie had seen that one in his backyard, but had no idea whether either of the wekas he saw yesterday were the same one.
There were also reported sightings at Second Beach and the St Clair Hot Salt Water Pool around the same time last year.
Birds New Zealand ornithologist Bruce McKinlay said he began record-keeping in 2020, and sightings had been ramping up since January.
He said it was obvious the small number of weka around Signal Hill had been breeding — including the pair from yesterday — and it would be exciting to see what became of the birds’ efforts.
Since then, there had been reported sightings all over North East Valley, and three broods of chicks seen last spring.
‘‘So something’s happening, and it’s a bit different, but it’s not what you’d call a definite population right now.’’
Mr McKinlay said there seemed to be three adult groups, one around North East Valley and the Signal Hill area, one on the Otago Peninsula, and a third by Second Beach.
‘‘This is pretty amazing, and it will be very interesting to see what happens next as these chicks spread out in the suburb.’’
Unfortunately, the Second Beach group had appeared to ‘‘peter out’’ as there had been no sightings since November.
He assumed the birds had accidentally hitched a ride from another location in someone’s vehicle, as the nearest known and established populations are in Fiordland and the West Coast.
‘‘It’s a chance that these birds are coming without being knowingly transported.’’
However, it appeared they were here to stay, so North East Valley residents should become prepared to potentially fall foul to the weka’s thieving ways.
Weka mainly eat invertebrates and fruit, and occasionally chitons, coastal invertebrates, lizards, rodents, food scraps, carrion, and the eggs and young of other ground-nesting birds.
They have also been known to steal items that pique their interest — shoes, underwear, watches, phones, keys, bags of chips and and shiny teaspoons.
