Kārearea pre-fledglings

The kārearea (NZ falcon) chicks are not far off flying. Today I passed their nest on Kākāriki Spur and was greeted by a very chatty youngster. I'm not sure if it was Pebbles or Bam-Bam but was the larger of the two so will assume it was Pebbles. She was standing on the log above her nest screeching at me. I took some photos and video. If I stopped moving she stopped paying me attention and was directing her screech in different directions. I guessed she was calling out for her parents. After a few minutes she jumped off and ran east a couple of metres; one of the parents flew in and suddenly there also was Bam-Bam, he'd been hidden from sight. I didn't see what happened as it was mostly out of sight and pretty fast, but guessed it was a food delivery. After a few seconds the adult departed back the way they'd come (too fast and I didn't see who it was).

Sometime later both chicks were back in their nest. One was pretty quiet, but the other was calling regularly.

I passed by later (after lunch and a kākāriki karaka nest watch) and one had their head in an open cavity at the base of a log, I guessed possibly was eating? The other continued calling regularly from the nest entrance.

In the meantime there had been a couple of other visits by a parent (too quick to tell if it was Fred or Wilma). At one stage I saw both parents perched about 50m apart mid-canopy, presumably on the lookout for food. Fred dropped toward a neighbouring beech, he was apparently after a bird but on this occasion he did not succeed. Here is Fred (below), ever watchful. Note the intense yellow at the base of the beak, around the eyes, and legs (which become vibrant for males during the breeding season).

It would not surprise me if next time I pass by this nest (next week, likely) most of the downy fluff will have gone and the youngsters will be flying, perhaps some distance from the nest. Who knows whether I'll see them again?

It is worth commenting here that getting this close to a kārearea nest is somewhat unusual. A few months ago (when the nest scrape was identified) we roped it off and hoped for the best. The potential nest hole was right next to the spur track, far too close for the comfort of either bird or human. The rope keeps people 20m away at the lower end (where it is possible to look up the track and see into the nest), about 10m away as we walk past, and about 10m away from the top end (where people have a view of the back of the nest log). Kārearea have been known to defend nests up to 500m away from perceived intruders/attackers. Elsewhere walking or biking tracks are commonly closed if the track is perceived to be inside the birds' defended territory.

Yet this nest in the Brook Waimārama Sanctuary has gone from preparation to completion over the last few months without any apparent distress to the birds or humans passing close by. No humans were attacked, and the birds appeared to be comfortable with our regular presence. Why was this?

I could speculate. Humans were passing by this nest regularly (a few times per week at a guess) in groups of one to several. We were walking quietly and respectfully in a predictable fashion along the same route - this may be the most important point - outside our roped barrier. The birds trusted us to continue behaving in this predictable manner and chose to leave us alone (as we were leaving them alone). Birds of prey are intelligent creatures (obviously) and this pair perceived - correctly - that we humans were not a threat. As long as we gave them no reason to question the trust that they'd put in us then the mutual respect/trust remained.

It is also conceivable that this pair were already quite used to humans inside their territory prior to beginning this nest. We have known about a kārearea pair resident in this general location for some years, and although it's not certain it's always been the same bird(s) it seems quite likely. It's also conceivable they may recognise individual humans (as trained raptors used in falconry have been known to do). This pair may know us humans better than we think they do, and may not be as wild as we think they are.

Now that you've got this far, here is the link to a video of the chicks chatting to whoever is listening.

I've enjoyed watching Fred and Wilma raise Pebbles and Bam-Bam in the safe environment we've provided for them. Yabba-dabba-do!

Kakaruai, and an empty kākāriki karaka nest

We (the Brook Waimārama Sanctuary kākāriki karaka crew) headed for the nest with the hungry nestlings (the one I wrote about two days ago 2025-01-21 below). We watched for a couple of hours.... nothing! The nest had fledged. Good news that the nestlings were now fledglings and flying free in the sanctuary, but we wished they'd perhaps stayed in their nest another day. Never mind. While waiting, a friendly kakaruai (south island robin) pair stopped by.

Kārearea nest - babies!

Passing down Kākariki Spur on Jan 4th, and saw Wilma feed her babies! Needless to say they're named Pebbles and Bam-Bam. I saw just saw the tips of their beaks popping up to receive the next tasty morsels. It appeared there were two of them. It seems the estimate of Xmas Day hatching was about right.

Some photos of the nest from the last couple of weeks; the babies are growing rapidly.

Wilma guarding her chicks (who are gnawing a bird leg bone) on Jan 13th

Jan 13th

Looks like Wilma, the chicks will be under her wing presumably, Jan 17th

Jan 17th

Jan 21st - growing rapidly

I passed by the nest a few times on 20th, 21st and 23rd and did not see either parent. The nestlings will be requiring a lot of food and probably both parents are spending a lot of time hunting. The nestlings are pretty noisy and periodically screech for a time. They don't sound much different to their parents, just a bit quieter.

Kākāriki karaka nest - video

Here is the video of this kākāriki karaka nest filmed a few days ago. Many thanks to Rob Edwards for the processing. We've done plenty of experimentation with frame rate, white balance, ISO, exposure (highlights), shutter angle, auto-focus speed (vs manual) etc. Not to mention sticking muffs on the microphones to prevent wind noise etc. Rob's advice has resulted in a substantial improvement in my video skills.

Kākāriki karaka - more nestling feeding

After photographing the nest in the morning (see below post from today) I moved on to another nest at a similar stage. This site has been used every season since the first translocations; this is the fourth known successful use of this nest hole, each time with a different pair. I took plenty of photos and a video (link at the bottom of the post).

The parents were both present, and tried to call off their offspring. One of them was over half out of the hole, both legs were out, and I was sure he/she was going to take their first flight. Then they chickened out, backed into the hole and begged for more food. The nest could easily have fledged on the next visit about an hour later, but by then I was on my way home.

I had enough photos after one feeding visit, so next feeding visit I recorded a video.

Kākāriki karaka - nestling feeding

My favourite stage of a nest: hungry babies being fed by dad and/or mum at the nest entrance. I was at this nest yesterday filming, so headed in again today for some stills. The parents cooperated with five feeding visits over a couple of hours, so I had a chance to photograph from different angles. Two were optimal: right in front, and off to the left. This was affected by the way the parent bird perched at the entrance though; it paid to be on the opposite side to where they were. Moving around after the parent arrived was not something I'd consider as it would likely upset the bird. 

I'd been waiting to photograph this behaviour at this nest hole for two years. This nest is only 4m from the ground (many of our nests are 12-18m high) so a good view was to be expected. This nest hole had been used in the past but for various reasons (complications during laying etc) the nests did not progress to fledging stage.

Kākāriki karaka - a day filming

I spent the day filming kākāriki karaka nests with advanced nestlings / pre-fledglings today with Rob Edwards (who was filming me filming). (More on that at a later date.) I did manage a bit of time for a few stills though.

The third one has a beak full of munched-up sunflower seed; he was right next to one of the auto-feeders.

Ngirungiru - tomtit

It's baby season in the Brook Waimārama Sanctuary. Here are two shots each of a juvenile female then juvenile male.

Pīpīwharauroa with riroriro adoptive parents

Today I was looking for kākāriki karaka nests, and I got solidly distracted. A bird flew across my field of view, it was in deep forest shade, and I realised I wasn't quite sure what it was. I had a look through my 600mm lens and it was immediately clear it was a pīpīwharauroa, with the youthful shape and 'puffiness' of a fledgling. I wondered then if the riroriro foster parents were closeby (see my 2024-10-08 post for more information about the relationship between these species). Within half a minute I saw them too, and they were feeding their giant baby of another species.

The fledgling was making an incessant high-pitched squeaking that sounded absolutely nothing whatsoever like an adult's call. During nesting and the fledgling phase pīpīwharauroa are known to mimic riroriro begging calls, and that's likely what I was hearing. The call involved a chirp every half second like a metronome; it didn't stop unless food (bugs) were being stuffed in its gaping maw. Every few minutes the fledgling would move, usually only 5 metres or so, but perhaps 10 metres and perch again on a branch. The riroriro pair would grab bugs, poke them down the fledgling's gullet and in a flash be gone to find another bug. Probably two or three bugs per minute met their end in that way. When the trio moved I was able to locate them again by listening out for the begging calls (although being high-pitched it was sometimes difficult to locate) and look for bird activity, being three birds on the move made it relatively easy.

The first feeding-action sequence (below), not a great angle for action or light.

Perched, chirping, waiting for food to arrive (below).

The best angle for the action, not bad lighting either. Wish my depth of field was a little better though... Parent arrives with what seems to be a small caterpillar?

Some people have 'difficulty' with brood parasitism. They see it as unfair play or 'bad' behaviour. I don't. The pīpīwharauroa chick did not ask to be born in a riroriro nest. It's as guilty of 'bad' behaviour as any human baby adopted at birth parasitising its adoptive parents. Obviously I mean not guilty at all. Original sin does not exist. No baby of any species (human or bird or any taxon) is born 'bad'. The pīpīwharauroa looks to its riroriro 'parents' for sustenance in the way your cat or dog looks to you when hungry, it knows that's just the way things are supposed to be. Baby ruru or kārearea fed bits of bird to eat and taught that that's what they're supposed to eat are likewise guilty of nothing.

When the fledgling grows up, migrates to the tropics for the winter, then returns to New Zealand to breed, it instinctively lays an egg in a riroriro nest, as it 'knows' that riroriro are supposed to raise pīpīwharauroa young.

It was crystal clear that this giant baby being fed by tiny parents was just that: a giant baby. It was a joy watching the riroriro pair hard at work nurturing the life they'd been entrusted with.