Kaka are close relatives of the more famous Kea. They're not the little shits that Kea are, but they're still very big personalities. They used to be a pretty rare sight (sadly), but thanks to the work of Zealandia, they're now spreading out across the wellington region again, murdering non-native trees as they go. Zealandia for those who dont know is an Eco-sanctuary here in the wellington region - a huge chunk of predator free native bush that's surronded by a predator proof fence, ontop of being extensively trapped and patrolled to ensure it stays predator free (Rats, stoats, feral cats being the big issues for native bird life here in NZ).
It's been fantastically succseful, and created stable populations for a lot of our native bird life - which, in combo with a heavy push for anti-predtator trapping in people's back yards is seeing a huge resurgence of native bird life.
Locally (in the suburb i live) at least, this mostly means a bunch of Pīwakawaka/Fantails chattering and having Grumpy Eyebrows at everyone, ontop of Ruru and Tui yelling at each other.
It's spring here, which means Birbs season is in full swing. Seen a Keruru already, which is surprising, they dont usally turn up in my neighborhood. Confirmed for Chonkus Humongus (Take a normal pidgeon, then double or triple it's size. They fat). There's a Sacred Kingfisher singing it's heart out, presumably busily eating everything while it waits for cicada season to swing into action, and of course, Tui everywhere attempting to get fat and yell at each other over trees.
“This is truly an amazing discovery,” said Oliver Ryder, Ph.D., Kleberg Endowed Director of Conservation Genetics at San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, who is co-author of the study. “We were not exactly looking for evidence of parthenogenesis, it just hit us in the face. We only confirmed it because of the normal genetic studies we do to prove parentage. Our results showed that both eggs possessed the expected male ZZ sex chromosomes, but all markers were only inherited from their dams, verifying our findings.”
Parthenogenesis is a natural form of asexual reproduction in which an embryo that is not fertilized by sperm continues to develop, containing only genetic materials of the mother. The resulting offspring are called parthenotes. While this phenomenon is well known to biologists, it is relatively rare in birds, and normally observed in females who have no access to males. The California condor parthenotes were produced by two different dams, each of which was continuously housed with a fertile male. Both of these females had also produced numerous offspring with their mates—one had 11 chicks, while the other was paired with a male for over 20 years and had 23 chicks. The latter pair reproduced two more times following the parthenogenesis.
Parthenogenesis being a rare, but known occurance in birds, tells me that perhaps the frog DNA is not to blame, and that perhaps Jurassic Park was an inherently flawed venture doomed to failure from its very inception. Ahem.
Ay, tu madre, indeed, lady. How many ghost stories do you need to read about children taunting nature spirits before people will learn not to get cursed by mouth birds!
“This is truly an amazing discovery,” said Oliver Ryder, Ph.D., Kleberg Endowed Director of Conservation Genetics at San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, who is co-author of the study. “We were not exactly looking for evidence of parthenogenesis, it just hit us in the face. We only confirmed it because of the normal genetic studies we do to prove parentage. Our results showed that both eggs possessed the expected male ZZ sex chromosomes, but all markers were only inherited from their dams, verifying our findings.”
Parthenogenesis is a natural form of asexual reproduction in which an embryo that is not fertilized by sperm continues to develop, containing only genetic materials of the mother. The resulting offspring are called parthenotes. While this phenomenon is well known to biologists, it is relatively rare in birds, and normally observed in females who have no access to males. The California condor parthenotes were produced by two different dams, each of which was continuously housed with a fertile male. Both of these females had also produced numerous offspring with their mates—one had 11 chicks, while the other was paired with a male for over 20 years and had 23 chicks. The latter pair reproduced two more times following the parthenogenesis.
Parthenogenesis being a rare, but known occurance in birds, tells me that perhaps the frog DNA is not to blame, and that perhaps Jurassic Park was an inherently flawed venture doomed to failure from its very inception. Ahem.
Mama condor gently scritching baby with her terrifying murderbeak that's as big as the entire chick :heartbeat:
Looking at that footage, that actually looks like a hand-glove that's pretending to be mama-condor, so they'll not imprint on the humans at least at 18 seconds in.
Ay, tu madre, indeed, lady. How many ghost stories do you need to read about children taunting nature spirits before people will learn not to get cursed by mouth birds!
The potoo was just trying to get some sleep and somebody came over and started filming and being annoying. If she got a curse she earned it.
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valhalla13013 Dark Shield Perceives the GodsRegistered Userregular
Ay, tu madre, indeed, lady. How many ghost stories do you need to read about children taunting nature spirits before people will learn not to get cursed by mouth birds!
The potoo was just trying to get some sleep and somebody came over and started filming and being annoying. If she got a curse she earned it.
Looking at that footage, that actually looks like a hand-glove that's pretending to be mama-condor, so they'll not imprint on the humans at least at 18 seconds in.
Still cute.
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JedocIn the scupperswith the staggers and jagsRegistered Userregular
Text: A huge congratulations to the pekapeka long-tailed bat for winning #BirdoftheYear 2021! Bat Emoji, Trophy Emoji Despite being our only endemic land mammal, most people don't even know they exist, which makes their win even more outstanding.
Source: Forest & Bird is a New Zealand-based conservation organization.
Context: Bats gotta stay in their goddamn lane, is what.
Text: A huge congratulations to the pekapeka long-tailed bat for winning #BirdoftheYear 2021! Bat Emoji, Trophy Emoji Despite being our only endemic land mammal, most people don't even know they exist, which makes their win even more outstanding.
Source: Forest & Bird is a New Zealand-based conservation organization.
Context: Bats gotta stay in their goddamn lane, is what.
Nah mate, see that bit in green above the blue "Bird of the Year"?
It says "Te Manu Rongonui o Te Tau". It's Te Reo Maori, and it gets to come first because they got here first.
Now that second word, 'Manu', usually gets translated as 'Bird' as most of NZ's creatures are birds, but translation can be a tricky thing. It's mostly birds, but also might include slightly broader definition of 'animal with wings'.
So in English, a Bat is not a bird.
But a Pekapeka is a Manu.
So if we step back from the colonial imperialism of defining what is and isn't your English 'Bird', we celebrate Te Manu Rongonui o Te Tau, nga Pekapeka!
Text: A huge congratulations to the pekapeka long-tailed bat for winning #BirdoftheYear 2021! Bat Emoji, Trophy Emoji Despite being our only endemic land mammal, most people don't even know they exist, which makes their win even more outstanding.
Source: Forest & Bird is a New Zealand-based conservation organization.
Context: Bats gotta stay in their goddamn lane, is what.
Nah mate, see that bit in green above the blue "Bird of the Year"?
It says "Te Manu Rongonui o Te Tau". It's Te Reo Maori, and it gets to come first because they got here first.
Now that second word, 'Manu', usually gets translated as 'Bird' as most of NZ's creatures are birds, but translation can be a tricky thing. It's mostly birds, but also might include slightly broader definition of 'animal with wings'.
So in English, a Bat is not a bird.
But a Pekapeka is a Manu.
So if we step back from the colonial imperialism of defining what is and isn't your English 'Bird', we celebrate Te Manu Rongonui o Te Tau, nga Pekapeka!
I still remember when I was in middle school, and our damn idiot cockatiel decided it was a good idea to imitate the sound the smoke detector made to indicate its battery was dying. Fun times!
I've told this story before, but my brother had a cockatiel who learned to imitate my mother yelling at me. I'd sit there, watching TV, and think I was in trouble again.
Fuckin' bird!
Okay, so the Titipounamu (Rifleman) is NZ's smallest roundboi. It's been under extreme ecological stress owing to habitat loss and predator introduction, and by every account the local Wellington populations all died more than a century ago.
However, some breeding pairs were reintroduced to the Zealandia ecosanctury in the sunurban hills above the city a few years back. They established a stable population in the predator-free zone and have been doing well, but this Spring, for the first time in over 100 years, a breeding pair was observed nesting outside the fence on Te Ahumairangi Hill, several km away.
This is a huge distance for the little birds. They are tiny, and generally do not like crossing open spaces (such as roads), much prefering forested bush areas.
Te Ahumairangi Hill is green belt, a nice section of bush but surrounded by garden suburbs and containing popular walking and cycling tracks.
And yet, apparently this pair made it this distance and decided it was nice place to build a nice tiny nest, and in which they apparently have managed to successfully hatch and raise up a new generation of Titipounamu in wider Wellington for the first time in living memory.
And so the person who discovered and followed the pair back to their nest a couple months back has been keeping an eye on them and was on hand with a camera as these new baby birbs stepped out of the nest to look around for the first time.
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Can you see them?
They can fly when they want to
Just sometimes they don't feel like it, ya know?
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It's been fantastically succseful, and created stable populations for a lot of our native bird life - which, in combo with a heavy push for anti-predtator trapping in people's back yards is seeing a huge resurgence of native bird life.
Locally (in the suburb i live) at least, this mostly means a bunch of Pīwakawaka/Fantails chattering and having Grumpy Eyebrows at everyone, ontop of Ruru and Tui yelling at each other.
Steam: https://steamcommunity.com/id/TheZombiePenguin
Stream: https://www.twitch.tv/thezombiepenguin/
Switch: 0293 6817 9891
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
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Parthenogenesis being a rare, but known occurance in birds, tells me that perhaps the frog DNA is not to blame, and that perhaps Jurassic Park was an inherently flawed venture doomed to failure from its very inception. Ahem.
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
Ay, tu madre, indeed, lady. How many ghost stories do you need to read about children taunting nature spirits before people will learn not to get cursed by mouth birds!
Mama condor gently scritching baby with her terrifying murderbeak that's as big as the entire chick :heartbeat:
Steam: https://steamcommunity.com/id/TheZombiePenguin
Stream: https://www.twitch.tv/thezombiepenguin/
Switch: 0293 6817 9891
The potoo was just trying to get some sleep and somebody came over and started filming and being annoying. If she got a curse she earned it.
It looks like a weird owl with an overlarge beak.
Still cute.
This is an outrage.
Text: A huge congratulations to the pekapeka long-tailed bat for winning #BirdoftheYear 2021! Bat Emoji, Trophy Emoji Despite being our only endemic land mammal, most people don't even know they exist, which makes their win even more outstanding.
Source: Forest & Bird is a New Zealand-based conservation organization.
Context: Bats gotta stay in their goddamn lane, is what.
Bluejay (I think) partway into its adult plumage
Either that or it's wearing a fluffy shawl
in other news, DRAMA! AT THE NESTING BOX
Nah mate, see that bit in green above the blue "Bird of the Year"?
It says "Te Manu Rongonui o Te Tau". It's Te Reo Maori, and it gets to come first because they got here first.
Now that second word, 'Manu', usually gets translated as 'Bird' as most of NZ's creatures are birds, but translation can be a tricky thing. It's mostly birds, but also might include slightly broader definition of 'animal with wings'.
So in English, a Bat is not a bird.
But a Pekapeka is a Manu.
So if we step back from the colonial imperialism of defining what is and isn't your English 'Bird', we celebrate Te Manu Rongonui o Te Tau, nga Pekapeka!
Ka pai e hoa. Ka mau te wehi. Ngā mihi.
Well, neat! Thanks for the explanation.
Fuckin' bird!
Okay, so the Titipounamu (Rifleman) is NZ's smallest roundboi. It's been under extreme ecological stress owing to habitat loss and predator introduction, and by every account the local Wellington populations all died more than a century ago.
However, some breeding pairs were reintroduced to the Zealandia ecosanctury in the sunurban hills above the city a few years back. They established a stable population in the predator-free zone and have been doing well, but this Spring, for the first time in over 100 years, a breeding pair was observed nesting outside the fence on Te Ahumairangi Hill, several km away.
This is a huge distance for the little birds. They are tiny, and generally do not like crossing open spaces (such as roads), much prefering forested bush areas.
Te Ahumairangi Hill is green belt, a nice section of bush but surrounded by garden suburbs and containing popular walking and cycling tracks.
And yet, apparently this pair made it this distance and decided it was nice place to build a nice tiny nest, and in which they apparently have managed to successfully hatch and raise up a new generation of Titipounamu in wider Wellington for the first time in living memory.
And so the person who discovered and followed the pair back to their nest a couple months back has been keeping an eye on them and was on hand with a camera as these new baby birbs stepped out of the nest to look around for the first time.