It’s like Ibiza for birds. This stunning, lush, native forest complete with a lake, little birdie bars and restaurants, completely free from predators. The Karori Wildlife Sanctuary is party island for birds. We had only been inside the fence for five minutes when a male hihi zoomed past us flashing his yellow underbelly (boy birds certainly won in the looks department). We saw a saddleback and fat chattering tuis. A group of black shags were having an evening meeting on an enormous tree overlooking the lake. Wandering up to the kaka feeding station, the noise of the birds squawking and singing as the sun set was incredible. Ben, our guide explained that the Karori kakas have their own dialect to identify each other; they were like a massive parrot posse. Similar to keas they are very smart, and as Science Guy pointed out to the group, there is no way George could have worked the kaka feeder (though to be fair it had a really complicated spring-release mechanism thingy).
We wandered up through the bush as quietly as possible, listening out for kiwi’s rustling in the undergrowth, the 250 hectare’s of Sanctuary is home to around 100 little spotted kiwis (needle for your haystack?) I have never seen a real live kiwi and the suspense rivalled any Spielberg movie (particularly as there was a chance that any rustling could have been a giant bloody weta). The darkness closed in, and the glowbugs twinkled in the bush. It was a stunning clear night and we could hear the boy kiwis and moreporks cranking up the mating calls, the girls were playing a bit hard to get (Science Guy said its the ‘crap, she didn’t text me back’ of bird-world).
We wandered back through the bush and then Ben flashed his torch at a small ball of fur which turned out to be a little spotted kiwi. He had scampered down the hill to the side of the path and was rather awkwardly trying to get out of a hole. Very comical to watch and I think we might have made him a bit self-conscious. So lucky to see him, and on ANZAC day it was kind of apt.
The Sanctuary have sunset tours every day, it’s a magical time to visit.
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It is indeed magic.They also have many tuatara, which were in abundance when I took my daughter and a friend there in summer. I suspect they are in hibernation now. Did you see any? On the sunny day we went, they were out in large numbers sitting on rocks, it was sheer magic.Must go back soon … thanks for reminding me.Love your blog.
Sadly no, the tuataras were not out and about last night. Will definitely head back there during the daytime – picnic spots in abundance! Plus I want to check out the boat on the lake :)