Birds in the city
Tony Milne from Rough Milne Mitchell Landscape Architects shares his love of New Zealand native birds and their spring habitat in Nelson and Ōtautahi.
I have just spent the day in Nelson City. Fair weather it was, a radiant spring warmth with only a smidgen of a breeze on one’s cheek. The Haven was redolent with the shadows of big puffy clouds above. Cumulus, I guess.
There are plenty of expectations in the air as seasonal change heralds spring growth, deciduous branches welcome back leaves, flowers appear, bees, butterflies and birds get busy as our senses awaken. Among other things, I associate Nelson with harakeke and tui.
Not many people know this, but a very good friend, who shall go under the moniker of ‘Rochelle the pigeon fancier’ and I decided some years ago to set up our own pigeon racing club. Apart from knowing that messenger pigeons were considered quite valuable in Ancient Egypt and Rome, we didn’t know a lot about the birds. We possibly still don’t. But we both shared an admiration of the grace of their flight, the colour of their plume, not to mention their ability to home.
We never actually owned pigeons, but we certainly admired and envied those who did. As followers of the legendary Flemish bird trainer, Gaston van de Wouwer, we were delighted that his decades of toil were rewarded in late 2020. One of his loft, the stunning ‘New Kim’, after some frenzied bidding, sold at auction for $1.8 million. A lucrative sport once more.
While happy for Gaston, both ‘Rochelle the pigeon fancier’ and I were devastated we missed the live auction. Unfortunately, both busy at the time. While we don’t see a lot of each other, when we do, our conversation turns to things avian relatively quickly.
With my homing pigeon days over, I now take delight in spotting the smart white vest of the odd kereru¯ in flight in central Christchurch. I would certainly like to see more, as I would the korimako and tui. I still recall a site visit to Akaroa one winter, marvelling at the sight of a tagasaste weighted by many kereru jostling for the nectar of its flower.
Similarly, the sight of many a plump kereru happily hanging off the branches of the bush and forest of Rakiura brought joy on a family holiday. Slightly disappointed, I’ve yet to see one fall, intoxicated from its perch. While quiet by nature, they do have a penchant for drunken disorderly behaviour. A bird of character. Just like the little native hihi, albeit for much different reasons.
We used to have a korimako sing to us from our courtyard outside our studio in central Otautahi. It hasn’t been back for some time. It was briefly replaced by an opossum who forgot it was supposed to be nocturnal – a poor replacement for the korimako.
How nice it is not only to see and watch these birds but to hear birdsong within our city. There are some fantastic initiatives to encourage the establishment of patches and corridors of native planting within our city’s private and public spaces. We hope for the tui to return and more birdsong all-round.
03 366 3268 | rmmla.co.nz
