New Zealand: Chirp around the silence

In this pristine land of forests that New Zealand is, you would have thought that the hum of birds would be a given. But in around 200 years after humans arrived on this terrestrial birdland a 1,000 years ago, the winged population was all but wiped out. But today, the Kiwis lead the world’s biggest conservation campaign helping revive avian populations not just in their own country but in other beleaguered habitats around the world too. MEENAKSHI RAO brings you this amazing synergy between tourism and conservation which is the best told Kiwi story of success, pride & mass involvement

Once upon a time in New Zealand, the mornings started with bird songs and the evenings brought in the swish of the winged population returning to its nests. There were more than 80 species of birds back then with some dating back to the age of dinosaurs and a couple somewhat same in size.

Today, however, to be hearing a bird song is like a heavenly boon and spotting the bell bird or the black robin an exclusive privilege. So, what happened to this land of birds in the last 1,000 years?

Invasion is the one-word explanation for this beautiful country hanging deliriously over the Antarctic region longing for that sound to return, that flight to become more common, that twitter to be heard again.

The invasion happened in several ways. When the Maoris arrived here around a 1000 years ago, and later the Europeans, they brought in fellow predators — Boats, ship rats, other rodents and cats — some purposefully, others as inadvertent stowaways.

New Zealand being a completely mammal free paradise of flora and fauna did not know how to save its bird population. Till now, and for millions of years before the humans arrived in this winged paradise, the habitat and environment had made the birds of NZ completely fearless, flightless and ground food oriented. They did not know how to fly or protect themselves or their progeny from predators. Their nests too were grounded and vulnerable.

So if the Moas, the tallest and heaviest birds in history, were hunted to extinction for food by the Maoris, the Haast’s Eagle vanished simply because there were no more Moas to feed on, the Moas being their main staple.

The rest of the smaller species were pretty soon gobbled up and by the time the environment friendly Kiwis realised in the 1950s that their most precious, colourful asset was being eaten away, it was almost too late.

Today, bird talk dots this pristine country at all levels. Helmed by its Department of Conservation, New Zealand’s bird conservation movement is the biggest in the world. With its technological advancements, knowledge prowess and relentless pursuit of pests, this project has not just brought back many birds from extinction in its own country but helped avian populations in as faraway places as Scotland, Indian Ocean, Pacific Ocean and some Antarctic rim islands.

Noel, a flora expert with a yen for curating nature, wine and art tours through the stunning Abel Tasman National Park region stretching tantalisingly over the Tasman blue in Nelson, says the biggest environmental loss of his nation has been the loss of its birds.

“In New Zealand, wildlife is all about flora and very little about fauna, and nothing at all about hunt animals,” he tells you while on a walking tour across the lush national park. Noel is an expert in every shade of green that grows in any part of his country, making you taste the chilly leaves, the healing barks, the honey-dipped molasses and almost every other plant that is medicinal or otherwise.

And just then a musical yelp tears through the quiet green trail and Noel explains it is that occasional sound of the bell bird celebrating its race back from near extinction.

When the first settlers rowed into this pristine untouched bay of plenty, they were greeted by what is now extinct: A loud dawn chorus. Extensive loss of forests and the arrival of bird predators, not to mention competing species like wasps have brought in this worrying sound of silence. Back then, the Bellbird and the Tui were in abundance and formed a major part of this becoming chorus with their loud vocals and melodious chants. So much so that the explorer Captain Cook found it to be like “small bells most exquisitely tuned”.

Since the settlers arrived, New Zealand’s greatest biological loss has been the 42 per cent loss of its terrestrial birds. Till now, 57 birds have become extinct out of which 38 species were lost to Maori hunting, indiscriminate forest burning and the introduction of the Polynesian rat and dogs. The Europeans triggered 19 species losses due to logging, forest clearing for pasture, and introduction of a hoard of predatory animals, including bird enemies numbers one and two, stoats and rats. The prominent extinction groups are all 14 Moas, 11 Rails, 6 Wrens and 2 Haast’s Eagles. 

However, as Department of Conservation’s senior advisor Herb explains: “No birds have become extinct since the early 1972”.

Indeed, the Kiwis have done well to keep this amazing campaign interactive, inclusive and quite neatly tied to tourism, one of the mainstays of their economy.

Talking about this,  Christopher says: “We have a strong five-year partnership with Air New Zealand with a $7,325,000 funding which includes flights for species, transfers for reintroductions and breeding, in-kind marketing of 'Coastal Gems’, direct funding to support species management and Marine Research funding”.

Air New Zealand also funds the promotion of Great Walks tourism on nine iconic walking tracks. Since, April 2012, overnight stays at Great Walks huts and campgrounds has increased from 79,000 95,000.

Then there is Genesis Energy, the electricity generator whose water supplies come from where a rare species of torrent duck, the Whio, lives. Genesis support for Whio has increased their breeding significantly in their mountainous stronghold by helping with pest control. “The Genesis staff are directly engaged in the project and the company has allocated a $2,500,000 over 5 years for this project,” Christopher says.

Besides these Governmental tie-ups, most tour operators of natural habitat activities, especially around forests and marine areas, allocate a chunk of their earnings for pest control measures in their areas of operation. Be it the massive bird sanctuary in Wellington Zealandia where the Kiwis are back alongside the endangered kakapo (biggest parrot), or the Canopy Tours in Rotorua, bird conservation is close to their heart and pockets.

While in Zealandia, sprawling across the gentle mounts over the deep blue and turquoise Tasman Sea at Wellington, the birds are safe and breeding because of the complete pest eradication in this protected area, the Rotorua Canopy Tours is still in the midst of trapping, killing and eradicating pests from their green mile.

While zipping through unending trees on a sheer rope with hundreds  of meters of rich thicket down below, you are also told and showed how thousands of pests are systematically killed in their forests every night.

Taking you through a winding track amid the forest, the Canopy Tour guide in Rotorua suddenly asks you to stop and peer. In the thicket not quite far from you, you see an inquisitive bird in a somewhat hyper movement. “It’s the Black Robin, one of the many species we are involved in saving,” she tells you, fishing out a live worm from her pocket bottle. She keeps it on your palm and asks you to stretch it out to the black robin. In utter amazement you see, the bird immediately taking away the feed with her beak and then waiting for the next palm to oblige.

The conservation is so big and widespread that the Government has cordoned off islands for birds and spent thousands of dollars in keeping these islands pest free. For the financial year ending June 2014, the Department of Conservation spent $NZ162,995,000 on management of this natural heritage. This allocation was from a total budget of NZ$345,323,000. ie 47 per cent of budget. The other 53 per cent is allocated to recreation and historic heritage. 

And as they quite aptly say: The value of conservation is best understood by learning about its lost biodiversity.

Source: Sunday Pioneer, July 19, 2015